Written; 11/28/08
Well the last time I wrote we ran out of seed. We got going again for about 12 more hours, but ran out of seed again. Word is that the supply chain of Pioneer or Syngenta do not have enough seed on hand currently to cover demand. So there is really nothing we can do about it. I thought it was probably a problem with the donkey delivering it, or some weird story. The most creative person couldn't even make a story unrealistic to Brazil. So this week we have been running the land roller ahead of the other planters planting soybeans. One day I had the opportunity to run one of the smaller soybean planters. Wow was it a change from the 72' bauer. I had to get more fertilizer every 2 rounds and seed every 4 rounds. Wow was it not as efficient as the bauer. Anyways, those planters are very critical to advancing the ground to being more productive. The first 2-3 years of new ground, soybeans and lots of fertilizer are used to bring up the nutrient levels to a level where you don't have to put on as much fertilizer the following years.
So funny story the other day, so make sure you listen up. I was planting corn with the bauer the other day and I needed seed at the end of the field. So a bunch of Brazilians drive past me in the pick-up full of seed. All of a sudden they are sliding sideways in the truck across the field. I was wondering what the heck, and then it gets better. The truck slides to a stop, 6 Brazilians jump out and start chasing something. I saw some kicking, diving, and others just looking ridiculous. After the dust settled, I saw one of them carrying a tatoo (armadillo). They didn't kill it, but they must like the excitement of the chase. They let it go for all of you animal lovers.
Seed is at the farm, but it has started to rain again. The forecast for the next 15 days is rain, so its going to be interesting. We leave for the coast on the 11th, so the rest of the interns would actually like to get some things done. We feel a little guilty, however we can't control the seed donkeys or the weather. Were in town now for a couple of days getting recharged with food other than rice and beans, and will probably be going back out to the farms tomorrow.
3 weeks left, and I'm sure it will go fast. It always seems like this, but we will be leaving now that I am comfortable around the locals and can speak enough Portuguese to get around by myself.
Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!
Signing off................
-Hrubes
Friday, November 28, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Sit and wait.........
Written; 11/24/08
Well the last time I blogged we were in the middle of a huge 800 hectare (2,000 acre) field. Well today I am here to tell you that we have about 24 more hours left on that field. We really should be done with it and moved onto soybeans, however I am in Brazil. For some unknown reason to me, we had some sort of mix-up and ran short of corn seed. So, yesterday we were done by noon and basically sat all day until today. I jumped into the land roller to knock out some land with that as we waited for our shipment of mihlo. Mihlo has arrived and we are currently waiting for it to get treated before the other intern heads out for the night. If tonight is a complete go, we will finish corn tomorrow late.
The good news is that the other 3 smaller planters on the farm are going full speed with soybeans. It is really getting crazy here, hardly enough help anymore due to 4 planters needing seed and fertilizer (smaller planters apply fert with the seed due to new ground).
Lately I have been getting a spoon with my meals out in the field. No fork or knife. We are served meat, spaghetti, and rice (unfortunately every, single, day, after day, after day). How am I suppose to eat that with a SPOON. Who does the cook think I am, David Copperfield???
This completion date of December 5th is just around the corner.........
Signing off.............
- Hrubes
Well the last time I blogged we were in the middle of a huge 800 hectare (2,000 acre) field. Well today I am here to tell you that we have about 24 more hours left on that field. We really should be done with it and moved onto soybeans, however I am in Brazil. For some unknown reason to me, we had some sort of mix-up and ran short of corn seed. So, yesterday we were done by noon and basically sat all day until today. I jumped into the land roller to knock out some land with that as we waited for our shipment of mihlo. Mihlo has arrived and we are currently waiting for it to get treated before the other intern heads out for the night. If tonight is a complete go, we will finish corn tomorrow late.
The good news is that the other 3 smaller planters on the farm are going full speed with soybeans. It is really getting crazy here, hardly enough help anymore due to 4 planters needing seed and fertilizer (smaller planters apply fert with the seed due to new ground).
Lately I have been getting a spoon with my meals out in the field. No fork or knife. We are served meat, spaghetti, and rice (unfortunately every, single, day, after day, after day). How am I suppose to eat that with a SPOON. Who does the cook think I am, David Copperfield???
This completion date of December 5th is just around the corner.........
Signing off.............
