Saturday, September 30, 2023
After a day harvesting corn on Thursday, we moved back to soybeans yesterday. The Wednesday night small rain caused us to switch over to corn for a day, and now the weather forecast looks like we will be in the soybean fields for several days in a row.
We start this Saturday with some fog in the valleys around the neighborhood. That will have to ‘burn off’ before we can harvest soybeans today.
Larry has caught up the wheat planting. Our plan for 2024 wheat includes more fields near Wheatland where we have not yet cut the soybeans. So, the remainder of the wheat planting is “on hold” until we get those fields harvested. It has been going very well for Larry; he likes the new JD 8R 340 tractor, and best of all, there seems to be sufficient moisture in the soil to get the wheat to sprout and grow.
Larry heads off to work in two wheat fields on Friday morning.
This is a screenshot from Operations Center on my phone showing Larry’s progress.
Yesterday was a good soybean harvest day, even though it started with some fog in the valleys. That delayed our start to almost noon, but there were other things here at the farm to keep us occupied until then. John discovered an elevator bucket that had detached from the belt and was lodged in a valve at the top of a bin, restricting the flow of grain. This caused him to examine every bucket on that elevator, and he discovered two more that were loose. That repair took some effort and a couple hours during the morning.
All in all, the fall harvest is going well. Each day seems to sprout a little challenge, and so far, they have been manageable.
One thing about the soybean harvest this fall is the strange occurrence that the soybean plants have some green leaves clinging to some green stems. I have heard about ‘green stems’ before, but this is my first experience seeing it in person. The greenish appearance of some areas of the fields can fool you to think, “Oh, those beans are not ripe and ready yet.” But when we cut through them, we find moisture levels that don’t ramp up…they go in the combine tank at less than 13%, some as low at 10.5%! So, we move ahead, even if the fields don’t look fully mature.
The view from the combine driver’s seat.
Check out how the MacDon header on the CIH 8250 combine flexes, even on this relatively flat field.
Have a great weekend.
