Tuesday, October 29, 2024
The great post-harvest clean-up has begun. It takes a few days’ work to get the machines and trucks back into like-new appearance. And the combines especially this fall were so very dirty, you really couldn’t tell they are John Deere green.. they are black from the tar-spot-dust of the corn. The unusually warm days this week (80ºF+) are helpful when we wash equipment. Rain is predicted for Thursday, and cooler days after that. If it gets too chilly to wash outside, the machines can be brought inside the shop to scrub and wash. The compressed air cleaning is already done.
Near the end of corn harvest, the combines were a nice shade of black.
Brandon has turned his attention to the headers, first removing debris with compressed air, then washing with a brush and soapy water. He has serviced the Tony truck, preparing it for the winter grain delivery season. Brandon D is in the Pete, delivering grain this week… corn in the mornings, and soybeans in the afternoon. John has worked for two complete days washing the grain dryer. He is very thorough in his cleaning of the dryer, and that will extend its useful life significantly.
Brandon scrubs the RD40F header with a soapy brush, the last step to cleaning it before storing it away for the winter. The MacDon header was next.
The RD40F washed and stored
It is SO windy today, that Brandon opted to wash the Demco 1322 grain cart inside the shop.
JHD 9520R tractor is getting washed inside the shop today.
I have done some work with the JD R15 bush hog and I have also taken some time to repair tile risers that are broken. I zip-tie the broken parts back together, in hopes of getting them to last a while longer. It has worked okay so far. I’m also working in the office, preparing information for our fiscal year end on 11/30. All those projections take a long while to define and refine.
On Thursday, we will meet with our seed salesman along with the area Bayer rep to decide about our line up of seed choices for next year’s corn, soybeans, and DCB.
The post-harvest period from now until the end of November is a bit packed with activity, but not as hectic or pressure-filled as harvest itself. This harvest started on September 11 and wrapped up on October 24. Six weeks and one day, with only two days of rain delays. We worked no Sundays. It feels good to have harvest behind us. Soybean yields were below our trendline, we think due to the very dry August. But the corn gave us the best yield ever. Plus, over 80% of our corn crop was dry enough at harvest to go directly to market or to our storage. (we had corn as low at 14% moisture in the field!) The DCB were not a record, but above what we expected. All in all, a very good result, and we are grateful. The Lord has provided quite well…again.
I better get back to work on the FYE. Have a great day.
