Carnahan & Sons, Inc.

Tuesday, September 15, 2026

Yesterday, we went back to the corn field.  The rains of last week had dried enough for us to get back at it.  Monday was a very good day.  The new part-time guys are doing very well.  The corn is above average yield, and much drier than we would experience in mid- September.   Many loads from yesterday afternoon and evening went directly into storage instead of the dryer!

Some pictures from yesterday.

Pat took this picture

Brian has been a great addition to the team.

Joe started yesterday, and he had a good first day.

Pat rode with me for a few rounds after lunch time.

Brandon D was quite busy yesterday.  He does a great job with the grain cart.

Brandon D

Brian cosults with John when he comes in to unload

John is responsible for in the incoming grain, and operates the dryer. It’s a big responsibility. And he does it well.

He doesn’t get to stay in the A/C very much while he operates the grain elevator. It’ll be a hot one today… 100ºF predicted!

All in all, it was a great Monday at Carnahan & Sons.

Friday, September 11, 2026

We are having our first rain delay of #harvest26.   Rain came Wednesday night and last night too, bringing 1.1 to 1.5″ (28 to 38mm).   Today, the day is gray and gloomy and feels damp.  The forecast is for a bit more of the same.  We are not sad about the rain, however.  It brings 3 benefits at this time:  1.  Reduced fire danger…it was scary dry.  2.  It will help fill out the DCB.  and 3.  It will likely help the fields have moisture when we begin to plant wheat toward the end of the month.  (typical start day for wheat planting here is 9/25).

Unloading into the grain cart. Notice the rain spots on the glass. That was the extent of the Wednesday rain, until Wednesday night.

The soybean results have been all over the map.  On the hills where there was no flooding, the yields were nearly 80, but down in flat areas, the yields were at best in the 40s.  So, while it is true that it is better to have a wet summer than a dry one, the flooding has affected many of our soybean fields.  Of all the many fields that remain to be cut, each one has spots or large areas that had to be replanted.  Therefore, we have no more soybeans that are ready to be cut.  Yet.

We switched over to corn on Wednesday afternoon, and that was a good day.  We harvested two fields of corn here at the main farm, each was planted on 4/1.  We saw moisture levels from 14.1 to 18.5%, which is likely a record low for a first day of corn harvest!  Several of the loads that came in that day went directly into storage.  John initially had some problems with the dryer, but Jeff came from Midwest Ag in Rockport, IN, and he replaced a circuit board… the dryer took right off!   We are pleased with the corn yields so far– 240+!  With all the challenges of the summer of ’26– too wet, too hot, too dry– it’s nice to have some good corn to bring in.  We are grateful… it is a blessing.

Yes, we found corn that dry…

We use a feature that John Deere calls “AutoPath”. It is fabulous when harvesting corn, No more ‘rows of shame’!

Wednesday sunset, taken from the seat of the JD S780 combine.

Today, the guys are servicing the Pete semi, changing the fuel filters, and blowing out the air filters.  It is a cooler day, only 75ºF (24C), quite a relief from the near-1ooº days we’ve been having.  John is clearing out the corn from the dryer… it may be 2-3 days before we return to corn harvesting, and it would not be good to have that 1100 bushels sit there wet, and there has been some rain on it too.  We will be ready to go again, as soon as the field conditions permit.  We don’t want to go making deep muddy tracks in the field just yet!

We have a new part-time employee, and he has been terrific.  PTL!

There are many remembrances of this day from 25 years ago, the famous (or is it infamous?) 9-11.  Every person can recall where they were and what they were doing that morning.  We were harvesting corn at the Harry farm, on the most beautiful day you can imagine.  When I finally turned on the radio in the combine, I could not believe what I was hearing.   It was sobering.   We have all been affected by 9-11, and that day will be riveted into our memories always.   It is good today to celebrate the heroes of that day.  Never forget.  Never forget.

Have a good weekend.  Count your many blessings.

