Tuesday, September 12, 2017

We got started with #harvest17 yesterday!  It was a fairly cloudy day, with the leading edge of Hurricane Irma coming our way.  Still, it was breezy and dry, and conducive to cutting soybeans.  Ross got going first, and I joined him about noon.  I was astonished by how dry the soybeans were, some were dipping into single digits, as we cut through the day.  The yield results are all over the map, with the best (most productive) soils showing their strength.  As we cut around the replanted strips and patches here at the home farm, we saw great variation in the soybeans.  Even so, the quality is good, and the beans look pretty when they drop into the truck.  Through the day, we sent the loads to Robinson’s Elevator, across US 50 from our farm. After the elevator closed for the evening, we loaded the trucks to end the day, and those were delivered this morning.

In front of the shop, getting ready to move to the field, and attach the headers.

Here, Ross unloads his 8230 into the grain cart.

John got this picture from the hilltop, using the drone. Can you tell where the beans were replanted?

On this high hilltop, the beans were shorter…perhaps they ran short of moisture.  But down in the valley, the yields were better!

The beans are good quality, and look nice going into the grain cart.

The guys are off this morning to deliver the loaded trucks to ADM in Newburgh, Indiana–a terminal market directly on the Ohio River.  These loads are all to fill the forward contracts sold in advance of harvest.

Irma finally arrived this morning.  Not a downpour, but drizzly, off-and-on.  There won’t be any soybeans cut until the sun shines a bit.

AM rain will definitely stop the combines for a while.

So, we’re pleased to have the first day behind us, we found no particular problem, and the combines and trucks performed well.   It is a testimony to John and Brandon who did the extensive pre-harvest checks and service!

Also, in other news, we are officially MT (empty) of 2016 corn.  The bins are cleared just in time for the new crop.