2009 Crop Year
December 12th
We finished up harvest on December 12th. This has been a challenging growing season from the planting delays in the spring due to wet weather through the wet harvest and finally snow covered harvest. We are thankful for being done.
The last couple of weeks of harvest are somewhat of a blur now. We were able to make good progress around our home area during the last segment of harvest. The new grain system worked well and we were able to keep up with 2 16-row combines, at times taking in more than 100,000 bushels per day. The grain storage is all full now.
The tillage crew was able to keep up around home as we harvested. All the tillage work is done around the home area.
We finished harvest back in the Farmer City area on the fields we left behind earlier. Severe winds hit those fields in the first week of December. The corn was down and twisted up but we were able to get through OK. There is still tillage work to be down in the south but we will have to wait for the frost to thaw. We may get an opportunity to get back in the fields to do the remaining tillage work if it warms up.
Overall yields were average this year with some fields good and others not. The extremely wet and cool conditions throughout spring and summer took there toll on the corn, especially on the fields in the north.
Below are some pictures of the harvest activity over the last several weeks. The pictures are not as pretty as they were in the beginning of the season. The machines (and the operators) are getting dirty and tired.
Week Ending November 14th
We had a fairly productive harvest week in Farmer City. We were able to run all week with very good weather. We were limited somewhat by the capacity of the local grain elevators to take wet corn. With all of the wet corn coming in this year, grain dryers at the elevators have not been able to keep up and they have had to stop taking in corn early in the day, sometimes by noon. In order to keep harvesting in the afternoons, we started hauling wet corn north to our grain set-up at Yorkville. This is a long distance haul. It is about 100 miles one way and it takes the trucks about 4 hours for a round trip. At times we had over 10 trucks hauling north.
The tillage crew was able to get going again by mid week after the field conditions got fit again.
On Saturday we moved our combine back north around the home farm so that we could get going on corn up there and avoid the shortened elevator hours around Farmer City.
The grain setup on the home farm is now fully functional. We have a few minor issues to work through but the system is keeping up well with the wet corn. We are glad to be back running around home were we can utilize the new system and run longer hours. Corn moisture levels around home have been running 22-26%. We are glad to see these levels after hearing reports of a lot of corn still testing above 30%.
Week Ending November 7th
We had a good harvest week. We were able to run Tuesday afternoon through Saturday in the Farmer City area. The fields finally began to dry out after the excessive rains from the previous week. Corn moisture levels also dropped several points this week with the warmer temperatures. Most fields are running 25% moisture and below. Yields continue to be good with most field averages over 200 bushels per acre.
The local grain elevators have begun to shorten their operating hours as they get in too much wet corn for their dryers to keep up. Area farmers have gotten done with beans and have switched to corn. Some elevators are starting to shut down their dump pits by noon. With the shortened elevator hours, harvest will be dragging on for while. We are looking into hauling corn 100 miles north to our home facility in order to keep the combines running all day.
Tillage work is still on hold with the wet soil conditions.
Below are some photos from this week's work. Lee is pictured with his trusty #18. Brad and Gavin search for some dry corn to haul home.
Week Ending October 31st
It was another slow week for harvest progress. Heavy rains kept us out of the field most of the week. We were able to try corn in Farmer City in Wednesday and Thursday but field conditions were not good. Normally we would not try to run in these conditions but with time ticking away we tried to go. We got our tracked grain carts stuck for the first time ever. The ground was so soft that the mud can start to push in front of the tracks, causing the carts to drag until they get stuck. We switched one of the cart tractors out for the Cat 865B tractor from our tillage crew. That tractor has over 500hp with wider tracks and it was able make it through the mud.
We were very impressed with the tracked combine in the mud. It was able to make it through and even pull the stuck carts out of the mud.
More rain hit the area late in the week making for even wetter conditions. We are praying for some sunshine for next week.
Below are some shots of the challenging conditions from the past week.
Week Ending October 25th
We started the week harvesting soybeans in Farmer City. We had about 750 acres of soybeans this year. We were able to get them all out on Monday and Tuesday while the sun was out. Finding sunning days to take out soybeans has been a challenge this year will all the rain and cloudy days. Moisture levels on the beans were 13 to 14%. Yields were good with field averages of 65 bushels per acre. The Birky combines helped us with the soybean harvest and then they went to take care of some other soybeans they had to harvest.
On Wednesday we got back to corn harvest. We are still trying to find some corn to pick with reasonably low moisture levels. The field we did on Wednesday was 27 to 28%. Still relatively wet but not too bad considering we are hearing about a lot of 30%+ corn coming out of fields. We are going to have to decide if we wait for the corn to dry more in the field (which is not likely) or if we keep going on it and pay the cost of drying. Given the late date on the calendar, we will keep going.
The harvest crew was shut down by rain on Thursday for the week. We had over 2 inches of rain at the end of the week. More mud.
The tillage crew was able to make some good progress this week. Our dedicated crew ran some long hours including one all-nighter trying to catch up with the combine while the ground was fit. Soil conditions are not the best given all the rain but it is time to keep the tractors moving when we can.
Below are some picture of this weeks work.
Week Ending October 16
We were only able to harvest for two days this week with wet conditions keeping us out of the field later in the week. Yields continue to be good with most field averages above 200 bushels per acre. Corn moisture levels have stayed at around 25% for our April planted corn. Later planted corn is still above 30%. Hopefully dryer weather will return next week and the later planted corn will continue to dry down in the field.
We now have about 1300 acres harvested but a long way to go.
Below are some pictures of the machines running briefly this week.
Week Ending October 9th
We started corn harvest on Monday October 5th. We started in the Farmer City area on corn planted in April. Harvest moistures have been running around 24% on the early planted corn. The May planted corn is still in the high 20's to lower 30's. Yields have been very good so far with field averages over 200 bushels per acre.
