Corn
1st Major Announcement…Shed Day 5 and A Barn Fire
I guess we can let the cat out of the bag now and make the first of two major announcments that I alluded to earlier in January of some changes here on the farm.
Not only is this a shed we are building, but it will also be a warehouse for Pioneer Seed. Robertson Farms is now officially a Pioneer seed dealer. We will be servicing farmers mostly in the western part of Franklin Co. It is a natural fit for us. We have enjoyed a long and productive relationship with Pioneer as a seed customer and seed grower, mainly because I have felt that their agronomy and sales staff have always had my success at heart when offering me products and services. So when the opportunity presented itself last fall we began the process to become dealers for Pioneer. We have a lot to learn but are eager and ready for the challenge!
The end of day 5 on the new shed…………….now we are ready for metal! The nice sunny days have allowed for quick progress, but the bottom has fallen out of the ground around the site. We had to pull their forklifts and tellehandler out today. The telehandler was setting on the frame with the last truss suspended in the air………fun!
Meanwhile, while the last truss was going up, we spotted smoke accross the field and found that our neighbors old barn was on fire. By the time we got over there the major part of the black smoke was gone but the flames were still going as high as the silo tops!
The old barn has been a land mark on Rt 14 east of Benton and the silos are also the site where the original farm owner killed himself back in the 40′s or 50′s…………more on that later………
Happening now on the farm.
Busy under-describes the amount of activity going on right now.
Finished up hauling my January contracted corn this week. Glad to have that done……..it seems like it took for ever and I guess it did with all the meetings I have had and time away from the place.
Pioneer came and got their seed beans so we spent part of two days loading semis. The big plus is we got it done before the rains set in!
Progress on the new building has come to a halt with the rain and winds so no new updates or pictures of progress on that front.
Waiting on the last of the planter parts to get here so we can start the rebuild on it.
Waiting on the last of the NH3 parts so we can start the rebuild on the anhydrous tool bar.
We did get the planter monitors back from AgExpress………… that’s good news!
The next few days will be spend trying to catch up on all the paperwork that has piled up between meetings and hauling grain.
All in all, I would rather shovel grain than push papers………..
New Year: Updates and Changes Coming
Well, it’s 2012, or something like, that and January is going to start off with a bang so to speak. A very busy month ahead for Robertson Farms. First up is the Farm Futures Management Summit followed by the KARTA meeting shortly there- after. Throw in a IEMA meeting, K9SIL meeting and some other training meetings and the bigger part of the month is gone.
In between those meetings I hope we see the start of the new machine shed as well as getting the new (to us) NH3 bar home so we can put the VRT controller on it. There is a planter to rebuild as well as the backhoe and dozer to work on. So we need to hit the ground running and not look back.
Plus if the weather allows we need to pull a few soil samples, grain to haul and some scraping to do.
Fun and busy!
If that wasn’t enough……..there’s more! First thing in the spare time is a revamp of the website. I have been wanting to a major revamp but have not had the time with all the other stuff going on this fall. The revamp will coincide with two new business ventures we are going to be entering into here on the farm. Can’t say much about them right now but I think some folks will be surprised at what we have planned. These will bring new opportunities for us in agriculture as well as begin to pave the way for the next generation of Robertson’s to enter the the operation.
Hopefully we will be making some announcements in the next 30 days or so……………..
Don’t be alarmed if I miss a day posting this month with all that’s happening.
It looks to be an exciting and busy winter!!!
krfarm year in review
Instead of the “Year in Review” recap that is typical this time of year, how about something different…….
My Top 5 Blogs of 2011
#1 ICCA Board works to kill off CPAg Certification
#2 Combines, Grain Bins, Grain Trucks and Bush Hogs
#3 Harvested Nitrogen Plot Today
#4 Corn Harvest Begins for Some
My Top 5 Categories Viewed in 2011
#2 Soil Testing
#4 Ham Radio
#5 Guns
2011 was a record year for krfarm.net
Almost 27,000 unique visitors who made 77,000 visits this year with 835,000 page hits while they visited. December, November, September and May were the biggest months for visitors and page content viewed.
Thanks for visiting! Thanks for commenting! Thanks for telling your friends about us!
We are going to try and ramp it up a notch for 2012…….stay tuned!
My .02 on Nitrogen in 2011
Seems like everyone has a blog, newsletter or magazine article on nitrogen and corn yields for the 2011 crop. Well I guess I will chime in with my .02 worth on the topic this Friday.
A pound of N is a pound of N. (Yea, we all know that I hope by now.) It is where, how and when you place that N that matters most. In 2011 where, how and when made all the difference in the world. Yet there are still fertilizer dealers and farmers who are flat out in denial.
I have been told that some calculations have already been done here locally by a few farmers that their sidedressed corn had a $200/ac advantage to their preplant corn. I believe that is the case and think is higher in some instances. A lot higher in some instances. Based on the available N testing that I did this spring, testing for both Nitrate and Ammonia N, there were many instances of preplant N loss, (urea, solution and anhydrous) of 50% with some fields I tested losing 75% by the time the corn was V2 – V3. Some of those fields didn’t have corn growing in them by the 20th of April either…………
Fields with preplant N, where the farmer either tested and believed the results or assumed a N loss based on crop color and looks by V5-V6, and then sidedressed supplemental N at between 50 and 75 lbs/ac, and reported to me a 50-70 bu/ac yield increase over doing nothing.