- Hrubes
Friday, November 21, 2008
Pictures of planting and other current activities
Here is a link to my album on photobucket.com
Enjoy
Enjoy
Thursday, November 20, 2008
I think I'm famous
Written: 11/20/08
Well, I finished that 300 hectare field that the next morning, finished the headlands (they do the headlands last, weird I know), and headed to the next mammoth. The next task included 3 fields connected at their headlands again (to eliminate 4 headlands) and the total area is around 800 hectares(2,000 acres). Each pass is almost 6 Km!!! Well Tuesday I only got one round in due to more rain.
The next day (Wednesday) was a little delayed because of rain, but I was running full speed by 10 a.m. We had some trouble at first with some plugging up but that was cleared up when I had 4 Brazilians on the back of the planter of course "riding Brazilian". I went til about 7 when the next intern jumped in the tractor. He didn't get very far due to another shot of rain. Overall I think we took out about 200 hectares of the field.
Today, I was excited to take another big chunk out, but like the past week, it rained again. It pretty much rained all day today, and I am concerned if we will get to go tomorrow. I think only if the sun comes out, we will get a shot at it.
It seems like everyday that I have been out planting, there was someone there taking my picture that I didn't know. I don't know who told them that Ryan "The Lazer" Hrubes was going to be planting in the area, but it sure worked. I must be famous. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the 72' planter behind the tractor, that is at least 3 times the size of any planter in the country. (There are 6 Bauer Planters in South America and GAI has 3 of them)("The Lazer" is refering to my excellent driving skills.)
Dino jokes with the guys that I am learning the first time how to drive tractor, because in the United States all our tractors have AutoSteer. He thinks all we do in the United States is take naps in the tractors til the turning alarm goes off. Haha
Hope the sun comes out tomorrow to make some grain.
Take care everyone!!!
Signing off.........
- "The Lazer"
Monday, November 17, 2008
Hold the Staleness
Written: 11/17/08
Yesterday was a pretty good day considering that it rained. However after getting kicked out before noon by rain, I went back later in the day to finish the 750 acre field in the dark. This morning I was ready to hit it hard once again, but the rain gods decided to rain on my parade, literally. After almost 2 inches of rain and about 4 hours drying time we went back out to the field to see if we could go. Once out there I knew we could, so we did. This task included two fields linked at the headlands (the long way), making the total area around 300 hectares (750 acres) again. This means it will take another 24 hours to tackle this project. After 4 rounds, my shift was up and the other intern was going to give it a try. I really hope he gets a whole night in, but before I left there was lightning in the distance.
Today was another good day, except for the fact that my daily snack did not live up to par. I opened my little bag of Doritos in hopes of some satisfying chips. What I got was a very stale chip. These chips were more stale than the chips you would find at your grandparents house. The freshness date was Christmas this year. Well the local grocery store might be getting an early X-mas gift in the shape of a letter announcing my displeasure of stale chips. This isn't the first time I have gotten stale chips from this store. I hope it doesn't happen again, or Fruti Mart (local grocery store) might get a personal visit from me.
Anyways, goodnight and hope everyone is staying warm. FYI it's so warm here I sleep in my underwear with no covers!!
Signing off..........
- (a displeased Fruti Mart customer) Hrubes
Yesterday was a pretty good day considering that it rained. However after getting kicked out before noon by rain, I went back later in the day to finish the 750 acre field in the dark. This morning I was ready to hit it hard once again, but the rain gods decided to rain on my parade, literally. After almost 2 inches of rain and about 4 hours drying time we went back out to the field to see if we could go. Once out there I knew we could, so we did. This task included two fields linked at the headlands (the long way), making the total area around 300 hectares (750 acres) again. This means it will take another 24 hours to tackle this project. After 4 rounds, my shift was up and the other intern was going to give it a try. I really hope he gets a whole night in, but before I left there was lightning in the distance.
Today was another good day, except for the fact that my daily snack did not live up to par. I opened my little bag of Doritos in hopes of some satisfying chips. What I got was a very stale chip. These chips were more stale than the chips you would find at your grandparents house. The freshness date was Christmas this year. Well the local grocery store might be getting an early X-mas gift in the shape of a letter announcing my displeasure of stale chips. This isn't the first time I have gotten stale chips from this store. I hope it doesn't happen again, or Fruti Mart (local grocery store) might get a personal visit from me.
