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Life on the Farm
bjrogg:
It’s been feeling a lot like fall. The temperature has dropped and I had to turn the furnace on a few nights ago.
We finished up the soybeans Monday and got my son’s combine cleaned up really good with the leaf blower yesterday. It’s a really nasty job and when your done the combine looks pretty clean. But you look like you need the go through a car wash. It still needs a good wash job but it’s clean enough to store away now.
It was a beautiful day yesterday and after we finished with my son’s combine we took ours out and tried some of our corn. We shelled two truckloads. Our moisture tester called it 22% but the cooperative said it was 24 and 25%. Hoping to get a little drier than that. Lots of deductions at that moisture.
The cool comfortable weather we have had has really slowed the corns development. My son grows longer day corn than we do. Usually you can get a little higher yields with the longer day corn but the moisture is higher. He feeds most of his corn to his cattle so it’s not a big problem for him. He’s out of high moisture corn for feed now and his corn is still 30+ moisture. Doesn’t make the best feed at that high of moisture. We would like to get it to 27%. He needs feed though so we shelled out to loads for him to feed. It should last him until we finish sugar beets and we finished the field he had chopped part of for silage. Nice to finish the field so he can spread rye cover and do tillage on it.
Supposed to rain again today. We are still dry. We have had rainy days but the amounts have been very small. That’s probably ok at this point. To late for rain to help at this point and it will probably just make harvest more difficult. Then cold again.
Feels like beet digging weather. Probably about a week away from permanent pile .
Bjrogg
bjrogg:
I think the Maples are about at their peak for color now.
Bjrogg
Buckskinner:
Wow, you guys are way ahead of farmers around here, still a lot of beans in the field and I haven't seen anyone combining corn yet. I assume you don't have a dryer?
bjrogg:
--- Quote from: Buckskinner on October 12, 2022, 07:51:04 pm ---Wow, you guys are way ahead of farmers around here, still a lot of beans in the field and I haven't seen anyone combining corn yet. I assume you don't have a dryer?
--- End quote ---
We have been getting a lot of work done and are getting it done on schedule.
Edible beans are typically harvested a little before soybeans if the weather cooperates.
We have a fairly short growing season here. We typically grow shorter day varieties of soybeans and corn.
Our night time temperatures are in the 30’s now and stuff doesn’t grow or mature very fast with lows in the 30’s and highs in the 40’s. We also tend to have a lot of cloudy days in the fall.
We personally don’t grow very much corn or soybeans anymore. When we farmed more acres and raised cattle we planted about ten times as much corn as we do now. We did have a old KanSun drier that was from the 70’s actually two of them. They were very slow and not very efficient. We didn’t dry much corn anyway. We feed almost all of it to cattle.
We are hoping to get the corn we have harvested before sugar beets begin our permanent piles. We were informed that the start date is set for October 20 a week from yesterday. Our corn has been quite stressed due to the dry conditions. It tends to cannibalize it’s stalk to put everything it can into its grain. This causes it to have weak stalks and not stand good. We don’t want to wait three weeks and go through several wind events before we harvest it. Drying charges are expensive but crop loses are to. It’s always a catch 22. With crop prices we have now, crop loses add up really fast.
It’s been drizzling, almost snowing, windy and cold for the past three days. We did get a inch or more now on most of our farms. At this point I it’s not going to help any of our crops much and I kinda hope it stops for a few weeks.
We are working in the shop at getting ready for beets. We were informed that our drivers would not be allowed to exit our trucks after we were stationed at the piler. Our trucks have the controls to raise and lower the box inside the cab so that part isn’t a problem. Someone does have to push a button or the side of the trailer frame to open the tailgate though. We and most everyone else have been using this tailgate system for over thirty years. The new requirements won’t allow our trucks to unload at the piling grounds .
We had to modify all our trucks and trailers so we can open tailgate without leaving truck cab. Of course everyone is in the same boat and we are all trying to find supplies to do this at the same time. Fortunately we did have most of the parts we needed in our shop for spare parts. We did some creative thinking and modified other parts. It looked pretty hopeless for awhile but I think we are going to have all of our trucks and trailers able to meet the requirements. I personally feel our old system was safer, but it’s a OSHA requirement and they obviously don’t see things like I do.
Looks like several more days of the same weather. A little harder to keep that smile now, but we are still smiling. Still blessed to be here
Bjrogg
M2A:
Enjoy trying to keep up with your thread here BJ. Don't have much experience in row crops other than sweet corn. Its interesting seeing how its different or the same as fruits and veggies. Regardless in either case the weather always plays a big factor. Sure hope you get some sun and wind to dry things up enough you can get after that corn and beans before beets come in. Regardless keep on keepin on BJ.
Been cold and dampish here for the last few weeks. Had a few frosty mornings but nothing heavy yet. Trying to get all the tomatoes and peppers picked off before we get a heavy frost. Its been 7 days a week now for longer than I want to admit. I ran 120 bushels of apples today by my self just to keep the farm market supplied and will do the same tomorrow. Very limited on helpers so I've been doing all of the grading and packing. Its been an average harvest on the apples this year, much better than I had predicted a few months ago. So rewarding, for me, seeing the crop through the seasons and then to the costumers, even if it tuckers you out. Only thing left to harvest is Rome. snapped a pic yesterday right before the crew picked these trees.
IMG_5126 by Mike Allridge, on Flickr
And here they were on a 2.25" grading chain this morning. Anything too small falls through and will be used for juice.
IMG_5131 by Mike Allridge, on Flickr
Still will have some work to do after harvest in the orchards and can't stop till its all done but looks like Monday the apples will all be in a bin in the cooler and that will be a relief. Although the USDA is supposed to be coming for a food safety inspection before the end of the month so I need to check into all the paperwork for that as well. Hope come November I can get back to the shop and finish up some bows that are long over due.
Mike
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