So 50 bu/ac @ $6/bu = $300/ac Gross minus 75 lbs N/ac @ .50/lb = $37.50/ac Cost equals $262.50 NET/ac (no labor or machine cost subtracted).
So on 100 ac that’s another $26,250 of profit…………..Sidedressed N, applied with a knife, in the ground, between the corn rows.
Will that hold true every year……….. probably not. But if a pound of N is a pound of N and placement and timing are everything, then how much are you willing to give up for convenience? $262/ac? $200/ac?? $50/ac??
In that range of numbers above is a lot of the cash rent that is paid in this area……….Where, how and when could have easly paid your cash rent………plus a great return on your time an machiney investment.
Where, how and when was everything this year……..
Corn done….on to beans
Matthew stayed home on Friday from school and ran the combine for me while I hauled to the bins so that we could get done shelling corn for 2011. I say done, as I am done with my part of corn harvest. U of I Dixon Springs still has 3 acres of corn to harvest as part of their fertility research that they have ongoing on my farm. So other than the little small patch all the corn is off the Robertson Farm.
I haven’t totaled up the bushels yet but we are below average in yields for the year. The corn-on-corn really hurt us yield wise but that field was also the field that had the majority of replanting, so it’s hard to say what should have been done there. Maybe replanted the whole thing? I don’t know. Something to think about later.
So today I will switch everything over to soybeans and begin bean harvest. That means that I will have to “decontaminate” the combine or clean it out thoroughly so I can cut seed production beans first before cutting my other commercial beans. The reason for the clean out is to avoid any other crop or bean variety from contaminating the desired seed production. Its not that hard but it is time consuming. The combine has to be cleaned out which means all the those corners and places where grain hangs up inside the guts and in the grain tank. The truck has to be cleaned and so does the auger used to load the bin.
I hope by dark that I have at least cut a truck load of beans and am well on my way to getting the big end behind me on Tuesday. But I have been constantly told that I plan too far ahead sometimes………
Stopped at 50% done.
Corn harvest is all but over for us except for the last 25 acres of corn that is still in the 18-20% moisture range. I thought it would go Saturday and got fooled when the yield monitor wouldn’t go below 17.5 . So we sit and wait on that field to dry down and hope it will stand, which I don’t think is going to be a problem because the stalks look like trees out there.
We are still a 0% on soybean harvest here. The leaves have fallen off about 40% of our crop but there is still a lot of green. Everyone forgets that we planted all double crops this year behind the wheat which has contributed to our lack of soybean harvest progress.
Of note this fall is a couple of oddities or at least oddities to me. First a six inch increase in elevation seems to indicated a 75 bu/ac increase in yield on the flat fields. The difference between the low ground and high ground is remarkable. It is also worth noting that this is only true on the corn on corn fields and not the other corn after bean flat fields. That is definitely something to cogitate on this winter.
Secondly the same corn planted on the same date has greatly different moisture levels by just crossing the road. I replanted most of the corn on corn field the same day with the same number I planted on the last 30 acres. Yet there is a 6% increase in moisture on the last 30 acres vs. the replanted corn on corn. Again go figure that out.
I am sure when I get into the soybeans that I will be scratching my head as well. Beans planted on 13 July into pure hog wallow mud, they shouldn’t make a thing but they don’t seem to be look to bad from a casual scout.
Week in review. Or whats been happening!
Wow what a long week and it ain’t over yet! This weekend is the fall version of the Knob Creek machine gun shoot and I am having withdrawals because farm activities have a priority over seeing things shot and blown up. There is always YouTube but until they invent the scratch and sniff YouTube, its not the same!
Last Friday I finished up planting wheat. I wanted to no till the wheat into the corn stalks but it was just too tough to do so. Ended up disking the stalks once and then rolling them with the crumbler before drilling. Worked pretty good and I can row the wheat out the window of the house this morning. It was dusty, not as bad as last year but dusty, and that is a good sign to plant wheat into.
Corn harvest resumed and I hit some of the June replant corn and as I suspected it sucked. The replant corn is making about 70 bu less an acre than the May planted corn. My average is taking a big hit right now but we will see where we end up. 50 acres of corn left, not enough bin space to hold it all and I still have a few contracts to fill so it will be a balancing act between hauling it and filling the bins.
Over the weekend we went to the Marion Appleseed shoot and Matthew and Lori greatly improved their scores. Matthew came from double digits to well into the triple digits while Lori is knocking on the Rifleman score. She shot into the 200′s several times just missing Rifleman by a few points each time. I need to do some tuning to her rifle, she is getting a bunch of stovepipe jams that I feel kept her from making Rifleman. Then we will practice for the November shoot and see what she can do then!
