Already Mid-June

I am feeling thankful for a very mild introduction to our summer this season. June is supposed to be the hottest month and we have been very fortunate to have had what I would describe as reasonable temperatures for the desert. I am not sure if it is the mild temperatures or my new mosquito management program that is responsible for the minimal pest population this year. But whatever it is I am very happy to have had the relief so far.

I have been diligent, if not a little frugal, with the distribution of the larvaecide Altosid. I have spent hours next to the ditch sprinkling the granules into the irrigation water. I feel like I have been holding my breath waiting for the onslaught, but with the exception of one short-lived outbreak last month, we have been been rather comfortable. The granules are supposed to be spread across irrigated land prior to flooding. I tried using a fertilizer spreader, that I spent a great deal of time on the phone trying to crack the settings code to determine the best setting for the tiny granules, only to discover in the end that the settings would not go low enough to distribute appropriately. After that I spent time putting the product into the water, which is not the recommendation. I aborted that plan when I realized the product could be ending up on the bottom of the ditch caught in the silt and debris and not flowing onto the field. I then took to the Gator. I had pre-measured baggies to be distributed per acre. I then would mark out my target area and throw scoop fulls out into the field driving along in the Gator prior to irrigating. This got the product out, but my distribution was probably a little spotty, and my trapezius muscle has started to bulge with spasms as a result.

I finally ordered the backpack blower, the Maruyama Blower. It will come in next week sometime, along with some more of the granules. So I will be ready for the next distribution. I only have to spread the granules every 21 days. So we should be set until into July. I have dropped the briquet products into the neighbor's standing water in their ill-maintained ditches. Those last for 90 days.

Donald and I were feeding horses in the barn last night, and he reminded me that it has been a very long time since we have not had mosquitoes in the barn at this time of the year. I am still not ready to be convinced that there is another explanation yet, but I am hoping it is my treatment.

I irrigated this past Tuesday and ended up with standing water on the horse pasture 1B. The ground has become so compacted that even .6 of an acre foot of water is not being absorbed like it should be. This will be a real test of the mosquito infestation. I am guessing there will be mosquitoes present by this weekend. The field was treated, but I have never had such poor absorption on a field. I question whether the product will be effective in this situation. Time will tell.

The horses are all in the barn, as the pasture 1A has been plowed and disked in preparation for re-seeding of the Bermuda. This is the side that we planted the winter pasture and the condition of this field is very nice for growing. The 1B side will need to be cultivated and re-seeded eventually. Because I irrigated 1B, the horses don't have a pasture to graze in at this point. We will level 1A ourselves prior to planting. We are able to do a level field, but not one with a slope with our laser equipment.

The 4A and 4B fields have been plowed and disked and we just negotiated a trade with our neighbor to have him laser a slope onto those fields. We will pay the diesel and we will lend him a piece of equipment that he wants to borrow. I feel like it's a little in our favor, but I may give him some turkey poults to make me feel better, if he is interested.

We have enough seed to do the pasture, but we will have to order seed for the fourth fields. The price was ridiculous this winter for Bermuda. We are hoping to find a better price now that some of the seed farmers have started getting some seed off this year's fields. We will have to hire a guy to seed with a Brillion. Bermuda seed is extremely small and broadcast seeding does not work. The Brillion drags a little trench, pushes the seed into the trench, and covers it up at a specified depth. The depth is something like a quarter inch and this really makes a difference in your growth success. We will put some phosphate to stimulate the initial growth of the field.

We have had a lot of diversions with the start of the hay season, preventing us from getting the railing on the arena finished. But the fields have to be done as the season dictates, so once we are done with those, we will return to the arena in between cuttings and deliveries.

Our first cutting this year was a disappointment. The temperatures have been fantastic for humans and animals, but the Bermuda really needs those miserably hot nights to thrive. We have had evening temperatures in the 50s even into June this year. So the growth rate was slow and uneven. 3A grew better, so we only sold the hay from that field. 3B was too short to make nice flakes in the bales, so we set those aside for our own use. The yield was low on 3B, so at least I don't have too many of the bales that fall apart. I just put them in the big cart, so all the hay is in the cart when I open a bale that doesn't hold its flakes well. The horses sure weren't complaining, so I guess I'll make it through until I can put up some more manageable bales for ourselves.

I got some information regarding some hay we sold last year to a client through another client. Apparently, her horses would not eat the hay. She ended up selling it to another woman (also a client), but didn't tell us about it. This was last fall, so we couldn't piece together any information as to what field, if it was fertilized, or watered in some different way....So we don't know what went wrong with that batch of hay. The other woman's horses ate it without any problem, so the gal didn't say anything to us. On the other hand, we got a call regarding this year's hay from another client that said the hay was fantastic and her horses don't leave a single blade. She wanted to make sure we put her on the list for the next cutting. We don't really don't have enough hay to supply the demand this year. People really are having trouble getting hay. I suppose the shipping over-seas and to Texas is really limiting what is available locally this year.

I should mention our rather extroverted Kingsnake has obviously become more comfortable with our presence this year. He or she has been known to follow Erin around the horse barn while she is feeding horses. I have watched him nose into mouse holes around and in the poultry barn, coming out the other end into some of the stalls at times. Yesterday while feeding the latest clutch of chicks and poults, I discovered the Kingsnake in their stall eating mice. He finished both while I was standing in the stall with him. I have to admit, I was surprised at my calm state, and patience as he finished his meal. When I saw him shrink his body small enough to fit through the 1" metal fencing hole, I decided maybe a smaller screen needs to be applied for the stall housing the smallest chicks or poults. I will have to add this to the list of things to do.

There are lots of positive things happening with our family and progress is forward with the ranch, even if it goes slowly sometimes. If we are successful in managing the mosquitoes this year, I will feel like there is a future for me here in the desert.