Friday afternoon, September 4, 2026

Yesterday afternoon, we took the combines to the Dunn farm and cut the soybeans on the fields that were planted on April 1.  The beans were a 2.7 maturity, and we planted them specifically so they would cut early.  The first field did not have any replanted acres in them, so it was cut border to border.  The 2nd and 3rd fields had many strips and areas of replanted soybeans in them, and those were still green.  So, we had to cut around those.  It was rather cumbersome, as compared to the first field.  Field 1 and Field 2 at Dunn were on steep hills, but the third field was mostly flat, and near the Roberson Ditch (which flooded the field numerous times in 2026.   We cut around the replanted acres and finished there just after noon today.  There are no other soybean fields that have the beans that are quite ready, so the combines are stopped for the weekend.  The next farms (Lett and Watjen) are on reclaimed coal mine ground, and they may be ready by Tuesday.  Emphasis on may.  If they are not quite there, we can begin on some corn instead.  I would expect the earliest-planted corn to be near 22-23% moisture by now, and with the extreme heat this week, it should be drying significantly!  We prefer to begin corn harvest at 23% or drier.

The final pass on the first field of soybean harvest. This field is rather steep.

These soybeans did not get flooded during the year, and they were pretty good (73bpa)  The fields that were flooded…. not so good.

With all the cutting around replanted patches, I often had to unload into the grain cart while stopped.

It’s helpful to have both combines be the same.  We can share guidance lines, and they work together much more efficiently.

So, this afternoon, we are doing some small repairs and getting the combines fueled and DEF’d for next week.  John is greasing the VT implement.  He wanted it hooked up now just in case of a field fire.  It is scary dry here.   We’ve had record temperatures of 100+ for 5 days now. (very rare here, it has been 4 years since we saw 100F).

At least the yard won’t need to be mowed this week!

We will have a time to enjoy the weekend and then see what next week brings.  The new part-time helpers begin then, and that will be an exciting time to see how they work into the team here.  I’m optimistic about them.

Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Friday, August 28, 2026

While Pat and I were in Alaska, the guys we able to complete the negotiations to upgrade a couple of our most important machines.  We had been looking to upgrade, and buying new wasn’t possible in these current economic conditions.  So, we found a 2024 combine and 2025 tractor and John and Brandon finalized the deal.  They did a really good job with the search and the negotiations.  These new machines are now here at the farm, and they are getting fitted to go to work here in a couple weeks.

The 2025 9R 540

The guys are working on this 9R540 to get it ready to pull the grain cart.

The PTO is an important feature.

The 2024 S780 combine.

Doesn’t it look kinda funny without the dual tires on it?

It is pretty shiny and will soon be ready to go to the field!

The dealer will arrive next week to install the duals on the combine. They also must install the cross-auger shut-off system in the grain tank, the adjustable spout on the unload auger, and 3 cameras.  Then, it will be complete!

It is always an exciting time when a new machine arrives.  We are very pleased that both these machines come to us with Michelin tires!

Thursday, August 26, 2026

Yesterday evening, Pat and I returned from a two-week tour of Alaska.  All I can say is “WOW!”  It was everything that had been told to us to expect.  We booked this trip through Rupiper Travel in Yankton, SD, and that was a very good experience.  Our Tour Manager, Shay, was very personable and her expertise was of great benefit.  There were many farmers in this group of 44 travelers, and we made some new friends.  It was a very pleasant group to share this experience.

The first week of the tour was based on a cruise of the Inside Passage on the Celebrity ship Summit.  That was our first cruise experience, and it was wonderful.  We started our trip in Seattle, then the group went by bus to Vancouver, BC to board the ship.  We had stops in Ketchikan, Sitka, Juneau, Icy Strait, and Seward.  The land portion took us to Anchorage, Talkeetna, Denali Park, and Fairbanks.  Needless to say, the scenery was magnificent.   Among all the animals that amazed us, I saw a moose for the first time.

This trip was a celebration of our 48th anniversary. (July 28).  We have traveled to the other 49 states, and Alaska was our 50th.  We discussed whether we should wait to go to Alaska for our 50th anniversary, but we decided that we can’t know if we will be able to go then, so we went this year.

