View from the Cab: Spring has sprung

By Kent Casson

No more twiddling our thumbs waiting for the weather to turn – spring is here!

What a relief to see shed doors open, equipment parked outside and even some fieldwork taking place. Welcome to early spring in Central Illinois. If it wasn’t for the 50 mile per hour wind gusts, this wouldn’t be such as a bad season.

In the past couple of weeks, fields have dried out enough where growers could start working ground and kicking up dust. Some were finishing chiseling or strip tillage from the fall which they never finished while others were doing tile work to ensure the proper drainage.

I have not noticed anyone in this immediate area putting soybeans in the ground just yet, but I did hear a couple of planters were rolling to our south during that early March warm weather stretch. This would be in the McLean and Wapella areas. They are closer to the Equator, you see.

Many agronomists are pushing earlier planted soybeans these days, even before planting corn. This was pretty much unheard of in the old days. My grandfather always aimed to plant corn in mid-April with soybeans to follow after the first of May. We can now plant sooner thanks to seed treatment.

These warmer days have been great for outdoor projects. It always feels good to get outside for the first time and work after spending day after day inside during the winter months. March can’t seem to decide if the days should be like a lamb or lion. I can’t help but wonder how the month will end.

We got our corn planter hooked up already and it should be ready to go after the local dealership looked things over. All I need to do is check the tire pressure and do a few other preparations before we are off to the field. As of this writing, we still need to hook up our soybean planter as we just got the tractor back from the shop.

Just like riding a bike, everything seems to come back to you when sitting in that cab and pushing all of the buttons. If something is not hooked up right, we will know it!  This is why it is a good idea to run through everything and make sure it is working properly long before venturing out to the field.

I’m looking forward to my kids being on spring break to help with a few things around the farm as spring fieldwork will be here before we know it.