Down on the farm during a rainy harvest.

Another rainy week at the farm. These past few weeks has dragged on with little harvesting taking place. It seems like there is 2 or 3 days that we can work in the field before the next rain. Dad and the rest of the crew finished soybean harvest while I was gone to meetings over the weekend and I was able to get the corn finished Monday before this last rain. Despite the rains our yields have been good this year and grain quality has remained good. There have been reports of mold problems in different parts of the country in corn and some in soybeans. The moisture level in the grain has been reasonably low also, grain has to be at a certain level or lower to be stored without having quality problems during storage.



My son Trevor standing in a Milo field. He is 6 years old and is 4 foot tall to give some reference to the height of the milo. The field is a little weedy, but most of that is along the edges of it.

Some of our down time has been spent at the shop working on the combines preparing for milo, grain sorghum, harvest. Normally we make a few changes to the header on the combines and a couple of quick changes on the combines as quickly as possible so we can start harvest. This year we have looked them over closer and changed the engine oil. We also plan on using our third combine for milo this year also, if we can get the logistics of trucking worked out.

All of our milo will go to an elevator, even though we will store some of it on the farm and deliver it to an elevator later this winter. From the elevator there are many places that it might go. It could go to a poultry farm for feed, it might be used as a feedstock at an ethanol plant, or exported to another country for use as livestock feed or as food for humans.

Day on the farm during corn harvest

Here is a typical day for me during corn harvest. After dropping my son off at school. I go to the farm shop and pick up supplies and any parts that I might need. Generally I make sure that I have engine oil, hydraulic fluid, and grease for the combine.



An ear of corn on the plant with it's husk pulled back. This is what it looks like when it is ready to harvest.




This is what it looks like as the combine's header moves through the corn. It pulls the plants down crushing the stalk while it strips the ears off.


When I get to the field I start fueling the combine. While it is fueling I check the fluid levels, grease the combine and check for anything that might to be out of place. The combine will normally take 50 gallons of diesel fuel or more, but that is enough for me to operate for 2 days. Combines have many moving parts that require grease to keep them operating smoothly and to prevent premature wear. I inspect much of the combine while I am greasing it. After fueling and greasing I wash the windows. A great deal of dust is produced while harvesting and it sticks to the windows, the dust makes it hard to see particularly at night.



A load of corn on a semi. Something wasn't set right and we were getting part of the cob with the grain.

Corn is unique to other crops that we harvest in that the combine's header pulls the ears off and takes very little else of the plant. This allows us to begin harvesting earlier in the morning and stop later in the evening. With the other crops the plant is cut off and many times the dew from the previous night needs to dry off so that the grain will separate easier.







These are a couple of pictures of our on farm grain storage and a truck unloading corn.

Then I begin harvesting corn. The combine's header will take 6 rows of corn at a time. I move through the field harvesting at about 3 miles an hour. When I get to the other end I unload and harvest back the the other end. I watch to stay lined up on the rows and monitor the grain coming into the grain tank. If I start getting too much of the plant or cob I will have to stop and adjust the combine. Many times I will spend 10 hours or more harvesting corn, sometimes longer if I have empty trucks to unload in.

We store most of the corn on the farm in grain bins and will sell it during the winter and spring. The part of Kansas that I live in is unique in the fact that we use more corn, mostly for cattle feed, than is raised. This allows for a strong market for corn throughout the year. Most of our corn will be sold and fed within 100 miles of where we raise it. There is an ethanol plant that is close, but they use grain sorghum.

Another great day

It was a beautiful day on the farm. When I was driving to the field this morning to start seeding wheat a group of Prairie Chickens, also known as Prairie Grouse, flew out from some grass along a field. Prairie Chicken populations have been steadily increasing over the last few years from low populations. It's very common to see wildlife when I am working in the fields. The most common wildlife seen is deer and turkeys, the population of both animals has grown greatly the past few years.

Wheat planting has resumed. I would have liked to been finished with wheat seeding at least a week ago, but because of rainy weather all field work had ground to a halt. Much of our wheat, 1/3 to 1/2, is seeded into land immediately following soybeans, but because our soybeans were late maturing and then two weeks of rain we are late seeding wheat.

Wheat plants, at least Hard Red Winter Wheat that we grow, has the ability to produce several shoots from the main one. With late seeding it decreases it's ability to do this and we have to use more seed to help compensate. The yield on this wheat will be reduced.

Back on the blog

I thought I would dust this off again and see if I can keep motivated to do this. I have a better idea on what I want to do and how to promote it through social media.

This past year has been interesting. Our wheat crop was average to a little above and we took advantage of marketing opportunities last year. The fall crops this year are fantastic, the sunflowers passed the yield goals, the non irrigated corn was good where it didn't drown out, the irrigated corn is meeting or exceeding yield goals, the grain sorghum and late sunflowers look awesome. Our weather conditions were idea most of the summer, in late July/early August the crops experienced some heat stress. Our crops showed less stress damage than some neighbors. Part of this is due to our long term no-till cropping system and proper fertilization and plant health.

No-till is a cropping system that relies on herbicides and crop rotation to control weeds. Our rotation is two winter wheat crops, sometimes with a double crop of sunflowers or soybeans, grain sorghum, and then soybeans or sunflowers. We have a fairly diverse crop rotation that allows us to use different herbicides with different modes of action to help control weed without creating resistance. This cropping method reduces the carbon emitted from the soil, greatly reduces topsoil erosion from wind and water, builds soil health and organic matter. We also use far less fuel than when we were tilling the soil and have a tremendous labor savings, I'm not in a tractor 14 hours a day 6 to 7 days a week from the first of July to the middle of October.