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………
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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!
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………
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.
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.
Took out one of the nitrogen plots today. Its a calibration study of N testing to rate response.
Results were (are) most likely not significant and had more to do with field position and water movement in the field than anything. The result could be broken down into two different field positions, one averaging ~147 and the other averaging ~161. That being said when your 150# rate and your 225# rate yield the same in the same field location, then its not N that’s contributing to that yield, or at least this year.
Randomized plot design helps tell treatment affect from field position. This is why I am so, lets say….skeptical with all the fertilizer dealer “research” that is done in this area. They don’t randomize and replicate. The side by side it, among a lot of other things, and call it research.
This year it seems that yield response studies are not going to be very reliable between the massive amount of rain we had from April to July and the intense heat and lack of rain from July to August. Not to mention that some studies had replants and replant of replants in them in this area.
Big thanks to Christopher Johnson, my Pioneer sales rep for taking the time out of his day to bring the weigh wagon over and collect the data while I ran the combine. Now all I have to do is forward the data on the the researchers and my work is done on Plot #1.
The good news is that my yield monitor calibration is pretty darn close on these plots, which means that I can do the next one with just the monitor and not bother anyone trying to work around schedules!!
Got started shelling corn today. Shot this video with my phone. Not the best video in the world but hey it worked! Anyway shelling east of Benton along Rt 14. Corn is doing well, as you can see in the video, some of the end rows along the woods were not so hot, but that is to be expected with the hot and dry July and August. But across the field is good corn for the year and growing conditions it had to endure.
Anyway here is about 1:15 of corn shelling from yesterday.
Well it rained all day yesterday. We ended up with 1.41 inches in the gauge and it was greatly appreciated. It will help the double crop soybeans and it helped settle the dust. Cool weather followed the rain in and you need a sweatshirt this morning outside.
Some general observations this morning as we hit the middle of September. Corn harvest has started for about 80% of the farmers in the area but it is not a sprint this year but more of a walk-a-thon. Very casual. I think this has to do with lower yields and areas of higher moisture due to replants. I have yet to see the roads loaded up with trucks but I know it is coming.
Fertilizer prices keep going up and as more corn is shelled the amount of P and K that is going to get spread keeps going down. After a big hurry to get tonnage for prepay lots of folks are just not going to spread that much fertilizer this fall it seems.
Wheat acres are down it would appear. I say that now but know that a quick bump in the price will bring out more seed and more planting pretty fast. Corn prices have everyone looking to Dec 12 and not July 12. That being said there is also a lot of PP acres of DC Beans that will not get wheat planted back on it.
And last but not least……….the economy and the lack of direction and leadership out of Washington DC is weighting heavy on a lot of folks. Enough bad news beats down on everyone. Even in the Ag community where things are bright from a $ standpoint. This country needs a warm fuzzy reason to have hope and I fear we are not going to get more than a cold slimy from Washington for a while to come.
A sign that progress, be it slow progress, is being made here on the farm towards starting corn harvest. I fulfilled my prediction and did get the combine out, head on, washed and shelled a hopper full of corn today!!!
Moisture was 18.7 on the corn planted on 13 May. I planted two different numbers on that day, and one was running 20 to 20.5. I took out some of the end rows so I could get a good sample from the field to see just what I was looking at moisture and yield wise. The yield was about 145 bu/ac dry corn. Not bad, not great, but for a year like this, I will take it all at that yield and not complain a bit.
So after all the excitement today, we sit idle for a few days. First off, still working on getting the grain bins rewired and then we need to sit the fans back on the bins. This has been a long overdue task. Making things safer is a priority. Making things safer and also more efficient is also a priority. So even if I started shelling tomorrow, I can’t put it anywhere until that job is done.
Second, the grain truck is in the shop. Carb kit going on. Just before I went to get it inspected, I found fuel puking out and around various bolts and screws. Yep, the gaskets dried out. Note to self…next grain truck will be a diesel. Note to self…there won’t be a next truck……see paragraph below. So even if the bins were ready, I have no way to get it from point A to point B.
In dealing with the grain truck and attempting to find and trade for a bushhog (or rotary chopper for some of you folks) I am reminded of the words of a wiser farmer than I: Grain trucks and mowers are not profit centers, they are money pits. (or something close to that) After thinking that a bigger truck, diesel truck, with air conditioning, roll tarp and cargo doors would be the berries, I decided that it would be much easier to just build a big grain bin and pay Ty Jones, the local trucker I prefer to use, to just come and load and haul it all out of that big bin. Between inspections, tires, insurance, gas or fuel, repairs and the possibility of overweight tickets (not to mention all the other assorted stuff that ISP and ISOS get all excited about checking a grain truck for when they pull it over) it just isn’t a money making piece of equipment.
And I didn’t even mention the amount of time sitting behind the wheel, not to mention the amount of time sitting in LINE waiting for the grain to be weighed and graded, let alone dumped. Yes, you need a truck. But I don’t want to have one or be in one, on the road anymore.
So by the end of the week, gain bins should be done, fans on, grain truck ready, combine ready. and corn harvest can commence.
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