Anyways, goodnight and hope everyone is staying warm. FYI it's so warm here I sleep in my underwear with no covers!!
Signing off..........
- (a displeased Fruti Mart customer) Hrubes
Saturday, November 15, 2008
VAMOS (Let's Go)
Written: 11/15/08
Well the last time I wrote we were in the middle of a broken down tractor. Well kids, I have good news. IT'S FIXED!!!
The day after (Wednesday) we took the tractor to the mechanics place, it rained on us a lot. In the last 4 days we have gotten over 4 inches of rain at Rondonia, however we have ran the planter the last two days. We are able to do this because of the types of soil (very sandy) and the power of the sun. Anyways, we are starting to get things done pretty fast. Today was a full day and hopefully a full night. During the day I was covering about 40 acres an hour, only stopping for seed every 4-5 hours. It's pretty cool when the sun goes down because you can see everyone else scrambling to get seed in the ground as fast as you can. It's different here because it's so flat that you can see a long ways, which you can see many farms in action. If we get 4-24 hour periods of planting, we will have our corn done. (around 8,000 acres total)
Funny thing happened to me today. I think a lot about what I want to eat when I get back to the states, and today when I got out of the tractor in the field I smelled maple syrup. I thought to myself, "boy wouldn't it be nice to have a big stack of pancakes tomorrow morning??" I think possibly the Furadan is getting to me........ (Furadan is a insecticide that we have treated our corn with. Oh by the way, its been banned in the United States for like 20 years)
Well I'm off to bed, hoping to wake up to a tractor still planting.
Signing off................
- Hrubes
Well the last time I wrote we were in the middle of a broken down tractor. Well kids, I have good news. IT'S FIXED!!!
The day after (Wednesday) we took the tractor to the mechanics place, it rained on us a lot. In the last 4 days we have gotten over 4 inches of rain at Rondonia, however we have ran the planter the last two days. We are able to do this because of the types of soil (very sandy) and the power of the sun. Anyways, we are starting to get things done pretty fast. Today was a full day and hopefully a full night. During the day I was covering about 40 acres an hour, only stopping for seed every 4-5 hours. It's pretty cool when the sun goes down because you can see everyone else scrambling to get seed in the ground as fast as you can. It's different here because it's so flat that you can see a long ways, which you can see many farms in action. If we get 4-24 hour periods of planting, we will have our corn done. (around 8,000 acres total)
Funny thing happened to me today. I think a lot about what I want to eat when I get back to the states, and today when I got out of the tractor in the field I smelled maple syrup. I thought to myself, "boy wouldn't it be nice to have a big stack of pancakes tomorrow morning??" I think possibly the Furadan is getting to me........ (Furadan is a insecticide that we have treated our corn with. Oh by the way, its been banned in the United States for like 20 years)
Well I'm off to bed, hoping to wake up to a tractor still planting.
Signing off................
- Hrubes
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Hurry up and.............wait
Written: 11/12/08
Well today we were up early in hopes of getting in the field with a tractor that will work flawlessly. In hopes of putting in a full day of planting corn. Well, it didn't go as well as planned.
Firstly, we had a mechanic look at the tractor. He thought it was the fuel pump or maybe the sensor. After pulling out of good sensor, we think we have narrowed it down. He wanted to ride with me to see what it was actually doing. So after the planter was greased, a tire put on the tractor, we were back in the field. Not 100 feet into the round the tractor acted up. So I shifted down to my previous snail pace and chugged along. The mechanic got out, did a couple of things, and it continued to be underpowered. So after our 40 min round (that should take 20 min or less) we took the tractor to the mechanic's shop. Hopefully tomorrow it is done and ready.
Next, we went out into the planted field to check population with the "technical" of the farm. Now the technical is a person generally with a 3 year degree in agronomy. All of GAI's farms have at least one technical to help the farm manager with the agronomy aspects of the farm. We did a couple of samples and our average was just what we were looking for. The seed that we planted Saturday is already emerged, even though we haven't had that much sunshine and rain.
The rest of the day included calibrating the sprayers that just arrived on the farm. These sprayers are called "Jactau". They have 70'ish booms, and I would call it a 400 gallon tank. Anyways, right as we were finishing calibrate the sprayers, more rain decided to fall. Dino was happy because now he knows it's time to roll.
