Wordless Wednesday

Tough little guy!

Today is National Ag Day

March 19, 2013 is National Ag Day. National Ag Day is a day to recognize and celebrate the abundance provided by agriculture. Every year, producers, agricultural association, corporation, universities, government agencies and countless others across American join together to recognize the contributions of agriculture. Learn more about National Ag Day here.

Did you wear cloths today? Thank a farmer. Did you have bacon, eggs, and orange juice for breakfast this morning? Thank a farmer. So much of our daily lives is connected to agriculture. I came across this graphic today and it seemed quite fitting for today's blog post.

Top 10 Reasons to Thank a Farmer

A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR HARD WORKING FARM FAMILIES!

Narjes Wheat Harvest

Well, this has been the third summer that I have had the opportunity to be in Sidney for wheat harvest. What a crazy time of year for the Narjes Farm. Needless to say I had quite a bit to learn about wheat two years ago. My parents simply farm around 500 acres of corn and soybean with a couple sections of alfalfa, so I didn't have much experience at all with wheat. Thankfully Tyson is a good teacher so he quickly opened my eyes to the wheat world.  I love being outside and having to do and learn anything that involves agriculture, so I thoroughly enjoyed riding in the combine and hanging out in the wheat field. I am sure that Tyson enjoys having a passenger as well. :-)

The following is the little that I learned about wheat. Most wheat is planted in the fall usually in September, and it sprouts in the fall then upon the first freeze goes into a dormant stage. This is a crucial part; if the wheat doesn't sprout and go into dormancy it will not produce anything the next summer. In the springtime, the plant will come out of dormancy and grow taller while producing the wheat head. Depending on the variety of wheat, it can grow anywhere from 18 inches to 48 inches. Typically prime harvest time for western Nebraska is the middle of July. Depending upon the weather and moisture it can range from late June to late July. Once the wheat crop is ready, the combines hit the field and go practically nonstop until the last kernel is in the bin. Hail is quite typical in western Nebraska, so many farmers are eager to get their crop in the bin before any unfortunate hailstorms have the chance to hit the fields. But inevitably some fields may get hail during this summer, which can greatly affect its yield. 


Check out these photos from this year's wheat harvest!

Tyson and I riding in the combine.

A harvest sunset.

Ryan's combine was flashing lights because the bin was full. Time to unload!

Cool picture that Tyson took.

Ryan unloading into the grain cart on the go.

           Fun Facts about Wheat:

• Did you know that Nebraska is the 7th largest wheat producing state in the Nation?
• Nebraska farmers contribute over 74 Million bushels each year.
• More foods are made from wheat than any other cereal grain.
• One bushel of wheat weighs about 60 pounds.
• One bushel of wheat contains approximately more than one million individual kernels.
• A bushel of wheat makes about 90 one-pound loaves of whole wheat bread.

To learn more about wheat check out the Nebraska Wheat Board's Website.

Narjes Branding

I apologize for the lateness of my post, with finals and preparing for my upcoming France trip I don’t seem to have much spare time.

This weekend marked the second annual Narjes branding and my only ever second branding. Tyson and his brother Ryan decided last year that they wanted to start a cow/calf herd together so that they could take over renting their Grandpa’s pasture. I believe it has been a huge learning curve for the both of them, as they have never had their own cow/calf herd. Neighbors and friends have been more than willing to help them get started and give advice to the boys, which I know they are truly thankful for.

I’ll be honest last year I was completely new to this thing they call branding, and I had no idea what I was doing. The brand inspection area starts just west of where I grew up, so I had never experience a branding before. In eastern Nebraska there are no branding laws and we are required to fence in our cattle, but in the brand inspection area, cattle are still “free range” so to speak and producers are required to fence out other animals. The brand is used to identify animals to a certain producer and make sure that the person selling the animals has right to do so.

The weather Saturday wasn’t exactly what we had hoped for with 40° temperatures and winds up to 40 mph, but the boys pulled the stock trailer up next to the barn to use as a wind block. It was actually not too bad behind the barn, and I must say it was better than last year when it was raining and just as plain cold! The boys had plenty of people show up to help so the whole process went fairly quickly. 

Here are a few photos from the branding this past Saturday:

Tyson's brother Ryan worked the cows as they came through the shoot, he was assisted by his soon to be father-in-law Joe and his fiance Laura.

On the other side of the shoot, Tyson's oldest brother Kyle was branding the cows that the boys had purchases this year and hadn't been given the Narjes brand yet. Kyle and his girlfriend Sarah came back from Denver to help!

Sarah has never been to a branding before either, so she was eager to jump in and help, she did great!

Here Tyson is giving the calf a vaccination to help protect against diseases. The vaccination will last all summer long while the calf is in the pasture.

The boys had so much help that this is about all the action I got when it came to actually helping. Here is Tyson's younger cousin Allyson helping hold the calf while waiting for branding and vaccinations.

Here is why there was no need for me to help, look at all these strong men! :) Many friends and neighbors came out to help for the day, thanks to everyone who helped out!

After the quick branding and vaccination, the calves are soon back on their feet and reunited with their moms. You can   see the upside down TV, which is the Narjes brand.                                                                                                                                       (Don't mind Kyle in the background, I believe he was practicing his yoga or something...)

After all the work was done Susan, Tyson's mom had a great lunch ready to eat and cold drinks for all.

Here's the whole crew that showed up for the branding, minus Susan. Many thanks again to everyone that came out, it was a lot of fun! 

 Also many thanks to Tyson's mom, Susan, for all the wonderful pictures!

Why Blog???

Well I have finally done it.. I’ve started my own blog! After receiving a pamphlet on UNL City Campus about Veganism and Animal cruelty (from a man who has never set foot on a farm) I figured that now is the time to start telling my story. Lately it seems to be so important to connect people back to the farm!

So here is a little about me:

Above is my Dad and my uncle. My Dad owns a hay hauling and grinding business, they were honored at this year's Platte Valley Cattlemens Banquet as the 2010 Agri-business of the year! Janousek Hay Service is their full time job, but both farm and have cattle on the side. My brother Clint is also involved in the operation he's a little camera shy so I don't have a picture to show him off yet.

This is my boy, Tyson. He helps me keep my sanity.. most days anyways!

Here is my Mom and my two sisters. Even though they are 7 and 8 years older than me, I am still very close with them glad that they live so close to home so I can visit everytime I go home. And thankful for them giving me two cute nieces and nephew. Such a joy to be an Aunt, its a whole new kind of love!

Here are my two adorable nieces Audrey and McKenzie.. they are only 3 months apart and love to be together! Gets a little crazy at Grandma's house with these 2 year olds, but I love it!

And here is the newest additon to our Family, my nephew Dillion. I was so excited to have a a nephew that I drove home in a blizzard just to be the first one to welcome him into the world!

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