Miles and Miles of Texas

So a couple weeks ago I found myself in Sunray, Texas home of Patton Custom Fertilizer.  It's out in the Panhandle North of Amarillo.  I was there to lend some support to a key retail partner as spring planting draws ever closer.  I used to get down there every year back in the day.  But it had been several years since my last visit.  Nice to see that the Co-op still provides wind protection for the Liquid storage tanks.

On the way out, there was one warning sign that I took particular notice of.  As it says, I sat and watched for a while, but did not see any.  Maybe next time. 

The next day PCF sales agronomist Dustin (on the right) and I called on some customers.  It was good to see these guys again.

 They have one field set up with buried drip tape that they run Liquid fertilizer though.  Or I mean, though which they run Liquid fertilizer.

 Here we are back at the tank site.  Plenty of storage capacity here.

 Our mission, load up a trailer of AgroLiquid fertilizer for a new customer to run through strip till.  I'm sure he will be pleased with Pro-Germinator, micros and High NRG-N.  Hopefully I can go back later in the season to have a look.  Is it just me or does it look like that grain elevator is about to tip over?  Hmmm.  It was windy that day.

 Field delivery...what service.

 By the end of the day, we had seen plenty of fields and talked to a number of grower, some regulars and prospects.  It's kind of like recruiting football players...you make your pitch and hope they select the AgroLiquid team.  It helps that we are highly ranked each year.  But this is a challenging year, so don't give up.

If you want to grow a good crop using the most efficient fertilizer there is, AgroLiquid is still the one to go to.  I've been around longer than most here at AgroLiquid, and I've seen others come and go, but AgroLiquid still stands tallest in the crop nutrition field.  When times are good or challenging...the result is the same.  

Later that week I went over to another Retail Partner, Norman Seed and Sales in the small town of Trenton, TX which is North of Dallas.  Jay and I made similar rounds, but alas, no pics.  But more on that later.

By the way, how many know that song that doubles as the blog post title?  Originally by Bob Wills, but made popular by Asleep at the Wheel.  Well I saw them back in the 70's while in college at OSU. (You know, the good OSU, but not THE OSU.)  Even got an autographed record after the show.  Never envisioned that it would be a blog post someday.  What was a blog then anyway?  

In Search of Winter

 So the blog has been on vacation.  I have been really busy, but that is no excuse.  So here we go again.  I have said that this has been one warm winter.  Two winters ago it was very heavy snow all winter.  Last year was less snow but extremely cold.  This winter has been warm and little snow.  In fact it was 60 degrees the week of Christmas.  The above pic was earlier this month at the bottom of my driveway as I left for Agro HQ.  No snow, but pretty sunrise.

And the picture below was last Sunday, Feb  21.  That is a Redwing Blackbird under one of our feeders.  They usually don't show up till March.  But here is one already.

 And in the front flower garden some bulbs are already pushing out of the ground.  Probably a little ambitious if you ask me.

 Because on Wednesday and Thursday of last week we got 14 inches of snow.  Fortunately I was out of town.  But here is the flower garden yesterday (Friday).  Those leaves probably did a U-turn.

And here is the AgroLiquid office yesterday morning.  All of the area schools were closed for a couple days after the snow.  But the hard working and dedicated staff was there bright and early at your service.  Notice all of the jet con trails over the office.  They all use the building as a reference point flying over Michigan.

 And here is Farm 7 under several inchees of snow.

Well it will all melt so on as temps are supposed to warm into the 40's and 50's in the days ahead. But it's still winter so be prepared.

Hay Pic Picked

So you should remember friend and Wyoming grower Chris Cook.  He has been featured in the blog in the past, like on July 7, 2015 and June 14, 2013.  Check them out.  Chris has used AgroLiquid for several years now on his irrigated strip-till corn and pinto beans plus on his irrigated alfalfa.  It's very dry here in SE Wyoming, but they have had a good supply of irrigation water.  He sent me this picture of one of his fields from last summer, taken from the top of one of his storage bins. Beautiful. Well he informed me that this picture was selected for the cover of the upcoming directory for the Nebraska Alfalfa Marketing Association.  Good choice.  I think it should be the permanent cover. But wait....this field is in Wyoming not Nebraska.  Well it's in Southeast Wyoming close to Nebraska, and when he bales it, some probably gets blown across the state line.  I'd give it a pass too I guess.  I asked what kind of high powered camera he used, and said it was his Samsung Galaxy S5 phone!  I like my iPhone, but this is much better.  (And this is lowered resolution for e-mail too.)

A little more about his alfalfa program.  The soil pH's are all very high, over 8.  So it is made for foliar application. He applies a combination of Pro-Germinator + Sure-K + accesS + Micro 500 + MicroLink Boron at green-up in the spring, and then a combination of Pro-Germinator + Sure-K + accesS + Micro 500 + MicroLink Manganese and Iron after the first and second cuttings. He can usually get four cuttings, and can get 9 tons/A.  He has been recognized for yield and quality. He has also won the state NCGA Corn Yield Contest for irrigated strip-till several times using AgroLiquid. So congratulations all the way around Chris.  I wish you a Happy 2016 growing season!