Here are the pictures I took the other day..

The first is the border between the dryland and the irrigated.. the irrigated was planted a little over 2 weeks later at a higher population but just ran out of time to emerge before winter set in.. Looking it up..  Corners were planted 10/3/14  We got 2.25" of rain on the 9th..through the 13th. 

We finished corn harvest on that field on 9/19.. disked it once.. finished on the farm the 19th of October.. disked the field again.. planted the Circle on 10/22/14.. Winter arrived about.. 18 days later on the 10th of November.. went from a high of 71 degrees to a high the next day of 31... with a low of 10 degrees the night of the 13th.. we did not get back above freezing till the 15th.. just as the crop was trying to emerge.. 

OUCH!!

The rest of the pictures are from that irrigated field.. We can throw water on it.. IF there's anything left to throw to..

It's minor I know in the grand scheme.. the dryland looks better.. rooted in.. but it's on it's own as far as moisture goes.  With depleted sub soil..  Probably only.. ??? 5..10..15% of the acres look like this irrigated field but last year the dryland did.. 27 and the irrigated did.. 79.. so last year it was.. 25..30..33% or more of the total production in the area.. and 60% of ours.

so..??? 

not sure how many rabbits we got left to pull out of the hat...??? 

Thunk we were doing well just to get this far..

edit add: driving around today.. after posting this.. theirs a "fair" amount of dryland fields planted post the 10/13 rain event that is "not wonderfully" emerged.. the pre rain event planted is mostly "rooted in" so it's hard to quantify.. "how bad/good" do things look.. However I look at how my area is RELATIVE to things like the Drought Monitor.. and the Drought Monitor gets worse.. to my SW.. so.. that's why I "thunk" that I have a handle on why conditions on my farm are "relatively representative" of others..

which I do..

A good snow would do a lot of good.. without it.. and/or rain.. your looking at the tractor in the dust cloud here in a few weeks...

That's why I believe we're primed for a weather scare.. that may.. (absence of moisture) or may not (moisture comes) come..

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