We were having some fun talking to each other on the CBs, making fun of each other. I would make some fun at one of the technicals and all he would say back is that I can't drive the planter straight. It sure makes the day go by faster when this sort of thing happens.
Anyways, I am off to bed in hopes (I have been hoping a lot lately) of a big planting day tomorrow.
from Brazil.........
Signing off...............
-Hrubes
Well today we were up early in hopes of getting in the field with a tractor that will work flawlessly. In hopes of putting in a full day of planting corn. Well, it didn't go as well as planned.
Firstly, we had a mechanic look at the tractor. He thought it was the fuel pump or maybe the sensor. After pulling out of good sensor, we think we have narrowed it down. He wanted to ride with me to see what it was actually doing. So after the planter was greased, a tire put on the tractor, we were back in the field. Not 100 feet into the round the tractor acted up. So I shifted down to my previous snail pace and chugged along. The mechanic got out, did a couple of things, and it continued to be underpowered. So after our 40 min round (that should take 20 min or less) we took the tractor to the mechanic's shop. Hopefully tomorrow it is done and ready.
Next, we went out into the planted field to check population with the "technical" of the farm. Now the technical is a person generally with a 3 year degree in agronomy. All of GAI's farms have at least one technical to help the farm manager with the agronomy aspects of the farm. We did a couple of samples and our average was just what we were looking for. The seed that we planted Saturday is already emerged, even though we haven't had that much sunshine and rain.
The rest of the day included calibrating the sprayers that just arrived on the farm. These sprayers are called "Jactau". They have 70'ish booms, and I would call it a 400 gallon tank. Anyways, right as we were finishing calibrate the sprayers, more rain decided to fall. Dino was happy because now he knows it's time to roll.
We were having some fun talking to each other on the CBs, making fun of each other. I would make some fun at one of the technicals and all he would say back is that I can't drive the planter straight. It sure makes the day go by faster when this sort of thing happens.
Anyways, I am off to bed in hopes (I have been hoping a lot lately) of a big planting day tomorrow.
from Brazil.........
Signing off...............
-Hrubes
They call me........
Written: morning of 11/12/08
Well the past couple of days have been so so. We have been planting both of the previous days, however we haven't gotten much done. The reason is because our 8410 has been acting up. Ever since the first day of planting, the tractor seems to have a power issue. Somewhere in the diesel pump I presume. Anyways, I have been planting the last two days around 3.5 km/h. SLOW. That's 2.2 mph slow. That's the corn emerging on the previous pass before I get to the other end slow. That's getting out of the tractor while it's moving to go to the bathroom and still get back in slow. Thats even Francis Child SLOW. Regardless were getting corn in the ground, and we hope to fix the tractor today. We might get to plant corn today at, wait a minute ................ 6 mph!!!!
Sounds like the other farms are getting started as well. One of the south Farms, Global, has been planting popcorn for the past couple of days as well when there is no rain. So were slowly but surely getting things started down in Brazil. Hopefully they will quickly speed up and get all the seed in by the end of the month. I'm crossing my fingers!!!
Take care everyone!!
Signing off............
- Hrubes (aka Francis Childs)
Well the past couple of days have been so so. We have been planting both of the previous days, however we haven't gotten much done. The reason is because our 8410 has been acting up. Ever since the first day of planting, the tractor seems to have a power issue. Somewhere in the diesel pump I presume. Anyways, I have been planting the last two days around 3.5 km/h. SLOW. That's 2.2 mph slow. That's the corn emerging on the previous pass before I get to the other end slow. That's getting out of the tractor while it's moving to go to the bathroom and still get back in slow. Thats even Francis Child SLOW. Regardless were getting corn in the ground, and we hope to fix the tractor today. We might get to plant corn today at, wait a minute ................ 6 mph!!!!
Sounds like the other farms are getting started as well. One of the south Farms, Global, has been planting popcorn for the past couple of days as well when there is no rain. So were slowly but surely getting things started down in Brazil. Hopefully they will quickly speed up and get all the seed in by the end of the month. I'm crossing my fingers!!!
Take care everyone!!
Signing off............
- Hrubes (aka Francis Childs)
Sunday, November 9, 2008
And were off.......
