Friday, June 23, 2023

We’re trying to cut wheat, but it’s just not dried down to 13% yet.   We are reluctant to spend the $ on it to dry it down this year because of the reduced price of wheat.  But we must admit to being frustrated that we can’t just set in on it and run full steam ahead.  We worked on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons to cut some of our steep hillsides.  Yes, we found the steep parts of the fields to be 13%, but down in the flatter areas it is much wetter, up to 18%!  The average is about 14.5%.  We have what we did cut in a bin running a fan on it, hoping that will bring down the moisture content.  One complicating factor is the weather.  It has been very pleasant to be outside, cloudy and relatively cool (80ºF – 27C), but this wheat needs some breezy 90+ºF days to dry on down.   Some of that is predicted for tomorrow and Sunday… maybe by Monday, we will find some dry wheat!   We will probably try again tomorrow.  I must admit to being puzzled about what to do.  The pressure is on to get the wheat harvested, but do we wait for it to fully mature in the field?  Do we spend the $ to dry it down?  A heavy rain would damage the quality, but there is no big chance of rain in the 10-day forecast.   This is a classic quandary.

C’mon, wheat!

This was Tuesday noon as Cody from H&R came to set up the new MacDon header. This one works really great! The off-the-ground header height control is pretty slick.

Also, I have planted two fields of double-crop soybeans (DCB).  Those seeds are just lying in the dust, waiting for a rain!  The benefit of the dry weather is that the soil is comparatively hard, making it easier for the drill to cut through the straw and place the seeds into the soil.

Planting DCB on the Cox Hill field, pretty steep!

Today, I wish I was Solomon.