Full pods

The pods on the late beans are looking better than I might have expected in many fields.  It is hard to tell how much damage the dry weather has done.  Most of the fields are drying down already and are past the point where a rain would help.

 

Group V beans planted in early June

Soybean update

All the early beans are harvested as of last night.  The late beans are turning fast.  It won't be long until they are ready to harvest, too!

 

The men would like to plant wheat, but it's too dry.  There is a chance of rain this weekend.  We could sure use it!

Next field!

Another field down!  Quentin is finishing up a small field east of the hay barn, and then will move on to a small field on Rose Marie's and then Kenneth's.  Not too many early beans this year, about 80 acres.  It was our first year to try them.  They should finish them up easily today or tomorrow.

Soybean harvest!

The early beans are dry!  Quentin is out cutting on the second field of Marilyn's beans.  He won't be able to cut too long tonight, as the COOP will be closed, but will likely fill the two trucks and grain cart before he quits.

Dry?

Do these beans look dry enough to you?  We are about to find out.  Yes, the combine has left the barn.  Quentin is going to try a few beans to check the moisture.  

Group IV planted in early May

We never received that big rain we were hoping for so we are anxious to see how the beans yield this year.  The later planted soybeans are still pretty green, but turning.  We hope they have enough moisture to go ahead and fill out those pods!

Turning beans

The early planted soybeans are losing leaves and turning brown fast.  Here's one of the fields that is furthest along.  These are Group IV, planted in early May.

In the meantime, the men are getting ready to plant wheat.  They are disking and spreading fertilizer, at least.  They might need to wait for a rain to plant, however, and there's not much in the forecast for next week.

Dirty work!

Why the "farm wife" job should come with a professional cleaning service...

Quentin spent the last couple days cleaning up the combine and corn head.  While Quentin returned to his natural skin tone after a hot shower, I'm pretty sure that this shirt will never be the same.

Cover crops

What in the world is that growing in that field?  I thought we just harvested the corn!

Quentin is trying out cover crops on one field of Paul's this winter.  He planted a rye-radish-turnip mix, which he will kill in the spring before soybean planting.  In the meantime, they might graze some cattle on it this winter.  Cover crops can be very good for soil health, weed suppression and water infiltration.  We are excited to see if they will work for our operation!

Beautiful fall day

Beautiful fall weather today.  We are thankful for the rain we received, even if it was only 0.5".  Quentin has started sifting through some of the yield data to check how the corn hybrids and fields shaped up.  They'll need to order next year's seed sometime in the next month so no time to lose!

Finished!

Corn harvest is officially done for the year!  The men finished up about 8:00 last evening and took the last truckloads in this morning.  It's been raining off and on all morning.  What a great day!

First tractor

Throw-back Thursday...
It all started here.  Quentin got his first tractor for Christmas when he was 2.  We still have it!  It has a lot of wear and tear, but the kids love to pedal around on it.

Quentin has moved the combine to the last field of corn!  We're keeping one eye on the weather to see if he'll be able to finish up before rain comes.

Plugging away

Corn harvest continues in full swing.  The men have one more field over east that they want to finish before the rain chances move in (Friday).  They shouldn't have any trouble finishing that tomorrow, if all goes well.  Then, they'll just be one field left to cut closer to home (about 60 acres, I think).

Learning to drive?

The kids LOVE the combine.  Poor Quentin has lots of company in the cab sometimes.  These two were "driving" while Dad greased up the combine.  In about 15 years, we'll have some good help! 

The men continue on Chambers ground again today.  They had a long day yesterday and likely will today as well, but they are making great progress.  There is a good chance of rain Thursday night in to Friday.  It would be wonderful to be done before then!

Snout view

The view from inside the combine.  This header that they bought last year doesn't seem to lose as many ears of corn as the last one.  A good thing!

The men started in on Harry Frank's fairly early this morning.  It is very windy today, which dries up the stalks and lets them get in the field a little earlier in the day.  Quentin thinks they could be finished with harvest by the weekend, if everything goes well.  We'll send up a prayer for the equipment so nothing will break down!

Look, no hands!

The combine can steer itself!  Quentin still has to run the header (orange lever) and turn the combine around on the ends, but it is equipped with a guidance system so it can follow the rows all by itself.  It's pretty amazing.

