I've just been fakin' it, not really makin' it

The scurs’ Weather Eye underachieved last week as Old Man Winter’s icy grip returned. Does he maintain that grip, or does he loosen it up a tad? Starting Thursday, mostly sunny with highs in the low 40’s and lows in the upper 20’s. Mostly sunny Friday with highs in the low 50’s with lows in the upper teens. Partly sunny on Saturday with highs in the mid-20’s with lows around 5 above. Sunday, partly sunny with highs in the low 20’s and lows in the mid-teens. Mostly cloudy on Monday with a slight chance of snow. Highs in the upper 20’s with lows in the upper teens. Tuesday, cloudy with a good chance of snow. Highs in the low 30’s with lows in the mid-teens. Mostly cloudy on Wednesday with highs in the upper 20’s and lows in the upper teens. On February 28th the sun will set at 6 p.m. CST. On March 3rd, we will have our Full Moon for the month as well as the potential to see a lunar eclipse at around 5:30 a.m. The normal high for March 3rd is 32 and the normal low is 16. The scurs have their alarm clocks set for the eclipse. If it’s cloudy they will roll over and go back to sleep.

 

The Full Moon as mentioned above is due on March 3rd. It goes by several names, the most common of which is the Full Worm Moon. It is during this moon that earthworms commonly begin coming to the soil surface once again and leaving their castings. Given the temperatures, it is also known as the Full Sugar Moon or Sap Moon as maple trees are tapped for the sap that runs during the temperatures common this time of year. The Ojibwe called it the Snow Crust Moon or the Wild Goose Moon. The Sioux knew this as The Sore Eye Moon or The Moon when Buffalo Cows drop their Calves. At the ranch, it’s known as The Moon when Ewes drop their Lambs. Outside, especially when they’re not shorn yet.

 

We hit a bump in the road on our quest for spring. After being spoiled by several 50+ degree days, we descended back into more normal temperatures for this time of year. Still, we sawed off a week’s worth of winter and helped average out some of the below normal temperature days. Indeed, the frost depth at the SROC in Waseca became shallower, measured at 13” on February 18th, 7” on the 20th, then back to 10” on the 23rd after the cold weekend. While disheartening perhaps, not unexpected. It looks like we can expect more of the same for much of the 1st half of March anyway. February precipitation continues to be well below normal, and forecasts don’t bode well for that improving much before month’s end. Not hearing very many complaints either. Too busy holding their breath for March.

 

The lambing season at the ranch continues to be a struggle in the light of Cache Valley virus. We’ve had several stillborn lambs and several more that aren’t quite right physically and possibly mentally. One of the hallmarks of this disease is altered brain development that can manifest itself in numerous ways. We had one lamb that we thought was getting milk from the ewe. As all lambs do, they’ll punch at the ewe’s udder several times to get her to let the milk down, then grab onto the teat. We had one that did the first part right, but was apparently faking it. He wasn’t grabbing on and was going backwards physically in a hurry. Not until we milked the ewe out and bottle fed him did he figure out that he had his own personal milk supply at his disposal without our help.

 

I recently attended an oat production meeting where Jochum Wiesrma spoke, covering many aspects of oat production. He also mentioned wild oats. This is a weed many have never seen as it’s been nonexistent here in southern MN during their lifetime. Working in the Durum Triangle area of North Dakota for 3 years I saw what a problem it could be. Wild oats were fairly easy to spot in fields sowed with a press drill with double disk openers. If there were plants appearing to be small grain between the drill rows, odds were they were wild oats. There were still some who used hoe drills, however. Those tended to scatter the small grain seed more randomly, not in perfect rows. There was a field of semi-dwarf Lloyd durum seed wheat seeded with a hoe drill by Rock Lake. It looked fantastic early on. When the durum headed out, the wild oats headed out over the top of it. Ugly.

 

The awns on wild oats look relatively innocuous. They’re actually a main part of the mechanism that makes wild oats such a difficult weed to control. Upon wetting, the awns unwind and literally screw the wild oat seed into the ground. The seed typically survives in the soil for about 5 years. A few can last up to 10 years though and quickly repopulate a field if you’re not on top of your weed control game. Wild oats are still common in northern MN and ND despite all the glyphosate used on corn and soybeans now being grown there. Something gleaned from Jochum’s presentation is that the sharp awns of wild oats are detrimental for producing food grade oats. They are very sharp and difficult to remove from the domesticated oats. One plus for food grade oats raised here in SC MN. The only wild oats here are likely to be those sown on Friday and Saturday nights.

 

Poppy’s “fake spring” so far has consisted of helping to fill birdfeeders. Picking up sticks and covering plants that were in danger of being frozen came on Saturday and precipitated some serious napping afterwards. There are copious amounts of dog poop littering the front yard, something that happens when the snowblower doesn’t get used very often. After 40 years of dogs using the front yard as their personal toilet, it might be interesting to see what the soil fertility levels are like relative to other areas. There’s probably a reason the grass is some of the thickest in the entire lawn. Even though she’s smaller than most of her predecessors, Poppy has certainly been doing her fair share to maintain the soil fertility.

 

See you next week…real good then.