Written 11/9/08
Today was a pretty good day. We figured out our hydraulic problem (which only involved switching some hoses around), and started calibrating the planter. The planter is a 3 year old new planter. Yeah it sounds wierd but heres the story. This 72' planter use to be just a 24 row/36'' spacing for the last couple of years. Well this offseason since GAI now has a 36 row/36'' spacing planter just for cotton, they decided to convert the 72' to a corn/soybean planter. What this entails is putting another 24 rows in between the existing rows. So we really have a planter half new and half 3 years old. Anyways, we got that calibrated and just before we headed for some more seed, it started to rain. This was what Forest Gump would call "big ol' fat rain" So we quit at about 6 and headed into town.
Tomorrow we will head back and really should get a lot done. No more calibration or little things to dink with. The tractor was having some power issues so we may have to change some filters, in hopes of solving that problem. It's funny, a person cannot really plan in Brazil, because nothing ever seems to go they way they are suppose to. It really sharpens a person's problem solving skills.
Ever since the rain started, the bugs have had a coming out party. They are RIDICULOUS!! You can't keep them off of you. They are more annoying than little brothers. (see Nathan, you aren't THAT bad....... ;) )
Other than that everything is going good. I really hope to get some planting done tomorrow!!!
Signing off..............
- ( a bugged) Hrubes
Today was a pretty good day. We figured out our hydraulic problem (which only involved switching some hoses around), and started calibrating the planter. The planter is a 3 year old new planter. Yeah it sounds wierd but heres the story. This 72' planter use to be just a 24 row/36'' spacing for the last couple of years. Well this offseason since GAI now has a 36 row/36'' spacing planter just for cotton, they decided to convert the 72' to a corn/soybean planter. What this entails is putting another 24 rows in between the existing rows. So we really have a planter half new and half 3 years old. Anyways, we got that calibrated and just before we headed for some more seed, it started to rain. This was what Forest Gump would call "big ol' fat rain" So we quit at about 6 and headed into town.
Tomorrow we will head back and really should get a lot done. No more calibration or little things to dink with. The tractor was having some power issues so we may have to change some filters, in hopes of solving that problem. It's funny, a person cannot really plan in Brazil, because nothing ever seems to go they way they are suppose to. It really sharpens a person's problem solving skills.
Ever since the rain started, the bugs have had a coming out party. They are RIDICULOUS!! You can't keep them off of you. They are more annoying than little brothers. (see Nathan, you aren't THAT bad....... ;) )
Other than that everything is going good. I really hope to get some planting done tomorrow!!!
Signing off..............
- ( a bugged) Hrubes
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Maybe too excited......
Written 11/8/09
Well today did not go the best. In the morning we got the land roller going good. Dino was concerned that it was going to compact the soil too much, but later saw that it was doing a good job. I would think it would be pretty hard for a farmer in Brazil to adapt to the new technologies us Americans are brining to this country full of opportunities. Dino does understand however, that these challenges (new technologies) will help advance production for Brazil and really put them on the map.
Early afternoon came very quickly, and so did the clouds. We had the planter ready, tractor ready (we found out later it wasn't), and some seed ready. It took us 45 mins just to move the tractor and planter to the field. Reminding everyone that this field is touching all fields belonging to Rondonia, it's just that much land!!! Anyways, we had filled the seed boxes with about 1/3 full of seed to start since we were going to calibrate. Out in the field, the planter unfolded, we were ready to get started. Well, the hydraulic hoses were leaking right out of the CVs. Just thinking they were loose fittings, we tightened them and continued. Eventually it led to the fill cap on the hydraulic fluid to fly off. Hydraulic fluid was everywhere. Obviously not a good thing.
We're back in town for the night because we do not know if we have a little problem on our hands or a big one. We are getting up extra early tomorrow to head back out to try something, but if that doesn't work, we have a big problem.
Lots of rain is forcasted to start at the middle of the week through the end of the week, so it would be nice if we could get 7,800 acres of corn in before it rains!! It's been pretty nice since the rain has started, the temps haven't been close to 100 for the past handfull of days.
Well, lets hope tomorrow the planting gods aren't hungover.
Signing off.........
- Hrubes
Well today did not go the best. In the morning we got the land roller going good. Dino was concerned that it was going to compact the soil too much, but later saw that it was doing a good job. I would think it would be pretty hard for a farmer in Brazil to adapt to the new technologies us Americans are brining to this country full of opportunities. Dino does understand however, that these challenges (new technologies) will help advance production for Brazil and really put them on the map.
