Thursdays seem to be catch all days anymore.  The day of the week for everything that needs to be done that didn’t get done on the first three days.

Today has not been a productive day.

With fertilizer cost where they are and the prospect of a below normal or less than normal crop in many areas because of the heat this summer producers are looking for small ways to cut back on cost.  This is funny in some ways because not to long ago when Potash spiked at $1200/t producers either put some on or didn’t put any on at all.  In that year I wrote many a VRT recommendation, more than I had ever done, but it still is nothing compared to this year.  This year has seed a whole new level of interest. 

I think that we have found our point of “balance” between the price of an input and yield.  Kind of like $4 gas for our cars.  When gas gets to a point we watch our trips and how much we run in the tank.  When gas is $2.50 we buy gas and don’t think to much of all the running around we do.  But when gas is $3.00 we all at once buy gas and watch were we go because we know we are only going to buy what we need at $4.00. 

So I think we have reached that balance here in Southern Illinois.  Price is to the right of the middle.  Its not as high as it has been but its going up.  Yields are average to below average.  So between the two, farmers say lets buy but lets buy with caution and apply it in a conservative manner.  And VRT fits that line of thinking.

This is not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination.

Here is a short 45 sec video, I just love the sound of that combine………

Time doesn’t allow me to do to much today with the pictures or video other than post them.  Busy week and a lot to get done.  Harvest will be put on hold for a few days:  rain in the forecast and then we don’t have any more corn that is ready.  But it wont take long!

Couple of quick observations from the pictures: 

• You will note the black dust on the combine and the difference a little water makes. 
• Also look at the black water that stained the driveway after washing. 
• The yield has been great fo the year so far, above trend line. 
• The foder is increadable!

I attempted to update the site today and have encountered many problems……

So I have returned to this old format for now……if you have any problems let me know

Thanks

Kelly

I wish I could find the bit they did at the end of one of the Muppet movies……….that was excellent!

We went to the field with red combine but quickly it turned into a black combine as the corn was dry and dusty once we got inside the field.  The yield monitor shows 15.5 avg moisture but we are seeing moisture in the 13.5 to 14.9 range in the middle of the field.  So it is dusty and hard to see!

The yield has been great!  the first ten acres or so had run about 180 then it began to drop off a bit, which is normal in this field and we are running a 150 avg.  That will pick back up as we finish out this field but things are running very close to my yield estimate.  Good corn and we will take every kernel.

The dry corn is creating a lot of header loss in the form of butt kernels shattering off the ear when they hit the stripper plate on the head.  Not much that can be done about that but we are losing about 2% at the head.  Good news, nothing lost out the rear of the combine!

As for our mandatory first day break downs: 

• Blew fuses on the fan on the grain bin and then found out that the kill switch isn’t working.  So that will be something to address this morning. 
• The feeder house speed sensor came unhooked and it took a while and a phone call to find where it was located and then to hook it back up.  No problems after plugging it back in. 
• And the hitch pin in the big auger wagon broke/fell out/ bounced out / or just disappeared while driving across the end rows.  Bad deal but it was EMPTY thank goodness.  So a quick chain and three point hitch jack improvising and it was back in service in 30 minutes. 

So I am off to check the bin, grease the head and get in the good ole red/black combine and hit it again today!

Be safe out there!

For those who don’t know, and haven’t read my tab, and take on The Appleseed Project, here is a brief overview of it from my participation.  Appleseed combines rifle shooting instruction with a historical review of the Revolutionary War.  They teach shooting based on the Army Marksmanship Technique using Army Qualification Targets in the standing, sitting and prone positions.  Between instruction and shooting you get to hear, in my opinion, the real events and accurate accounts of what happened at the beginning of the Revolutionary War.  This history review is the non politically correct and watered down version taught in our liberal feel-good public school system.  So don’t be surprised if you learn a few things that you didn’t learn in grade or high school history class. 

Anyway, the liberal left is trying to paint this as a militia training recruiting ground, and a TEA Party rally.  Wow! How they could get that is beyond me. What happened at the Carmi, Illinois event that my son and I attended is quite the contrary:  The first thing that was said by Mudcat, the lead instructor or line boss, was that this was NOT a militia meeting or training and he didn’t want to hear about militias from any of the participants.  We also didn’t discuss any political views other than that in the re-accounting of the history of the beginning of the Revolutionary War.

Yea, I know, Fox News isn’t exactly middle of the road.  They, in my opinion, lean right.  But they present both sides and report down the middle.  Fox did a report on Appleseed.  I think it is a fair assessment of what it is and what it is not.  Read it or give this a view if your interested in the truth. 

Better yet, visit the Appleseed website and then ATTEND a shoot near you and find out what it really is all about.  If you like to shoot and you like history, then Appleseed is for you. 

Don’t let the liberal left destroy the truth.

Getting ready to start shelling corn, finishing up a couple of VRT recs, kids starting back to school, doctor visits and in the middle of all of this, someone went and scheduled a fish fry! 

Looking forward to the fish fry just to catch my breath.

Promise I will be back to regular posting later this week.