Corn Planted in April ?

Well it was Monday the 12th we were planning on putting anhydrous on but when I got to the farm that morning and saw the other three over in the field scratching their heads I thought crap they're thinking again. Conditions looked perfect for planting so the paln changed so we decided to take a small chance and let ALL of the anhydrous go on post planting and get the corn in the ground. So far the plan looks like it worked the corn is in the ground just ahead of the perfect bunch rain showers and we have a small start on the side dressing. What corn is up already is looking great and weather permitting beans should be in the ground in the next few weeks. One observation made by area farmers is that after the last two years farmers have learned how to get over acres faster than ever before putting in around 90 percent of the corn crop in the ground in ten days or less. Looks like we will have to pick corn in August if we want to use the dryers this year.

The Unbelieveable Year

Wow I remember back when there was an off season to farming not anymore. I can't believe I didnt conclude our harvest on here yet so here goes. Corn was finished the day after Thanksgiving on our farm after the long hard battle that was harvest 09. The crop had a great year yield wise considering but with an average moisture of 21 percent all had to be dried. THANK GOODNESS FOR OUR SUKUP T-28 THE DRYER THAT SAVED 2009! It also very surprisingly paid for itself in this first year! Flash foward and we are getting a pretty good start to the new decade and gladly moving past the difficult year before. Preparations are being made as allowed (dry fertilizer spreading on frozen ground) and the grain hualing is getting along very fast. This week we also made a small but in a way significant equipment change with what is probably the hardest worked tractor on the farm. Reluctantly our faithful Ford 6600 that we have used as our everyday utility tractor for the past 31 years has gotten to the point that it no longer fit what we needed and will be finding a new home. Even though they often have to leave the farm when their time is done good tractors are never forgotten. The orange Kubota M7040 has big shoes to fill but so far seems like it is up to the job.

Rained Out

We got the big rain we didnt want starting on Monday and more since then. We still have 450 acres of corn left and hopefully it will not be too long before we can get to it. Deep tillage has been 50 percent done and may not get completed for the year. Check out the new pictures on the site and the new page coming soon.

Cropwatcher 11/13/09

Todd Easton Coles County November 13 2009: Just concluded another late night out in the field. One of several in the past week which is a good sign that progress is being made. Standing soybeans have been nowhere to be found for the last week as producers are almost completely engaged in harvesting the corn crop. Moistures are running in the 18 to 20 percent range still making the elevator lines long and slow but not as bad as they have been. Tillage tools have been out in large numbers now that soil conditions have improved. Judging from the basketball sized clods rippers are leaving behind them this last year did a lot of damage to the soil structure. After a whole year of weather related complications the last couple of weeks have been a blessing. Hopefully the forecasted rains won’t amount to much and we can get the bulk of this harvest finished before the end of the month.

Crop Watcher 11/06/09

Todd Easton Coles County November 6 2009: Overtime, It comes as no surprise to me that Farmweek has asked us to continue reporting for a few extra weeks its just one of many signs that this harvest has gone well into overtime. The good news that finally at this late point in the fall field operations are in full swing. Looking across the countryside this week it looks like every piece of fall season farm equipment in the county is out working as farmers and fertilizer suppliers are trying to get a long list of work done in a very short time. Soybean harvest appears to be in the last ten percent as many producers have worked down to their ponds and latest plantings. Soybeans seemed to have a very well defined trend of later planting being lower yielding. I couldn’t even venture a guess of what the final county bean average will be but I’m afraid it will be somewhat lower than our five year average. Corn on the other hand is doing surprisingly well as most fields I have been in so far are at or above average with the last two topping the 200 bushel mark even after shrink. As we get farther in it will be interesting to see what the June planted corn does hopefully it won’t show a significant lag like the beans but it might. As harvest moves along stay safe out there.

Crop Watcher 10/30/09

Todd Easton Coles County October 30 2009: The calendar has turned again this time its saying November but looking across the countryside it is hard to believe. I never thought I would ever see so many crops still out after Halloween and I hope it is a once in a lifetime experience. Progress has been stop and go once again this week. Corn harvesters started back up over the weekend stopped again on Tuesday by rain resuming work on Wednesday and Thursday until once again more rain fell in the area that will probably keep us shut down through the weekend. Corn moisture has been showing a small improvement as many fields are being found in the lower 20’s but elevators are still having to limit wet corn deliveries on a regular basis as dryers are pushed to the limit. The remaining Soybean crop remained mostly untouched through the week as precipitation came at the wrong times. Among all the limited delivery notices from elevators there are many pictures in the e-mail of grain dryer fires at both commercial elevators and on farms. Make sure you closely monitor your dryers and clean them out on a regular basis!

Crop Watcher 10/23/09

Todd Easton Coles County October 23 2009: As Baseball legend Yogi Berra used to say “its deja vu all over again” this week as rain showers came into the area Thursday stopping harvest progress until at least this weekend. Producers started harvesting corn fields over the last weekend. Then on Monday most switched to beans and took out a very large part of that crop ahead of the rain. Soybeans were finally coming in at acceptable moisture levels this weekend with yields all over the board. If we could just get a handful of good days farmers could wrap up the bean harvest and hopefully those will come soon. Corn harvest has been on and off again all season yielding to the bean harvest when ever that has been possible. Corn moistures were still in the 20 to 25 percent range this week forcing elevators to curtail wet corn deliveries at times to catch up on drying already. I’m afraid this will be an on going inconvenience throughout corn harvesting as combine capacity has well out grown drying capacity over the last few years.