It is finally over. Not the harvest, the election campaigning and the unsolicited text messages for candidate support and donations. As Halloween approached, I was finally able to get off the hayracks and into a combine cab to harvest corn and soybeans. This meant I was able to listen to the radio, and the Chicago radio market did not disappoint with its fair share of negative campaign ads.
With another extended dry spell to end October, many local farmers were efficiently progressing through harvest. The time change brought an extra hour of sleep for one night; but for those still with crops to gather in November, that sunset sure does seem to come quickly after the noon meal. I would like to call that meal lunch, and the meal after sunset dinner, but I know it may bristle my “old-school” farmer friends who still want to embrace the term supper.
Were farmers surprised by the results? Not the election results, the yields. Every season brings blessings and regrets, and in less than a month we get to sit down to a feast that we have helped to produce and count our blessings. Most reports showed that low lying and heavy, wet soils did not produce bumper yields like they would in a dry year. On the flip side, dry weather at harvest eliminated slogging thru mud with machinery and resulted in much less soil compaction that could impact future crops.
Despite the excessive rains at times this summer, documented reduced sunshine from storms, and wildfire smoke affecting plant growth I was able to harvest all my corn and bin it without the need for any artificial drying. I ran both grain dryers for an hour to determine they were in working order and was able to turn them off as soon it was found the harvest moistures were 14-17 %, dry enough for storage. The warm and rather dry fall, paired with a later harvest was a blessing for natural grain dry-down.
While the savings on propane is one blessing, diesel prices tempered that savings. I had a customer ask if I had any hay for sale for $4 a bale. I had to inform him we do not make any $4 hay with $7 diesel fuel. My wife, Cora, has two retired thoroughbred horses, and I like to tease her that we should harness them to do some field work and pull a buggy into town whenever pump prices soar. I would not expect her to wear the typical Amish garb we saw many times during our recent trip passing Amish farms and buggies.
I leave you with this story I shall call, “Be careful what you ask for.” One of my regular hay customers routinely demands alfalfa. My supply is low on alfalfa most of the year, so he usually takes grass hay to feed his sheep. One day I pulled out a rack of grass hay to load onto his trailer. He spied a big load of gorgeous, leafy, green alfalfa in the barn. He wanted it. He even demanded it for the same price as my grass hay. Since it was some of the best alfalfa I had made in a while, I was not relenting on a premium price.
He finally took my grass hay since he was not willing to pay the higher price. He did not return for a while, but when he did, he asked for grass hay. He had found another source for good alfalfa and bought it for his animals after his previous visit to my farm. He proceeded to tell me about the vet visit that followed that hay purchase. He had many sheep that died from bloat after consuming the rich alfalfa.
I felt vindicated on my pricing structure and was glad I had not been the source of his feeding catastrophe. It turned out I was right, but not how I expected. If only I could have saved those sheep; lamb chops would be a great addition to the Thanksgiving table alongside that turkey and ham.
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