Early afternoon came very quickly, and so did the clouds. We had the planter ready, tractor ready (we found out later it wasn't), and some seed ready. It took us 45 mins just to move the tractor and planter to the field. Reminding everyone that this field is touching all fields belonging to Rondonia, it's just that much land!!! Anyways, we had filled the seed boxes with about 1/3 full of seed to start since we were going to calibrate. Out in the field, the planter unfolded, we were ready to get started. Well, the hydraulic hoses were leaking right out of the CVs. Just thinking they were loose fittings, we tightened them and continued. Eventually it led to the fill cap on the hydraulic fluid to fly off. Hydraulic fluid was everywhere. Obviously not a good thing.
We're back in town for the night because we do not know if we have a little problem on our hands or a big one. We are getting up extra early tomorrow to head back out to try something, but if that doesn't work, we have a big problem.
Lots of rain is forcasted to start at the middle of the week through the end of the week, so it would be nice if we could get 7,800 acres of corn in before it rains!! It's been pretty nice since the rain has started, the temps haven't been close to 100 for the past handfull of days.
Well, lets hope tomorrow the planting gods aren't hungover.
Signing off.........
- Hrubes
Friday, November 7, 2008
It's Here
Written: 11/7/08
The day has come. We begin planting tomorrow!! A lot of hours have been put in already for the soil to be primed, planters to be ready, and my patience to run out.
Today was used to put the finishing touches on the planter as well as the tractor on the planter. We even had some time to take the planter out for a little test run out in the field. It rained this morning, so the field was a little sticky. That is why we have put a bullseye on mid-morning tomorrow to " let er' rip".
Today also included some assembly of a piece of equipment that the Brazilians have never seen. Shoot, I have barely seen these in action. GAI has decided to purchase a land roller for their Brazil operation. Our land roller looks like 3 giant drums rolling over the ground. The object in Brazil for this piece of equipment is to push down all the sticks in the field, and to make a perfect bed for our seed. Anyway, it was fun muscling all the pieces around. (Remember, here we have no power tools, no pneumatic tools, or forklifts.) Regardless, we have the whole thing put together and it will be ready to roll tomorrow. (yeah I said the land roller is ready to roll, hilarious I know) I have been having lots of fun with the Brazilian farm laborers since my portuguese has improved. It really makes the days go by faster, and I hope make their days more enjoyable. (tear)
At GAI we are treating all our corn seed this year. Simple does it here, and a cement mixer gets the job done. The Brazilians look like people off of E.T. dressed up in all their gear. E.T was a good movie some time ago.
Alright kids, I am off to bed, it has been a long day. I hope to wake tomorrow, learning of no rain, and be ready to PLANT MILHO!!! (FYI: milho is corn in portuguese)
-Signing off.................
- Hrubes
The day has come. We begin planting tomorrow!! A lot of hours have been put in already for the soil to be primed, planters to be ready, and my patience to run out.
Today was used to put the finishing touches on the planter as well as the tractor on the planter. We even had some time to take the planter out for a little test run out in the field. It rained this morning, so the field was a little sticky. That is why we have put a bullseye on mid-morning tomorrow to " let er' rip".
Today also included some assembly of a piece of equipment that the Brazilians have never seen. Shoot, I have barely seen these in action. GAI has decided to purchase a land roller for their Brazil operation. Our land roller looks like 3 giant drums rolling over the ground. The object in Brazil for this piece of equipment is to push down all the sticks in the field, and to make a perfect bed for our seed. Anyway, it was fun muscling all the pieces around. (Remember, here we have no power tools, no pneumatic tools, or forklifts.) Regardless, we have the whole thing put together and it will be ready to roll tomorrow. (yeah I said the land roller is ready to roll, hilarious I know) I have been having lots of fun with the Brazilian farm laborers since my portuguese has improved. It really makes the days go by faster, and I hope make their days more enjoyable. (tear)
At GAI we are treating all our corn seed this year. Simple does it here, and a cement mixer gets the job done. The Brazilians look like people off of E.T. dressed up in all their gear. E.T was a good movie some time ago.
Alright kids, I am off to bed, it has been a long day. I hope to wake tomorrow, learning of no rain, and be ready to PLANT MILHO!!! (FYI: milho is corn in portuguese)
-Signing off.................
