You just have a natural liking for Jim and Lois Watts the first time you meet them. They are a quiet couple, who have lived in the Weyburn area most of their lives and have been increasing the size of their land holdings over the years. About 5 years ago, there was a transition in Jim's life when the kids grew up and left home for other job opportunities. There was a lot of land to cover and the farm needed a few things to be able to meet the challenges of the nineties. Lois had always taken an active part in the farming operations, so the discussion turned to matters of how to take advantage of opportunities for expansion and improve the farm for the future.
Seeding took a big part of the discussion and since Jim had been following the trend of direct seeding, they decided to take a good close look at whether this was the way they wanted to upgrade from their present method of seeding. They were seeding with discers and then harrow-packing at least twice to firm up the ground to allow healthy plant growth. Jim spent his dutiful hours on the 4 wheel drive with forty-eight feet of discer behind and Lois spent an equal amount of time following up with the big harrow- packer unit. Lois' penchant for straight tractor marks in the field was really tested in some of the wetter years in the heavy clay soils when sloughs formed in the middle of perfectly manicured fields. Jim took in two events one year that probably changed the way their farming proceeded forever. The first was the SSCA direct seeding conference and annual meeting in Moose Jaw, and the second was the SSCA direct seeding field day, also in the Moose Jaw area.
He went home and worked through the farm economics picture on his computer, talked about it with his friends in the local marketing club. He thought about the benefits offered by direct seeding with a reduction of field operations and the feature of seeding completely in one pass. They then decided to move to a direct seeding machine. They chose a Morris Maxim air drill and traded in the discers and sold the harrow packer setup. They also upgraded their sprayer to deal with proper weed control by allowing for timely pre-seed spraying. They chose a 120 foot machine with wind screens to remove uncertainty over marginal spraying conditions and improve their window of application. They also knew the importance of adequate straw and chaff spreading and made sure the combine had a Straw Storm in good working condition, and they added a spin chaff spreader.
The thought of purchasing all this new equipment and going away from their old system gave them a few gut wrenching sleepless nights. After the first harvest yields were safely stored in the bins, they were convinced this was the way to go.
An opportunity came up in the next year to rent a large tract of land right next door to their home farm and they seized the chance. They dropped their lease on some previously rented land so they would not be overburdened and set out to make the most of this new and bigger challenge. They were clever enough to enlist some custom help where needed, but dealt with nearly all of the operations themselves.
Now they have a different problem; there is so much more grain to haul per acre of farm operated, but Jim thinks he has a solution to that one. He smiles a lot.
You can contact the Watts' at Weyburn: 306-842-5056