South Dakota Adventure

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Greetings to one and all from Gettysburg, South Dakota.



Since arriving in Gettysburg in the middle of a snow storm at 8.30pm on the 3^rd of April, my feet have hardly touched the ground. I started work the following day at 6.00am and it has been like that every day since then. The farm is not one single block of land. It is in fact large tracts of land spread out over the Central and Western parts of South Dakota. One block is more than 100 miles away from the workshop, the center from where all activities are based. Just recently, myself and 2 others (Herman and Peter) drove to and from Dupree, (100+ miles away) 4 times apiece much of it in the rain. That made for a long day (18 hours) as we were relocating vehicles and machinery to another 1,500-acre field. My greatest challenge is staying awake, so as you can imagine I make plenty of stops, climb out of the pick-up, walk around and then continue on my way.



I’m working for a family who owns 100,000 acres of cropping land based out of Gettysburg in Central South Dakota. So far, we have planted 12,000 acres of wheat, 10,000 acres of corn, with over 10,000 acres of Sunflowers to go. The balance of the farm was planted last autumn as winter wheat. The ground freezes in early winter and the seeds lie dormant until spring when everything thaws out. The landscape is literally exploding with every shade of green that you can imagine. In fact I can see the changes in the wheat fields everyday as I drive past them. The different colors of green are incredible as the seedlings break through the surface of the ground and begin to grow.



In addition to the planting there is an extensive spray program going on. My job is to organize the Anhydrous Ammonia for the app applicators that go ahead of the planters to fertilize the ground. It’s a form of Nitrogen that once it hits the air converts to Nitrogen. It is injected into the ground under pressure through the seed drills (wheat) or in the case of corn through the applicators



Anhydrous Ammonia is an inhalation hazard in terms of it’s Dangerous Goods Classification. It’s highly toxic and if inhaled will kill you. If it touches your skin it burns like crazy. If you catch even just a wiff of the stuff it literally takes your breath away and you cough for about 10 minutes. Nasty stuff really. Suffice to say, I treat this stuff with the greatest of respect.



The landscape here is stunning. Unlike Northern Texas, it is pretty much all smooth undulating hills and large river valleys. Like I said earlier everything had turned green including the trees, which I would have sworn were all dead when I arrived. The birdlife is extensive and the morning song is worth getting up early for.



Nearby is the Missouri River, which ultimately fees into the giant Mississippi further downstream. The section of the river where we cross over to the west side is part of an enormous lake, Lake Oahu,. Yesterday while I was waiting beside the bridge to block traffic so we could bring the planters across the bridge, I counted almost 100 boat trailers and boats at the boat ramp.

I hope you enjoy some of the photos I have taken and would appreciate your feedback.



Take care and enjoy the moment.



Nigel Harte

[phone]-4487

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Photos

Corn Seeder
24 drills, 30 inches apart plus the end weights. All up 65 feet across.

The Bins at the Workshop
About 80 bins (Silos). each hold about 50,000 bushels (60kg) and still there is not enough space for the whole crop. So spread around the farm are 50 bags each holding around 15,000 bushels.

Anhydrous Ammonia.
The Anhydrous Tank, an Anhydrous trailer that is towed behind the applicator or planter depending on the crop being sown and the service truck which includes a crane.