Both Sides of the Fork

Christmas has finally arrived here at VG Farms. It is finally white and actually looks like Christmas. Before I go on, let me issue an apology for the lack of blog posts these past few weeks. Between my end-of-semester finals and my father’s busy work-load, it has been difficult to find the time to write. So consider this special Christmas edition a gift from us to you. As any family does, the Van Gilst’s hold several Christmas traditions. Some are small and informal – like watching National Lampoons Christmas Vacation at least a half dozen times. Others are a bit more significant – such as gathering with each side of the family (Van Gilst and Branderhorst) to celebrate the holidays alongside grandparents, aunts and uncles, and an endless supply of cousins. We watch the Iowa Hawkeyes play in their bowl game (fingers crossed for a victory in a few days) and occasionally us boys will head off to Iowa City to catch some hoops. Whatever it may be, there is never a dull moment ov

Hello everybody! I have answered my father’s request to write a few more blogs despite being 4.5 hours away at Dordt College. I consider it somewhat of a reprieve from the usual college workload that consists of economics, marketing research, and a seemingly endless amount of papers that need to be written. In any event, I think that cultivating thoughts and ideas for this blog is an easy task due to my love for the farm and my home. Oh look! I just found my topic for this issue, that’s convenient. In a couple of days, I will make my third trip home of the semester. This may seem a bit excessive, but when you have a fall break, your brother’s senior musical, and a friend’s wedding to attend, the trips can pile up. Besides, it is a lot easier to go home when there isn’t an entire ocean in your way. (I spent last semester studying in the Netherlands.) Perhaps that is the reason I have looked forward to every trip home these past few months. There are so many things to l

     The dog ate my blog. Okay that isn’t exactly what happened, last week we were busy with bean harvest and the blog kind of slipped my mind. Oreo doesn’t look like a blog eater but does look guilty of something.        A few days ago Lisa and I took the opportunity to go and hear our son Cory’s fall concert at Dordt College.        He is a senior business major and was the original writer of this blog. I hope to be able to convince him to do a blog or two when he gets a chance, his writing is substantially better than mine.        I enjoy listening to college choirs and bands. These young men and women are participating because they want to and because they are good at it, not because their parents are making them.       We began soybean harvest last Tuesday and we're able to get a lot done with the dry weather we had most of the week. After a one inch rain Saturday night we were able to finish our beans last night.         We have about 50 acres of custom wo

     This past week was a little more routine. Rain the end of last week and again yesterday kept us out of the field for a while. Cory had a couple of days off from college but missed out on any field work due to the rain. He did volunteer to clean out the back of the truck we use to haul sows between places. After he shoveled out the “used” bedding he decided it needed a good power washing.       I am sure the sows appreciated it. Trent would like to do more power washing but it is a job that requires you to be well grounded. He may have to put on a few more pounds before he can do it.   He did take me up on my offer to let him sanitize the stalls after they were washed. We do this to get rid of any bad bugs that may still be around. It seems appropriate that he is wearing his skeleton shirt while eliminating bugs.       Monday the sun shone so we were able to get some harvesting done.    Yields continue to be better than we expected. God is good!       Tue

       If you’re not breaking anything you’re not doing anything. This is something my grandfather would say when someone had broken a piece of equipment. Breakdowns are just simply a part of farming. We sometimes find ourselves saying why does this always happen to us. Then you talk with other farmers and you find out they have probably had a similar experience.       Harvest had been going pretty smoothly until the beginning of this week.        The belt you see in the picture drives the feeder house and the head on the combine. When it breaks the head and feeder house stop immediately.        We were glad that Jacob could bring us a new belt to get us going again.                While breakdowns are common we do what we can to keep them to a minimum. I was glad Trent volunteered to grease the turbo-till.         There are a lot of bearings to grease and it is easier for him crawl into the tight spaces. We use the turbo-till to incorporate our rye seed for cover

          I was talking to a friend at our high school football game Friday night and he asked me if we had done any harvesting yet. I said, "Yes, we have about 60 acres done." He replied with a slight sense of bewilderment, “Only 60? I have almost 300 acres out!” I responded, "You need some pigs to take care of."           When you have to take care of 30,000 head of hogs, getting the crop in usually falls in second on the priority list. We are usually not in the combine by 6:00 in the morning. There are always things to get done - chores to do, hogs to load for market, pigs to wean, sows to breed, power washing, feed to haul - you get the idea.               I often say we raise pigs for a living the crops are our hobby. While I am usually joking when I say that, there is an element of truth to the statement.  We have no problem filling our work week only taking care of the pigs. That means in the spring and fall there are a lot of extra hours p

Harvest Time           Well harvest finally began this past week. It is always a much anticipated time of the year. This first picture is a combine that was purchased in about 1964.        It was a huge leap in technology. No longer did you pick the corn in the ear and then shell it later. This machine combined the two operations into one which is the reason it is called a combine.           Todays machines are leaps ahead of the originals.          Today we have air conditioned cabs with air ride seats. The ability to change settings on the go and yield monitors with GPS that tell you moisture and yield from a specific spot in the field.           The way we move the grain from the field to the farm has also change over time. The wooden wagon in the first picture held 100 bushels of corn. In 1974 my dad purchased this triggs wagon and pulled it home from the Farm Progress show. It was a booming time in agriculture and machinery was hard to get. This was the

        Warm days and cool nights. This is one of the things I like about September. Our weather the past week and for the week to come has been sunshine and 80’s during the day and 50’s at night with very low humidity.          This not only is great weather to work in but also is speeding the crop to maturity. We continue to get equipment ready for harvest and manure application which are our two biggest jobs in the fall.           Taking care of the pigs is a full time job so in the fall everyone puts in a few more hours to get the job done. It is still warm enough during the day that we need to take advantage of the cool mornings to move pigs. These little guys are getting moved from the nursery to a finisher down the road.           Another sure sign of fall is field days. Most seed companies invite farmers to come and have a free meal and look at seed plots to see how their brand of seed has performed. There are also field days that are educational. Last week I

              Can you power wash? It may seem odd, but this is often one of the first questions I ask someone interviewing for a job with us. There are generally two reasons for asking this question. The first is practical in nature. Pigs can kind of be like your kids sometimes, leaving a mess where ever they go.            This makes power washing a frequent event especially in the farrowing house. Grant does a good job of making sure the next mom has a clean place to have her babies.             The second reason is it may give you an idea of the persons work ethic. If they hesitate or try to appear that they are “over qualified” to power wash that may be a red flag. All jobs here are important, whether you are in charge of the books or cleaning farrowing pens, what you are doing is vital to the success of the farm.             Last week I talked about getting projects done. We took advantage of the Labor day weekend to get one of those projects done. The white stripes went