 

The men nearly finished up last night at Paul and Helen's so they went out this afternoon to cut the last truckload.  They will be moving over to Rose Marie's tomorrow to start there.

Full trucks

The men have moved up to Paul and Helen's house to cut.  The dew is heavy this morning so they have plenty of time to empty the trucks from last night.  After the COOP closes each evening, they keep cutting until they have everything full.  In the mornings, they take all the trucks in to dump and work on getting the combine greased up and ready to roll for another full day.  The sun is out now so I expect them to be going again soon.  They should be able to finish up that field today, if they have a good day.  We are expecting some family to come next week that can help drive trucks.  Just in time!  We'll be moving to the fields farthest away from the COOP, and Paul is already struggling to keep up with the combine now.  If the line to dump at the COOP is very long, Quentin has to shut down the combine and wait or stop and take a load in himself.

Filling pods

We did get a nice shower last night.  There was 0.65" in the gauge this morning.  Not as much as we were hoping, but still very welcome.  The later planted soybeans are filling pods quickly and need the moisture.  With the sun shining on this pod, you can see the tiny seeds starting to grow.

I don't expect the rain was enough to keep the men out of the corn field.  There is a nice breeze and sunshine this morning so they will probably be able to cut by this afternoon.  They should be able to finish up on Steeby's, at least.

Throwback Thursday: Combines

Combines sure have grown since 1975!  I wonder how many acres they could cover in a day with this guy.

 

Quentin is out harvesting on Steeby's today.  We're keeping one eye on the sky since there is a chance of rain by early evening.  At least the field is close so they can get the combine home in a hurry if they need to.  Still praying for rain for those soybeans!

Still dry

Not much rain to report, I'm afraid.  We got another 0.1" last evening for a grand total of 0.2".  The storms just missed us again.  On the upside, corn harvest is rolling along.  After a cloudy, humid morning, the sun came out and Quentin headed out to try cutting on Kenneth's this afternoon.

Important milestone!

We hit an important milestone on the farm today.  Farmer Noah turned 1!  Poor guy.  Every year he'll have to compete with corn harvest on his birthday.

Only a few rain showers so far last night and this morning, amounting to about 0.1".  The sun is out now so the men went to finish up the field at Winfrey's.  They had to quit by late afternoon yesterday because the COOP wanted to close early for the Labor Day holiday.  It shouldn't take them long to finish the field they are on now, but they probably won't start another one before tonight.  They'll need to move everything back home in case of rain.

Harvesting again

After a couple days off, the men are harvesting again today.  They are finishing up a field at Rose now and will move up to Winfrey's soon.  We are expecting rain this week, but they pushed the greatest chance back until tomorrow.  They are hoping to get a full day of cutting in today, but would be thrilled with a couple inches of rain tomorrow!

Filling the semi

Back at it

The corn is finally dry enough to get back to harvest.  The men should be able to finish up the field on Marilyn's, but that might be it for the week.  We have several chances of rain starting Sunday night so they might not start another field before we see what the weather will do.

First farmer

If we are figuring right, Quentin is a 4th generation farmer on this farm.  His great-grandfather farmed where Paul and Helen live now, and his grandfather bought the farm where we are now living.  We farm both and more!

By all accounts, great-grandpa Elmer was very proud of his horses.  However, we are happy to have our tractors to do the work for us!

Elmer and his horses

Attack of the podworms!

Quentin and Paul went out to scout fields this morning.  There have been reports of soybean podworms (same insect as corn earworm) in the area.  Most of the fields were infected.  The earliest soybeans planted were already past the maturity window when the podworms attack, but the rest of the fields will probably have to be sprayed.  They were able to round up some chemicals today and are hiring a neighbor to spray starting tomorrow.  Hopefully, we can take care of them before they do too much damage.

Planning for next year...

The men tried the corn again this afternoon.  Still wet!  A test batch was 16.8.  They will likely wait until Thursday to try again. 

In the meantime, the break gave them time to check out some corn and soybean test plots.  It is almost time to order seed for next year already!  Quentin is busy trying to pull together what data we have to compare hybrids and will be scouting some soybeans to see how those varieties are faring this year.