Fertilizing the hayfield

This evening I put Little Red in the corral and the other two heifers back with the cows.  Red had no reaction to Little Red being in the corral - which is good.  Earlier Red was being a helicopter mom as she kept gentle warning moos at her calf as she walked around exploring.


The other event from last Saturday was that I fertilized my hayfield.  I wavered a bit but then decided to spend the money - fertilizer is expensive.  But I don't fertilize every year so I decided to spend the $$$.

I also rented from the CHS co-op a trailer to spread the fertilizer.

If I remember right from when I lasted fertilized two years ago, it would take a couple hours to spread all the fertilizer.  I ran out of fertilizer in a little over 30 minutes and I had only covered half the field.

What??!!!!

I took the trailer back to CHS and told Andy I had a problem.  When I had picked up the trailer and had the fertilizer loaded I asked if the trailer was set properly for the correct rate. They assured me it was. When Andy then checked after I brought the trailer back, the latch in the back that opened the opening was set correctly.  But on another lever, the one attached to the drive shaft that turns as the wheels turn and therefore runs the conveyor carrying the fertilizer out back, the bungie cord was not secure.  The conveyor apparently ran at double speed as the trailer wheels turned.

Andy reattached the bungie cord and then asked another worker if it was ok to also add a plastic zip tie in case the bungie cord comes unhooked again.  Yes, it was ok.

In the following photo you can se the bungie strap re-hooked and the added zip tie.

Since the fault was theirs they gave me more fertilizer free for the remaining 8 acres I had to fertilize.  This time the trailer worked correctly as I had enough fertilizer to cover the 8 remaining acres.  It took me a little over an hour to spread the rest of the fertilizer.

The timing was right to fertilize.  The ground was dry enough to drive on but wet from this last week of rain to help the fertilizer dissolve.  The rain that began when I started to fertilize also helped. Fortunately the trailer and fertilizer in it was covered.  If water doesn't help dissolve the fertilizer much of it will dissolve into the air and not the ground.

It will be interesting when I cut my hay.  I think half my field will have more hay than the other half.  And I will see if fertilizer really makes that big of a difference.