Our productivity wasn’t the highest this week. The mission for the week was to prepare for rainy days and we accomplished that.
- Monday. We started harvesting a few miles away at field that I wanted to get planted to wheat.
- Tuesday. We moved back home (where fewer personnel are needed) and worked so that I would be available to plant the field.
- Wednesday. We moved to our farthest field from home where the entrances are “slippery when wet.” It also requires three trucks to keep up with corn being harvested.
- Thursday. We finished up those fields and made a longer than normal move so we could tackle another field that can get some wet spots. We haven’t had any really big harvest volume days this week, but all the days have been pretty even, and we have been able to get the guys home at a decent time.
I really doubt we’ll get the 2-plus inches of rain forecast, but it will be nice to have these fields out of the way. Honestly, I wouldn’t be upset if rain came early and put us out of the fields on Saturday. We all need a break.
One pass to control residue and weeds
It's probably a little early to be making fall herbicide applications but I’m using a residue manager product on some acres so we’re going to do them both at the same time. The residue manager is a mix of “bugs in a jug” that speeds the decay of crop residue and returns tied up nutrients to an available state for next year’s crop.
We haven’t applied much fall herbicide in the last few years but since we’re making the trip it is going to happen. I’m trying to use up product I’ve had sitting on the shelf and get as close to zero inventory as possible.
Harvest celebration in sight
I haven’t done a tally this week, but we’re probably two-thirds of the way through harvest. It’s very possible we could be done by the end of the month if weather holds to a normal type of pattern.
Corn moisture dropped drastically after the week’s abnormally higher temperatures finally dried the crop down. Moisture content has been in the low 20s, which is where we prefer to harvest corn. Double-crop soybeans will be ready after rain this weekend.