- Hrubes
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
So close I can smell it!!!
Written 11/5/08
I awoke late last night to the rain pounding on the roof of my house out on the farm. I went to bed for a couple more hours and awaking again to the rain. At Fazenda Rondonia the rain did not stop for probably 4 hours. What this means is that planting is right around the corner, and I am really excited.
We still have a little work to do on the tractor and planter. The tractor needs a couple of tires, and the planter only needs a couple of seed unit parts and a new vaccum. We will have to calibrate the planter before we really get going. Eric our agronomist really wants to try some no-till beans this year due to the way last year corn ground looks after a light disc hits it. Talking with Dino today about this, he is concerned about getting the seed into the ground. Dino has never seen no-till beans before I think, because he asked me if we ever do it this way. I replied that my farm doesn't do it, however there are a lot of farms doing it this way now. He shook his head in agreement. Dino really cares about his farm, one day he wanted to know how we did things back in the states that would help his farm, and vice versa.
All the discing is done, and only a few more fields need fertilizer. We are sitting in really good shape to hit the ground running once this rain decides to stick around. Were thinking in about two days we can start planting corn. Once corn is taken care of, we will move to soybeans. I hope to be done with Rondonia in 15 days once we start.
Signing off........
- (an excited) Hrubes
I awoke late last night to the rain pounding on the roof of my house out on the farm. I went to bed for a couple more hours and awaking again to the rain. At Fazenda Rondonia the rain did not stop for probably 4 hours. What this means is that planting is right around the corner, and I am really excited.
We still have a little work to do on the tractor and planter. The tractor needs a couple of tires, and the planter only needs a couple of seed unit parts and a new vaccum. We will have to calibrate the planter before we really get going. Eric our agronomist really wants to try some no-till beans this year due to the way last year corn ground looks after a light disc hits it. Talking with Dino today about this, he is concerned about getting the seed into the ground. Dino has never seen no-till beans before I think, because he asked me if we ever do it this way. I replied that my farm doesn't do it, however there are a lot of farms doing it this way now. He shook his head in agreement. Dino really cares about his farm, one day he wanted to know how we did things back in the states that would help his farm, and vice versa.
All the discing is done, and only a few more fields need fertilizer. We are sitting in really good shape to hit the ground running once this rain decides to stick around. Were thinking in about two days we can start planting corn. Once corn is taken care of, we will move to soybeans. I hope to be done with Rondonia in 15 days once we start.
Signing off........
- (an excited) Hrubes
Sunday, November 2, 2008
con·ven·ient [kuhn-veen-yuhnt] - adj : (see any country except brazil)
Greetings, we have been pretty busy the last week putting the new 108' planter together as well as discing some cotton stubble. We ended the weekend "ridin' Brazilian" back to town.
Sunday morning the 2 containers arrived at the farm with our new planter. Bauer sent down one of their employees to help assemble our planter and another planter ordered by Americans. I some how drew the short straw without actually drawing straws, and ended up working the night shift discing. So I didn't get to help as much as I wanted, but got my fix in when I couldn't sleep during the day. It's really hard to sleep when its 100 degrees!!! Anyways the planter frame is all done and we have about 12-15 more units to hang on it and plumb. This thing looks HUGE and will be a planting machine. About the title; we put this monster together with hardly any tools. No impact wrenches were used in the construction. The rachets are not Craftsman, and we only had one. The wrenches that we did have were singles, no two of anything. So people were sharing wrenches, and you can imagine how efficient that is. The second inconvenience concerning the planter was the availability of the units. The John Deere dealership here told GAI that the units were here, and we could pick them up whenever we needed to. So when we needed them, they ended up only have 5 on hand. So nice!! They ended up ripping 12-15 units off of new planters on their lot to give to us and we still need 12-15 more to finish the planter.
The third inconvenience enters while I am discing at night. The disc that I am using this time is much bigger than the previous heavy disc. 36" discs are the ones that turn the dirt on this puppy. Anyways, every night I have to hook this thing up, because the field I was working on is a 30 minute tractor drive away from the farm with the diesel. The beggining of the week I was using 5 gallon hydraulic jugs as jack stands. Brazilians are very creative here!! Well towards the end of the week these jugs were not in good shape, and I had to muscle the thing up on the tractor. Well it ended up taking me about 45 minutes because the thing was so heavy and the tractor had to be positioned perfectly. Eventually I got it up there and the way I did it I think I deserve an honorary Engineering Degree from ISU.
