Weeds, Corn, and GMO's

Every year we plant corn to harvest as silage for the cows. This year's crop is growing well and so were the weeds. A few days before I took this photo we had our corn sprayed with Round Up. The GMO corn is not hurt, but the weeds do not survive.

Had we not been able to spray, the weeds would have taken over the corn and stolen nutrients, water, sunshine, and fertilizer.

What's real interesting to me is the photo I tweeted out of the sweet corn in my garden when the wind blew it over. Monsanto retweeted it and then I got a few negative comments in return.

Looks like I need a sweet corn chiropractor. #corn #gardening pic.twitter.com/bvQ3iq9WEU
— Ryan Bright (@Farmerbright) June 30, 2014

“@MonsantoCo: RT @Farmerbright: Looks like I need a sweet corn chiropractor. #corn #gardening pic.twitter.com/k8eTcz4Dmz” ur fault monsanto. 😒😒😭
— BIGCHIEF666 (@triplenicks666) July 3, 2014

@MonsantoCo @Farmerbright Monsanto corn? You need a pathologist!! #noGMOs #poison
— Kathryn Joy (@JoyK8) July 2, 2014

The funny part is that the garden corn is Silver Queen sweet corn, and not anything special. What people's perspectives are based on what they've read or heard is not always true. Recently Popular Science put together an article about GMO products entitled Core Truths: 10 Common GMO Claims Debunked. Are GMO plants tested? Should we be worried? I'm about as worried about that as I am mutant cows.

Rain, Corn, Rain Again

What a difference a year makes. Last June we were enduring hot, dry weather and I was even on the news talking about how bad it was for farmers. This year has been the opposite: rain, rain, rain. We had a terrible time getting our wheat and rye up for spring silage to feed our cows because the fields stayed too wet for us to get in and then it seemed that what we mowed was too wet to go through our chopper. 

When we did have a few dry days when we were not chopping we did manage to get a few bales of hay rolled and our corn out. More rain came this week, but it was dry enough yesterday for the sprayer to come through and take out the weeds in one field of corn. 

Our Round-Up Ready corn was definitely ready to be sprayed. I took the photo on the right this morning. You can see how the weeds between the rows of corn our already turning yellow and sagging.
The weeds, if left unattended, would soon take over the field and ruin our corn crop.

This corn is designed so that we can have a sprayer come in and spray the field and only the weeds are affected. I have a hard enough time keeping the weeds out of our little garden, and I can't imagine having to take the hoe out to tend acres and acres of corn.

We're expecting 2-5 inches of rain this week according to the weather folk on TV. That's more than our share. Too bad we couldn't have had at least some of it this time last year...

Sunrise Over The Corn Field

The Case of the Missing Calves

I've written before about how farmers wear many hats. The other day I got to pretend that I was wearing a detective's hat.

It had been a long hot day. The kind where the heat hits you like a ton of bricks when you walk outside. The wind was as dead as a body at the county morgue. I had worked a case all day long and had nothing to show for it except a sweat stained shirt and expenses. Like I said, it had been a long, hot day and I was glad for it to be over. Except it wasn't, but I didn't know that yet.


I was at home and ready for the shower I'd needed since four o'clock this morning when the phone rang. I could let it ring, I wanted to let it ring, but my gut told me to answer, and he's the only one who's never done me wrong. Tommy was the one calling. Now Tommy was a neighbor, a guy you could count on when your chips were down, but the reason of this call was as unexpected as a sucker punch to the stomach. He had seen some of my calves where they didn't belong, or more specifically out in a corn field behind his house. It was a case I couldn't refuse.


Questions ricocheted in my my mind like bullets off a brick wall. What were the calves doing? Why did they get out? And who did it? What did it? There was only one thing to do: investigate.


Back out into the heat I went with an eye to the ground and ear to the sky listening for the sounds of moos. I scoured the corn field for clues and you didn't have to be a gumshoe like me to find one. The calves had been there alright and they didn't care to hide the fact.

From a distance I could hear a small engine coming down the woody hill towards me. Now I wasn't looking for trouble, I was looking for the calves and I didn't come alone. My best friend was right by my side, holstered in fact, and he only knows how to say the same word six times. Turns out my friend didn't have to do any talking because it was Farmer Paul, the owner of the corn field that was riding on the four wheeler I'd heard. He said the calves had gone back across the hill to my hay field.

I gave him my thanks and drove back around to my side of the hill. The calves were there waiting on me like dummies waiting on a ventriloquist. But I only had one thing to make them do: go back to their field and stay there. 

While I led the calves back into their field my mind raced. I now had the where they had been question answered, but the why still remained. I wiped the sweat from my brow, took a swig from my water flask, and gazed up the hill. Somewhere up there the answers would be found. With the sun sinking fast I knew I had to hurry or all the evidence would soon be out of sight.


By the time I reached the top of the hill my dogs were killing me. I hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary and time was running out. Up ahead I finally saw a clue that my blind grandmother wouldn't miss. Let me tell you, dead men tell no tales, but this dead tree had written me a book.

Everything came together like a twenty-five piece puzzle. A tree fell. Calves walked out. It was an open shut case and that is the kind I like.

Lower Temps and Rain Make a Difference

It is amazing the difference that ten degrees and a little rain can make. With 105 degree temps and no rain for around two weeks, things were getting dry. The corn was twisting and we didn't know if it would be able to last. The cows had lost some milk production as well, from the heat.

Hot, Dry Weather On the Farm

Many people notice heat and lack of rain by how green or brown the grass is in their yard, but this has a more dramatic affect on dairy farms. When it is hot cows can slow down in milk production which directly influences the farmer's income. To help offset the heat we make sure our animals have access to shade and plenty of fresh water.

Hot, dry weather also can put a strain on crops. We have some mid summer crops we'd love to plant, but until there is rain we can't put the seed in the ground. Likewise with our corn, when there is little moisture the plants will twist in the heat while patiently waiting for the rain. The dry weather has been good for putting up hay as it can be quickly mowed and baled, however 2cd and 3rd cuttings will not come if there's no rain.

One of our local television stations and my extension agent came to my farm this week to highlight how the weather is affecting farmers.

Blue Skies

The Calves Insisted On A Second Breakfast

Corn Popping Up

We have one group of calves in a pasture field that has no fence separating it from a field for crops. We only raise corn in that part of it during the summer as it stays too wet the rest of the year.

The corn had begun to come up and we knew we needed to move the calves before they began munching and stomping it. We drove two trucks to the gate where the calves were and I began to call them and shake a feed bucket to get their attention. When they heard the sounds and calls their ears beckoned and they began to trot in our direction.

The calves easily walked on out into the road and began following me as I drove through the fields toward their new home pasture. Then they stopped. I called, got out of the truck and shook my bucket to get their attention again while the other truck stayed behind them to try and nudge them forward.

As we crossed the hay fields the calves got a new idea. Although they had a bite to eat earlier, it seemed they really needed a second breakfast.

Calves Eating 2cd Breakfast

Like the hobbits, evidently.




With a bit of patience we eventually convinced the calves that there would be more "breakfast" in their new pasture if they would just come on and follow us. They eventually did see reason and are now happily living (and eating!) in their new field.