Folding Corn Head

Drago demonstrated the 12 row folding corn head at this year's Farm Progress Show.  The advantage is being able to drive down the road without loading the head on a cart.  John Deere has an 8 row folding header available.

Soybean Harvest

Soybean is starting in our area, but many soybeans are not ready.  There is a lot of corn being harvested too right now.

Harvest is Really Started

I took advantage of the need to go to Springfield today and did a mini crop tour.  I was surprised to see soybeans turning yellow and dropping leaves.  Not all of them of course.  I also passed many fields that have mature corn.  Near Springfield, a few fields are harvested.

On the way home, I headed down the Black Diamond Trail and near Raymond, I saw Combines in the field.  The field in the third picture down has 3 combines in it.  They were almost done with that field.  The last picture is nearby, but a different field and a different farmer.

I will be spending Tuesday at the Farm Progress Show near Decatur.  It is the greatest spectacle in agriculture.

Yellow Soybeans

Mature Corn

Harvest near Raymond

Harvest near Raymond

Macoupin County Today

I took the backroads to my Macoupin County Client today. There was more corn to harvest than expected.  I saw five combines in the field.  On a more exciting note I spotted and eagle's nest along Macoupin Creek with a Bald Eagle nearby.  I tried for a picture, but my phone camera failed me. 

Rain Dampened Harvest

Our harvest is getting to be very rain dampened.  Last week, I sampled on Sunday and Wednesday.  Wet weather is slowing me down because fields are not harvested.  I know my problem is small compared to farmers who are not getting their harvest done.  It seems a shame that we are going to lose some of our best yields ever because of wetness.  I am making no prediction on the extent of the loss. 

Green Bean Harvest

Harvesting the last crop of green beans for the fresh market.

First Day of Fall Sampling

Today was my first day of fall sampling.  The weather was great.  The poorly drained parts of the field were wet. I heard ruors of corn yields as high as 265 bpa and soybeans as high as 100 bpa.  It seemed there were more people harvesting today than yesterday. 

Harvesting Seed Corn

On Friday I happened to pass a field of seed corn being harvested.  You can see the corn picker on the left.  I liked watching the corn being dumped into the truck.  With seed corn, it is all about seed quality.  The corn is harvested on the ear to prevent breakage of the seed coat.  That is also why it is being dumped.  The corn is dried with little or no heat.  Dry corn is shelled and sorted by sizes before treating and bagging. 

Soybean Harvest Close in Brazil

By Eduardo Paim:

 

Here in Brazil we are having good weather for soybean development, I believe we will get a large soybean crop this year. Here in northern Mato Grosso has some producers are beginning to harvest, but it is still few!

We do not know if the Helicoverpa caterpillar damaged the soybean plants, but if the caterpillar problems did not happen the rest is okay here .. really well!

I'm so optimistic about the perfect weather we are having so far!

Too Much Autosteer?

It looked like the riser below went through the combine.  They were scattered for about 30 feet.  I put them together so you could see how torn up they were.  I suspect the driver was distracted by something and maybe running auto-steer.  I bet he woke up from the noise of the riser going through the combine.  I guess this is another conservation repair to make. 

Dusty Harvest

Soybean Harvest is very dusty this year.  Some rain would settle some of the dust, but who knows when that will happen. 

Soybean Harvest Going Well

   Soybean Harvest is underway and I had time to get some great photos. 

Combine in a cloud of dust

Headed to the Auger Wagon

Unloading Soybeans

Soybeans on the Auger Wagon

Back to Harvest

Wheat Harvest Progressing

We finally got some dry weather for wheat harvest.  The morning started off foggy, but by noon things were dried off.  I saw a number of combines in the field, some with balers right behind them.  Yes there are also a lot of double crop soybeans going in. 

Soybean Head

I noticed this combine harvesting soybeans in the field next to me today.  What is unusual about it?  The head is designed specifically for soybeans.  These were popular 20 years ago.  As narrow row soybeans have become more popular, most people now use a standard small grain head.  Improvements in sickle bars and header controls have helped with the grain heads too.  A standard Grain head is also more versatile because you can harvest more than one crop with it.   

Soybean Head

Greene County Today

I worked in eastern Greene County today.  Corn harvest is progressing well.  I worked some on three customers today and they were all done with corn.  One of them was starting on soybeans.  There is still corn to harvest, but there are lots of open fields now.  Topsoil moisture was good, but in so me places, soil was hard below the top seven inches.  Lots of tillage is done.  Chisel plowed ground is very loose.  I worry about erosion. 

Harvest Moon?

Looking at the moon near full,was going to say it was the harvest moon.  I found out the Harvest Moon is actually the on nearest the autumnal equinox and only comes in October less often than September.  Tradition has it that farmers could work into the night because of the brightness of the harvest moon.  Tonight's moon is the Hunter's Moon or the Blood Moon.   

Early Surrender

I travelled to Champaign and back today.  This will be my last post of the year on how bad corn is.  Between Randy Darr and myself, we have travelled a good bit of the corn belt since July 1.  We have seen only a few fields of corn overall that really looked great.  We have been to Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, and extensively over our home state of Illinois.  We have only missed Iowa and Nebraska of the big corn producing states.  My guess is that sooner or later, yields, demand, and supply, will converge to effect the corn market.  I am not a good forecaster of price, but I would guess that most people will not hurt themselves if they do not sell all their corn right now. 

I did not see many combines in the field.  This is in contrast to last year when late August and September were a little wet at least in our area, and people were out compacting the soil very early.  It seems there is something of a sheep mentality going on.  Last year harvest progressed fast because people were expecting wetness to continue.  It did not.  This year, we seem to be expecting dryness to continue.  It may not.  In addition, I saw some fields starting to go down badly.  It should be time to get serious about harvest. 

Wrights

I worked near Wrights today.  Yes it even has a post office.  At least for now.  Moisture penetrated 3 to 6 inches.  NO field work was underway until I got back to Piasa in the afternoon.  One combine was going there.  The corn fields I worked in today had good stover and cobs so I am guessing they yielded well.  They were planted before wetness set in this spring. 

Greenfield Corn Ground

I sample today in the Greenfield and Carrollton area.  I did not get a report on yield, but judging from stover and cobs, the corn was pretty good.  This was early planted corn.  I did get an indication however that the corn did not reach it's entire yield potential.  Leaves were dried down but still green.  Kind of like hay.   It has to run out of water very fast for that to happen.  Soils were very dry, but I waws able to find places to bore without hammering.  I suppose the corn was planted before the soil got really wet and did not get compacted.  I also found moisture in low lying areas, but even there the corn dried green.  The plant could not take up water fast enough to offset low humidity and heat. 

There were a few more combines in the field today than yesterday, but still not near everyone.  With stalks weakened by disease and drought, I would think people would be ready to go.  The corn I sampled today did have sturdy stalks.  At least they were sturdy enough to blow a tire on my 4 wheeler.

Corn Harvest

I suspect that this week we will have a small amount of corn reaching the black layer stage which is physiological maturity.  Once the corn black layers, it has reached it's highest potential for yield.  Keep in mind that mature corn can still have green leaves, although a good sign of maturity is when the husks on the ears are drying down and certainly when the ears drop.  Once it matures, the question is, do you harvest and dry it down, or do you let it dry in the field.  There are lots of things to consider in deciding when to start harvesting.  Price of drying is one.  Workload is another.  If you have a lot to harvest, you might want to get started.  Another factor is disease pressure.  This article talks about identification of stalk rots.  I suspect Goss's Wilt could also affect stalk quality.  You might want to check with your seed corn agronomist to get some idea of stalk rot susceptibility in your varieties.