On the ride back into town Friday, another intern and I "rode Brazilian". Now this could be many things by definition, because all a person needs to do in order to be "ridin' Brazilian" is ride where people shouldn't be riding. "Riding Brazilian" could be any of the following for I have seen it all; a family of 4 on ONE motorcycle, in the back of a fertilizer spreader, on the back of a planter making sure seed units are working, behind a donkey on a two wheeled cart, and of course in the back of a pick-up, We were in the back of the truck sitting on suitcases for 45 minutes back to town. Again as I mentioned before, these roads are not smooth as glass to say the least. My tailbone is bruised.
Friday and Saturday night the interns went out on the town for some dancing. The dance floor was still smoking the day after we tore up that thing the night before. I'm sure the Brazilians were taking notes. We had fun considering we got home just before the sun came up both mornings.
The meteorologists keep pushing rain back later and later. Currently they are talking the 14th of November so we might start putting in corn middle of next week. Everyone here is very anxious to get in and get things done, but as I have mentioned earlier it's risky.
Back to the farm tomorrow to finish up the planter and some other mechanical work. Again I will not have internet until who knows. It's soooo convenient.
Signing off...............
- Hrubes (aka Kevin Bacon on "Footloose")
Sunday morning the 2 containers arrived at the farm with our new planter. Bauer sent down one of their employees to help assemble our planter and another planter ordered by Americans. I some how drew the short straw without actually drawing straws, and ended up working the night shift discing. So I didn't get to help as much as I wanted, but got my fix in when I couldn't sleep during the day. It's really hard to sleep when its 100 degrees!!! Anyways the planter frame is all done and we have about 12-15 more units to hang on it and plumb. This thing looks HUGE and will be a planting machine. About the title; we put this monster together with hardly any tools. No impact wrenches were used in the construction. The rachets are not Craftsman, and we only had one. The wrenches that we did have were singles, no two of anything. So people were sharing wrenches, and you can imagine how efficient that is. The second inconvenience concerning the planter was the availability of the units. The John Deere dealership here told GAI that the units were here, and we could pick them up whenever we needed to. So when we needed them, they ended up only have 5 on hand. So nice!! They ended up ripping 12-15 units off of new planters on their lot to give to us and we still need 12-15 more to finish the planter.
The third inconvenience enters while I am discing at night. The disc that I am using this time is much bigger than the previous heavy disc. 36" discs are the ones that turn the dirt on this puppy. Anyways, every night I have to hook this thing up, because the field I was working on is a 30 minute tractor drive away from the farm with the diesel. The beggining of the week I was using 5 gallon hydraulic jugs as jack stands. Brazilians are very creative here!! Well towards the end of the week these jugs were not in good shape, and I had to muscle the thing up on the tractor. Well it ended up taking me about 45 minutes because the thing was so heavy and the tractor had to be positioned perfectly. Eventually I got it up there and the way I did it I think I deserve an honorary Engineering Degree from ISU.
On the ride back into town Friday, another intern and I "rode Brazilian". Now this could be many things by definition, because all a person needs to do in order to be "ridin' Brazilian" is ride where people shouldn't be riding. "Riding Brazilian" could be any of the following for I have seen it all; a family of 4 on ONE motorcycle, in the back of a fertilizer spreader, on the back of a planter making sure seed units are working, behind a donkey on a two wheeled cart, and of course in the back of a pick-up, We were in the back of the truck sitting on suitcases for 45 minutes back to town. Again as I mentioned before, these roads are not smooth as glass to say the least. My tailbone is bruised.
Friday and Saturday night the interns went out on the town for some dancing. The dance floor was still smoking the day after we tore up that thing the night before. I'm sure the Brazilians were taking notes. We had fun considering we got home just before the sun came up both mornings.
The meteorologists keep pushing rain back later and later. Currently they are talking the 14th of November so we might start putting in corn middle of next week. Everyone here is very anxious to get in and get things done, but as I have mentioned earlier it's risky.
Back to the farm tomorrow to finish up the planter and some other mechanical work. Again I will not have internet until who knows. It's soooo convenient.
Signing off...............
- Hrubes (aka Kevin Bacon on "Footloose")
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