NIF, I imagine you are receiving another couple feet of snow out of this storm. Here in Coarsegold we've had almost three inches of in the last 36 hours and we're trapped at the house by the creek flooding. As Cuz Tad said, Ray 54 has probably received 6 inches in the same time and may be planning on planting rice on the flats.
Tad, It's a good thing you got the first time over done, well except for a spot or two, this will make good summerfallow. By June you will have enough moisture saved to grow good dryland watermellons:hungry:
Fargo was the best wild oat control but the cheapest was a good dose of 2,4-D LV6 Ester.
LV6 was awful hard on oats but barley and wheat would tolerate it well. A good shot of spray by Ed or Dick and the oats would stop and the barley would keep on growing and shade out the oats. This was pretty effective until we were invaded with grapes and the county/state shut down the ester products. Then we were left with just the oat specific products at 4 times the expense. That was the beginning of the end of grain production in the upper Salinas basin of central CA.

Casey

Casey- nope you guys must be hogging this storm, it was a dry day today though there is a storm coming in tomorrow afternoon that is supposed to start out as rain then switch to snow and drop a couple inches at our elevation.

This is what it looked like today.





We used fargo on all our spring crops including legumes back in the 80s and used it on barley until 2003. We quit growing barley that year and have stuck with spring wheat ever since. I believe that was the last year fargo was available here. Now pretty much everything is post emergence herbicides for cereal crops. The fargo we used was liquid for many years and then granular in later years.

Was/is the dryland barley down there ever grown for malt or just feed? It was common to grow malt barley under contract here until about 10 years ago when they quit giving out contracts in our area and now most all of the malt barley production is irrigated in southern Idaho where they can control the quality better.

Here is a pic of my neighbor's barley crop this past July, it did just over 2 tons to the acre which is a little above average for this area. You can see whatever herbicide he used now instead of fargo does an excellent job on the oats.

Hi there NIF

We used the granular Fargo from the start. We put extended grass seed attachments on the drills and had good success with the double disc openers and flex harrows covering the chemical.

As to malting barley. There was a few that would grow the old 2 row Atlas variety in the 50s and 60s, but the price premium never outweighed the production of the 6 row feed barleys.

There was a short stint in the 70s when Tecati took some of our barley across the border and used it for brewing but I think it had to have exceptional bushel weight and there wasn't a great price premium.

Casey

Casey and Tad are ready to go into the weather forecasting business.Have 6.5 inches from Friday evening when it started until just before dark here on Sunday.This makes 28 inches so far for the season.The average here is about 20 inches,so we are doing good. The first 2 inches didn't do much except leach all the good stuff from are grass pastures(all water solvable vitamins&minerals).Came in .5 inch or less per rain and dried up before the next.Finally had few weeds in the oat hay ground at thanksgiving time,so planted a little then for a neighbor who pays to be first. Sprayed broad leaf weeds in it last week and wild grasses so thick no drill rows show in most of it,at about 8 inches tall mixed forage.What I planted for myself mid December is cleaner but shorter.
Planning on planting 130 acres of safflower,worked this ground once first of February.With 10 inches of rain in late December I was thinking I would find some areas like Tad, but had none that wet then.Now there will be many wet places,so it is time to take the chisel out hunting for them.Most of my ground is sticky adobe. Tractors generally don't fall in as Tad's picture shows but the disc will be a solid ball of mud and you can be hours digging out.Lots of rock so generally don't run a chisel,but the bottoms are not to bad for rock.
Ray

Here a few harvest pics that were taken when my sister visited a few years ago. She has done pictures of weddings, graduations, etc. so she has a really nice camera.















A much better sight than they are this time of year

NIF, Conifers and grain in the same picture, now that's something you don't see here at all:lol:.
Boy, the rest of the world must be afloat, did anybody see a big wooden vessel go by ? something around 50 cubits by 300 cubits and had a real bad smell:lol:, (for those of you just now checking in, see my earlier post:lol:) it seems like it has been raining here for months, there is water actually running down the San Juan River and the Dodge Power Wagon 440 is earning it's keep this year navigating the mile of dirt, or should I say mud drive way, I was thinking of putting nav lights and a rudder on it , when you have 34 inch tall tires and the center section of the front differential is pushing mud you know you are in the muck,the rest of the world must be treading water:lol: I for see scuba lessons in the near future if this keeps up:lol: I bet Cuz Casey is seriously considering several different bridge plan proposals right about now:lol: and I know Ray 54 has to be using chest waders for casual wear:lol:Tad

Coarsegold Creek has been at full rampage for 4 days now. I got the JD110 through yesterday but the water was well over the top of the front tires and on the operators deck.

This storm was rowdy enough to have PG&E in a full blown panic. There are people in North Fork, (remember the Rifleman), that have been without power since Saturday. As a result we have line repair crews from as far as Idaho and Montana. They are so desperate that they are starting to beg for Obama Money.

Anyway, It's wet enough that I won't be moving the D6C for a week or more for fear of doing a Tad. We are just a tink shy of 40 inches for the season and should surpass that milestone tonight. 28" To 30" is average.

I think I'll join Ray 54 tonight and look through Cabela's for the latest in high fashion waders.

Casey

Hi Guys you all must be growing webbed feet by now? Nif looks as though he has purhased new harvesters going by the shiny paint. Seeing TADS tractor stuck reminds me of the time i was working some ground for my Dad when i was about 10 years old. I was told not to go in one part of the field. and i said why and was told because i said so by my father so when he went out of the field i tried the area that was out of bounds. Gues what i gott up to the axles and out of sight ? any after that little escapade i sure learnt how to run faster than his size 12 hob nailed boots. cheers Atlas

It's almost getting dry here,Shandon must be getting part of my share.All kidding aside it has been coming slow enough that the creek has not been up since Sunday.Don't need hip waders as this is adobe soil you keep getting taller until you cannot pick your feet up.
Liked Atlas's story.Only have a few acre that will let you fall in and it is worse than Tad's by looking at it.Had a old guy us to help me so he was out off the house very good with most equipment.I made a pass with the disc and told him not to any closer,well you know the rest.All was well until he made a turn.But he did know not to fight it as we where able to slide cable under it hook to the draw bar and pull it out the RD7 out forward.Have seen others tractors so the top of track was level with the ground.Now that it is planted to grapes have had been stuck in in it many times as the adviser likes to spray Goal weedkiller in February.Thank heavens they let me us simazine back in December.

Hey there NIF.

Nice looking stable of combines sitting there all snug and dry. Are you still holding on to a 6602 for nostalgia sake or is it a neighbor that needed a place to park his for the winter?

Your sister took some nice photos. The polarizer sure brings out the blue in the sky.

Please excuse my brevity, I'm writing this in scuba gear. 41 Inches so far. Maybe sun tomorrow.

Casey