How long can this warm, dry weather last? Many farmers are capitalizing on the extension of summer-like weather to harvest corn and soybeans. It was this time last year that we were also very dry. I can only remember 3 wet spells in the last 15 months. A very heavy, wet snow followed by many more snows in February, the deluge of June 22-29th and another round of constant rain in the middle of July. This appears to have been enough moisture to produce respectable yields.
I have several fears. I cannot rule out that an invasion of armyworms will destroy my fall wheat crop I just planted. Like many other farmers, I fear an equipment breakdown and being told the parts are “currently not available.” I am observing many homestead and estate properties having open fires. I fear a field fire caused by an errant hot ember and reckless burning during drought conditions. I hope that by the time this paper is printed I will have the one field harvested so a neighbor will not be a repeat offender and burn my field again.
The dry weather can be a blessing and a curse for soybean harvest. Combine harvesting can start much earlier each day if the crop is dry from the lack of a heavy dew. On the reverse side, the soybeans are so dry they try to split and crack easily. The soybeans are actually too dry. Who knew that could be a thing? It does not seem too long ago that we had a fall where we could not get the soybeans to naturally dry below 15%. Many grain elevators were rejecting the wet beans, and some farmers were trying to figure out how to artificially dry the soybeans. In case you were wondering, that was 2019, the year it snowed 4” on Halloween.
Farmers can sell soybeans that have up to 13% moisture without any discount. There are reports of soybeans having as little as 8-9% moisture. That 4 percentage points of moisture adds up to a lot of water weight lost that the farmer does not get paid for when selling those soybeans. That moisture, and money, vanishes into thin air. I remember reading years ago that beans that are 5 points of moisture under 13% can add up to serious lost revenue.
If only it was easy to have the weather dry the soybeans perfectly, without over drying. It is reported that some farmers are going to continue corn harvest and not do the soybeans until some rains have raised the moisture in the beans. This could be a risky gamble.
Talking about taking risks, when I cut an alfalfa field for 4th cutting on the 29th of September, I started getting questions. The agronomic advice is to let your hay fields have 4-6 weeks of growth before a killing frost so the plants can have the best chance to survive winter. The big question is, when will the first killing frost hit?
I reasoned it is better to cut and harvest than risk letting the armyworms have it. Next spring I will know if I made a big mistake.
Last week I wrote about the balloons that litter our fields. Only days later I learned that a massive balloon release, 3500 balloons was occurring in Joliet. The bill to outlaw balloon releases that failed to become a law stipulated a $250 fine per balloon for any mass balloon release. Had that bill become a law, the fine for that event would have been $875,000. The state is missing out on a lot of lost revenue.
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