Fickle Rain

Its funny how the weather goes. Most of this year we have been abnormally dry, dry enough that it really hurt our corn. Then it started raining in late July and August and the rain was timely for the beans. The corn crop was shot but the beans looked like they were going to be decent. We were still quite a few inches below normal. Then the monsoon season opened up and we got somewhere between five and six inches of rain in less than a week.

All of this came as the soybeans were just starting to dry down. I am not sure if it will hurt them yet, but the rain certainly did not help them. I find it amusing (I have to find it amusing or I will start crying) that one crop can be droughted out and the other can be rained out. Is that a sign of global warming or climate change, I forget? In any case, we are off the drought status and this year will probably show up as an average year when it is all said and done. I guess that is where we get the average, it is the middle between the two extremes.

It was kind of nice to have that break in the middle of harvest, however, after a week of break I am starting to become stir crazy. I appreciated being able to not have to rush for a couple of days and take a deep breath. I even sneaked in a nap, but now it is getting old and I am ready to go. I did get several things done that I had put off until a rainy day, but a rainy week is certainly enough. The ponds are full, subsoil moisture has been replenished, I think whoever is doing the rain dance probably could stop for a month or two right now. A long stretch of dry weather is top on my wish list right now.

We farmers and ranchers are a fickle bunch when it comes to the weather, we are never happy with the current conditions. It is either too hot, too cold, too dry or too wet. It is a good thing we are not Goldilocks. If we had been in that story we would have went through the whole bear neighborhood before we found something to eat and a place to sleep. When it comes to weather we are never “just right”.

I spent most of this summer complaining about the dust and how it made the sheep cough. Now I am grumping around about the mud and how it hurts my knees to slog through it.  When it is dry we all say we will never complain about too much rain. Then when the rain comes we are the first ones to whine and gripe about it. There is no winning when it comes to farmers and ranchers and the weather.

The funny part about all of this is that there is nothing we can do about the weather. Oh, we can complain and wail about it but when it comes right down to it, we must take the hand we are dealt. That doesn’t keep us from being chronic weather watchers. I watch two different local forecasts and at least that many national long-range forecasts and how much good does it do me? Absolutely none. Usually one of the forecasts is right but it is never the same one.

I guess it is like Dad always tells me that there is no sense in worrying about the weather. That is easier said than done when one is wandering around looking at muddy fields of good soybeans, poor corn and pastures filled with calves that need to be brought home and weaned. Nothing is harder than to be staring at a mountain of work and not be able to do anything about it.

In the end, you can look at the calendar and you can even schedule things like harvest on it, but it really doesn’t do you any good. Our schedule is never our own in the world of agriculture, Mother Nature keeps our calendars and she isn’t sharing it with anyone. We knew the gig when we signed up for it but that doesn’t make waiting any easier.

I guess there was no point in all this other than to let off a little steam. I have heard it is not good to hold stress inside and I believe that complaining about the weather is healthy. I am not sure Jennifer or anyone else who has crossed paths with me in the last couple of weeks would agree with that. On the bright side, in a week or two I will probably be lamenting the lack of moisture and variety is the spice of life.