As far as repairs go, the Cat is up on blocks and one track is off along with all the other hardware and I am ready to go back together with it. Need to get this done ASAP as I have dirt work that needs to be done in preparation for a new shed to be built. We got the grain bin fan back from Sander Electric and it needs to be re-installed so we can pump some air through some of this corn. Aeration is important!
And in case I didn’t say it somewhere else in this post: I AM MISSING KNOB CREEK (crying and gnashing of teeth)
Busy, Slow Posting
Wheat is planted and back to shelling corn. Got lots of pictures and things to hang up when it rains. But for now its very light posting. Check back often or after a rain for updates.
Harvest Progress Report (short)
Got done with the long rows………..GOOD CORN!
We are about 35% done with corn, 0% on soybeans…but the soys have just started to turn yellow.
Now we take a short pause to plant wheat and then back to the corn.
Here I am chasing Matthew with the grain cart about half way across the long rows.
Yields, N Plots, repairs and more repairs
A quick update this morning, on the run this week.
Took this picture of my oldest and favorite son shelling corn on Saturday. He just loves running the combine but loves being annoyed by his Daddy even more!
Corn yields continue to be good for us but we know there is the June replanted stuff to get yet. That being said if it doesn’t tank to bad we could have a just below average crop. Still a week or so away from trying it though, to many things to do yet on other fronts.
Harvested the second N plot and this one is significant in its results. The 100# rate yielded 171 bu/ac and stair stepped up to the 200 # rate making 194bu/ac. Looks like the optimum rate is about 170 or so (without doing the math) with puts it right in line with our previous plot results on this field of 165 #/N or so. Will post more results when there is time.
Larry Cooper with Opticrop came and calibrated the wheat drill so as soon as I get a few repairs made to it and the gauge wheels back on we can drill wheat. Or after I get the repairs made and get the fields sprayed I can plant wheat. That is one of the jobs to day is to get the chemical to spray I hope in the next day or so.
Also I have to pull a bin fan today and take it to the shop, its pulling way to many amps on start up and causing problems………plus the Cat is still sitting in the shop with one track off waiting on seals and tracks….. and we had to put a new bearing in the unload auger……..and there is more but there isn’t space or time to list them all.
It goes without saying that if you farm, you know……..about repairs.
Corn Yield Update
Switched to a 25 May planting date on the corn this afternoon. Moisture is running 16.8 on the 25 May planting and 32% on the 4 June replant spots. But the corn is 40 bushel better than my 13 May corn less than a quarter mile down the road. Go figure?
Here is one pass (6 rows accros the field) average yield off the yield monitor. It wont hold and will end up averaging about 10 bu less than what is shown in the picture. BUT I WOULD TAKE IT ALL AT THIS YIELD RIGHT NOW!
Cash Rents, Corn and Repairs
The local Corps or Engineers/Conservancy district had their cash rent bid process for their farm land around Rend Lake here recently. The winner got it all at well over $200 an acre. That doesn’t sound like much compared to other places in the world but for around here and with the constraints of the contract, that’s a bunch. One 120 acre tract rented to the same fellows for $250. I have to say this because i just cant hold it in, but that is STUPID. Now the rumor is that their other cash rent landlords are asking around about higher rents or a new farmer.
I don’t think they won much when it is all said and done.
Corn is drying down slowly but is making its way to “the new dry” or 17%. Some shelling is taking place just to get crops off in places. Wheat planting is right behind the corn for most but acres will be down in this area.
The list of repairs is getting shorter around here, just days away from having the power back on at the shed, the wheat drill is a day away from being ready and the cat is up on blocks with one track off awaiting seals before we get the new tracks on it.
Some days things just move very slowly it seems………
Rain, harvest and corn moisture
Well, it rained anywhere from 3 to 4 inches over the weekend here in the area. This afternoon it was hard to tell it even rained. Yes, it is a bit tacky in places, but even the field roads have dried off. That goes to show just how dry we were.
Harvest in this area is in a pause. Not because of the rain but because the corn just won’t dry down. Almost every person I talk to says corn has hit a wall of about 21-23% and is sitting there. Some is being taken off just to get some wheat planted, but its going into a drier. But for the most part combines are sitting idle waiting for dryer corn. Replanted corn hasn’t even been discussed yet.
Over all yields are not bad on the April planted corn, 130 to 150 ish give or take but I am hearing reports of May planted corn from 60-100 bu. A couple of guys told me that they are almost scared of heir June planted corn. All think they have shelled their best corn.
But we all sit waiting for drier corn to shell. Until then all we can do is guess what the fields hold for us and yield this year.
Slow, SLow, SLOw, SLOW
Things are moving slow. Corn is not drying down very fast, if at all it seems. Working on odds and ends between trying to haul some corn out and it doesn’t seem like I am getting much accomplished.
So between odd jobs I have been trying to collect up all the necessary kit for going to shoot the Appleseed at Carmi this weekend which has been slow as well because I cant find where I put some of the stuff so I wouldn’t loose it!
I need to get the grain drill took apart and washed and put back together so I can grease it before I drill wheat and I need to take the wheels off my ATV trailer and get the bearing repacked before I pull it down the road anymore.
I realize that very soon it will be busy around here but right now its just slow.
