module builder

 

Cotton stripping requires a combination of both high tech and low tech equipment.  Or, in this case, a medium tech module builder and a low tech rake.

 

Lubbock County, Texas

boll buggy and pivot

 

Fortenberry Farms

Hale County, Texas

12.10.2016

harvest at sunset

 

Farmers don't quit at 5:00.  This crew may be stripping until midnight to get the cotton harvested.  The boll buggy, pulled by a tractor, follows the stripper, which dumps its load when full.  The boll buggy then transports the cotton to the module builder.  A completed module (on the left) contains 13-15 bales and a bale of cotton typically weighs about 500 pounds.  In case you didn't know, Texas is the leading cotton-producing state.

 

Fortenberry Farms

Hale County, Texas

irrigation -- in lieu of rain

 

The corn isn't quite as high as an elephant's eye but it won't get taller without rain.  In lieu of those potential storm clouds, the irrigation motor is roaring away.

 

Fortenberry Farms

Lubbock County, Texas

getting ready for spring planting

 

This blue sky is not from today!  Today is a "red flag warning" day with brown skies, southwesterly winds 20 to 35 mph, 8-12 percent humidity and 82 degrees. Yet optimistic farmers are preparing for planting season even with the low market price of cotton for this year's crop.

 

Lubbock County, Texas

4.3.2016



sandfighting

One would think during a wet May with record rainfalls, a farmer wouldn't have to "sandfight." After a  hard rain, the surface quickly dries off.  When the wind blows (like today's wind advisory) the top soil will blow.  If you look closely, you might be able to "row" (or see) the tender leaves of the baby May cotton seedlings.  Sandfighting is done to keep the young plants from getting sandblasted and hopefully save the stand. Sandfighters are plows with small rolling blades which dig into the soil and break up the smooth surface and prevent the sand from blowing. The South Plains has bigger gamblers than those found in Las Vegas.

Fortenberry Farms
Lubbock County, Texas

spring plowing

 

The field lay fallow all winter.  Today the sorghum stubble is being chopped down in preparation for spring planting -- if it rains, if seed prices go down, if cotton prices go up --the perennial odds that the farmer faces.

Adcock Place
Hale County, Texas

a good day for farming

 

The one and a half inches of rain not only raised the farmers' spirits but also helped raise the cotton.  The cottonseed recently planted is now sprouting.  Many farmers took to the fields to do some finger-scratching.

 

Cotton germination begins as the seed absorbs water and oxygen through its seed coat 4 to 14 days after after planting. The water swells the dormant tissues, and cell growth and division begin to take place. The radicle emerges through the micropyle, turns downward, and grows deeper into the soil, providing a taproot that will supply water and nutrients throughout the life of the plant. The hypocotyl elongates from the radicle and forms an arch or crook that begins to push up through the soil, a brief period often referred to as the “crook stage”. (Courtesy of Ag Extension)

 

 

Hale County, Texas

amber rows of grain

 

Although this field of grain in not quite mature, all across the plains combines are harvesting the crops.  Too bad there aren't that many cotton strippers in action.

 

Lubbock County, Texas