I will attach some pictures.   I can’t put them all on here, but I’ll include some highlights.

We met Larry and Dee from Nebraska, and they were great travel buddies.

We got pretty close to the Hubbard Glacier from the cruise ship Summit. It was pretty cold there, and the sound of the ice breaking off was thunderous and unique.

The Hubbard Glacier is massive!  It was much taller than the ship.

A little closer look

We had a visit to the farm of the Vandenweele family at Palmer. They hosted supper there and served us with products from their farm. Their hospitality was exceptional and sincere.

We had great luck in viewing the big mountain Denali… it is shrouded in clouds 70+% of the days, and we saw it 3 times in two days! This was a view of it from the train across the Chulitna River

Denali was impressive. It rises 20,310 feet!

Yes, I did see a moose… several times. Boy, oh, boy… are they big!

Here are all the Hoosiers on the trip.  Others were from Nebraska, Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas and South Dakota.

We got right up to the base of Nugget Falls at Mendenhall Glacier.

We are now back home, getting back into the groove.

Monday, August 10, 2026

Boy, oh, boy!  Another hot day.  This makes about 5 in a row around 90ºF, (93, right now).  Yes, we have not had any day with a temperature of 100ºF or more, but August has been a hot one so far.   And, of course, the humidity is high, too.  It is not surprising, for this is southern Indiana after all.

Preparations for fall harvest continue this week.  The guys have been working on the soybean headers and will have the combines in the shop soon to convert their internal set-ups from wheat configuration back to soybean.   Their work has been interrupted today with work on my pickup.   Saturday morning, I had a fully dead pickup, no life in the battery at all.  John helped me with it that afternoon, and his examination hinted that the alternator was not working properly.  He found the battery to be in good working order.  The guys pulled the alternator from the engine this morning (no small task).   John took the thing to Organ Battery in Vincennes and their testing found nothing convincingly wrong.  So, the battery has been charged, and the guys are re-installing the alternator.  I will have to drive it a bit more to see if it will let me down again.   It is made more complicated by the fact that this pickup is a hybrid.  There is no indication that there is any problem with the hybrid parts, but we will find out if there is a real problem in the 12V charging system.

A hot job today.

I have been out for several days with the Gator to spray along field borders to clean up the appearance and reduce weed competition of the waterhemp and johnsongrass.  Most are looking really nice as of today.  After each day’s spraying runs, I like to wash up the Gator to remove any overspray chemical residue and to keep the JD green paint looking shiny.

The Gator cleans up nicely

Brandon D has been working on the headers to clean them up after wheat harvest and to do some repairs on the cutting parts in preparation for soybean harvest.

Cleaning the JD RD40F header.

The sunsets have been spectacular this month.  Here is one from last Sunday evening.

Sunday Sunset

The fall prep work for getting combines, headers, and trucks ready will continue.   Next week, John will be applying the 2nd (and final) pass of herbicide on the double-crop soybeans.  The DCB this summer are not particularly beautiful… (well, some are, but some are not) many of fields had areas where the soil was wetter at planting, and that resulted in some patches where the “stand” is thin to bare.   Still, we are hopeful for a decent DCB crop.   A nice inch of rain would be very welcome to help finish off the corn, soybeans, and DCB.   Seems fickle… after all the days and days of too much rain, that now a rain would be helpful!

I need to mow the yard tomorrow.   It will have to wait until afternoon to allow the heavy dew to burn away, and it is supposed to be 90+ degrees!   Glad I can do it in a couple hours!

I heard from our very first French ag student today.  Damien came in October 1996 and spent 3 wonderful weeks with us.   That was such a good experience, that we continued to host additional etudients for almost a decade after that, until the French Ag college at La Saussaye abandoned the program.   Damien, now 49 years old, lives in Normandy, and he is a successful farmer there; his main crop is le lin (flax).   Today is his younger daughter’s 15th birthday.   The pictures he sent are a treasure.  They recently went to Disneyland Paris, and he says he felt like an American!

Camille, Damien, Manon, and Virginie

Have a wonderful week.