Saturday, August 24, 2013

John finished his restoration project this week, and little one-year-old Ella really likes the result!   Let’s hope she has many miles of pedaling pleasure ahead of her.  She’s  the third generation of Carnahans to ride this pedal tractor.  She’s a little small yet to go ‘solo’, but of course she will grow into it.

Although her feet don’t reach the pedals, Ella can steer the tractor while daddy pushes.

We received the final wheat settlement sheet from ADM today and added that to the to  previous ones.  Calculating the exact production from all final sales for 2013 wheat makes for an average yield of 85.3 bushels per acre.  Not bad at all!  Now, our storage bins are empty, ready for fall harvest.

We nibbled on the bush hog work this week, and there remains more to do.  The roadsides and waterways and levees look much better after this kind of mowing.   And one thing to remember is that this time should be the last time to bush hog before harvest…which looks like it will arrive in about 3 weeks.

The painting work on the farm buildings is finished.  Whew, what a load off our minds …and it looks very nice.

There’s a construction crew here from Michigan, working on one of the cross-country electric transmission lines.  They are making paths through the standing corn to gain access to the big towers.  We think they may be replacing some of the old wooden poles.  If only they could have waited about a month, there would not have been any damage to the corn.  Yes, the power company will pay damages, but it would feel better not to have them making roads (yes, they’re temporary ones) through the corn.  I can’t imagine how hot it is for them to be working down in those tunnel-like spots with tall corn all around.

We did meet yesterday with our John Deere salesman, and we have traded our 2010 model 9770 combine for a 2014 S680.  This machine will likely be built next January or February, at the Harvester Works in Moline, Illinois.   Hopefully, we will be able to go see it on the final assembly line with a Gold Key visit.   It’s rather amazing how much a new combine costs these days, but these machines are very productive, too.  We are moving up in horsepower and capacity from a Category 7 to a Category 8 machine.

The heat is back, it feels like a real August day out there.  It’s 90ºF right now, and a little humid.  A good, soaking inch of rain is on our request list.  You can tell that earliest-planted corn and soybeans are beginning to ‘turn’ for harvest.  We tested a sample of corn grain from what the construction company knocked down, and got 44% moisture.  Three weeks will bring that down into the 20s, especially in this kind of heat.

Have a good weekend.