A Growing Problem.

Last year was pretty much the pefect year for wheat. We had a very wet winter followed by a long, wet spring. It was also the perfect year for Jointed Goat Grass. Jointed Goat Grass is a big problem for wheat producers, and a special problem for us, since we raise wheat seed.
You can see in this picture the "joints" of the seed head which give this weed its name. These will actually break off individually and each one will contain a joint grass seed. The special problem for seed producers is that these joints won't clean out of the seed with a traditional air-screen cleaner, and a single joint grass seed is grounds for the rejection for an entire lot of seed. Most seed producers have a "length grader" type seed cleaner which is effective at removing joint grass seed. This is an investment that we have never made, though, since we have never had a problem with joint grass. We can keep goat grass out of our fields through rotation, so all we have to do is stay ahead of any joint grass in the roadsides. Last year we got behind in this battle, and this year joint grass is EVERYWHERE. So I had a busy day the other day traveling around with the ATV sprayer spraying all the joint grass I could find. I found a lot. I am afraid that we might have to invest in a length grader in the near future, or else haul all of our seed up to Chris's plant to get cleaned.

Here are the deer that live near our house. I have been seeing a lot of them lately.