By now, anyone with a lawn that is not being watered regularly has noticed that it is brown and hardly growing. I have often stated, “If your lawn is lush and green, farmers are happy.” Even a recent weather forecast confirmed that the first week of June was one of the hottest ever. Much of the upper Midwest has been short on rain for many months, and that deficit is really becoming problematic with the heat.
Farmers have been busy applying nitrogen fertilizer and weed control products. A farmer never knows how much rain the summer will bring. If they knew that rain would be very limited, they could purposely reduce the nitrogen rate. If rains are plentiful and they under apply nitrogen, yields could suffer. I vividly remember the excessive rains of 2019. If only we could have “banked” about 12 inches of that summer’s rain and delivered it this summer, farming would be easier.
I recently sprayed a waterhemp infested field with the new Enlist Colex-D technology. The field was not planted in 2019, the year that millions of acres became “prevent plant” due to incessant rains. Needless to say, the lack of good weed control in those unplanted acres in 2019 has led to a bountiful crop of waterhemp this year. I have to wonder how many years I will be plagued with all the seeds that were spread that summer.
I now have to weasel my way into another topic. I have never seen a weasel in my lifetime in Will County. As a backyard chicken farmer, I always knew that certain predators could wreak havoc on a flock. I always believed that weasels did not call Will County their home. I received a call from a neighboring chicken farmer who had his flock of 26 meat birds killed in one night. A weasel was the prime suspect. A few days later it unleashed its fury on some laying hens. He was desperate for a solution.
Weasels are confirmed to be vicious killers. They not only kill to eat, they kill for fun like coyotes and dogs. Their sport killing can destroy a flock of chickens in one night. I did not think weasels were in this area. I was quickly proven wrong. Only days after the neighbor’s chickens were assaulted, my email from the county forest preserve delivered their most recent newsletter.
Every month the forest preserve hosts a photo contest. The public submits nature photos from their visits to the preserves. The headline was quite clear, “weasel chews up competition to win first place in May’s photo contest.” Not only do I have to stress out about lack of rain and weeds, I can now add weasels to my nightmares.
In my research about weasels this week, I learned that they are so active they need to eat about ½ of their body weight per day. Perhaps we can train them to become vegetarians and feast on waterhemp seedlings. Training weasels to eat weeds would also make farming easier. My chickens and I think that is a great idea.
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