We are again running a Cat/Lexion 595R combine with a 16 row head. The tracked combine will again help us get through what is already proving to be another wet fall.
The wet conditions limited harvest progress this week. We were only able to run about 2 days this week dodging the rain. We were able to get out about 670 acres for the week.
We are again using Birky custom harvesting to assist with some of the harvest. They have two Lexion 595R's with 16 row heads that we run along with ours. On Thursday we harvested 130 semi loads of corn with the three machines.
Below are some pictures of this weeks activities.
Week Ending June 19th
We finished planting corn (the first time) on June 4th. We then quickly turned to replanting wet spots, side-dressing nitrogen and spraying. Side-dressing was completed on June 15th. We still have some wet holes we would like to get replanted but those areas have not yet dried out.
Our crops are again highly variable in height and condition depending on planting date and soil moisture levels. The best corn was knee high on the 4th of June, other corn was still small and some was drowned out.
June 3
We finished planting corn in Farmer City on Saturday, May 30th. We then changed over to soybeans in Farmer City with two of the planters and sent the other one on to plant corn in Wapella, IL. By Monday the beans were planted in Farmer City and we moved all the machinery to farms near Illiopolis where we have more corn yet to plant. Field conditions have been wet there all spring. Conditions were dry enough for us to start field work there on Monday. We started planting corn at Illiopolis on Monday but we were only able to plant portions of individual fields that were dry enough. We were rained out again on Tuesday but the rains were spotty and we hope to get back in by Thursday.
Below are some pictures from this week's planting progress. Not surprisingly, many of them have the machines being chased by rain clouds.
May 28
We have all the machinery back in postion in Farmer City now. Wet conditions have kept us from hitting the fields today. We hope to be able to run again tomorrow.
Below are some pictures of the good and bad from last weekend. The good was the progress we made on planting. The bad was getting the sprayer stuck in our first field in the north. Luckily the sprayer did not go down too far. We were able to pump out the water from the tank and pull it out without much trouble.
May 26
We finished planting corn around home (Yorkville) on Monday, May 25th. We had a good run of weather and luck with the machinery from Thursday through Monday, getting over 3,300 acres planted. Today we started moving machinery back down to central Illinois to get back into the field we left behind last week that were too wet. We are also going over the machinery and making minor repairs.
Rain moved into the Yorkville area this afternoon and we had received 0.7 inches of rain by tonight. The rain is somewhat welcomed here since we have some corn put in ground conditions that were less than favorable. The rain should help the corn get off to a good start.
Week Ending May 23
We started out the week in Farmer City fixing field tiles and waiting on the ground to dry out from the previous weeks 3 inches of rain. On Wednesday we reluctantly decided to pull up camp and move all of the machines home to northern Illinois where field conditions were drier. This was not an easy decision given that we will have to move everything back down to central Illinois to finish planting and we may get caught in more rain in the north. However the season is getting late and we need to make some progress somewhere so move home we did.
We were back up and running with all the machines by Thursday at noon. Field conditions were OK but still damp under the surface. But again, given the date, we are going.
We are running 3 planters and 2 60-foot field cultivators. Brad, Dad, and I (Bob) are running planters while Jim Hill and Efren Real are running the cultivators. Our excellent support team of Gavin Hatch, Lee Hage, and Chad Norquist are keeping us fueled up and running smoothly.
I am typing this as I am running the planter so forgive my typing skills. Luckily I am in 1 mile rounds so I do not have to turn too often.
Below are some pictures of this week’s activities.
Week starting May 11
We were able to get back in the fields at Farmer City on Monday May 10th. We started back up in the afternoon and conditions were OK. By Tuesday conditions were very good and we ran all day. We had a good day on Tuesday getting nearly 1000 acres planted. We were rained out at about 1 am on Wednesday morning. We received about 1 inch of rain in Farmer City on Wednesday morning, shutting us down for a while again.
Brad made good progress spraying on Tuesday. He was able to get 1400 acres sprayed and nearly catch up with the planters. He is spraying Harness Xtra which is a will hold the weeds back on the planted corn until he returns with RoundUp later in the summer.
We are adding another CaseIH 24 row planter and 60 foot field cultivator to the equipment line this week. With all of the rain and delays we were getting concerned about getting all the crops in timely. With the help of our friends at Central Illinois Ag (CaseIH) we will hopefully have the additional equipment ready to run when the fields dry out again.
Below are some pictures from this weeks activities. Our first planted corn is up and looking pretty good.
May 7
We were able to get back in the fields in Farmer City this afternoon. Soil conditions were still damp but workable. We were able to get about 2 hours of work in before the rains returned at about 5pm. Now we wait for dry conditions again.
Heavy rains hit the Yorkville area yesterday. We had nearly 1 inch of rains on most fields there.
So now we go back to fixing drainage tiles and working on building projects.
May 3
It is still too wet in the field for planting activities. Conditions may be fit by mid week if we do not get additional rains.
We have been doing some dirt work on one of the farms in Plainfield. We are leveling out a black dirt berm left from the installation of a sewer line. The berm is about 3/4 of a mile long and 8 feet high so it is taking some time to level out. Leveling the berm will make the field easier to farm since it cuts a field in half and relieve some drainage problems we have had on that farm. We are using a Cat D8 from KR&G Excavating to do the work. See picture below.
April 30
The rain has continued to fall most of the week. We have had another 1 to 2 inches of rain at the various farms since Monday.
April 27
We started planting corn in Farmer City on Saturday April 25th. Field conditions were good but still a little wet. As is the case every year, it takes a little time when we start planting to get the bugs worked out of the planters. It is hard to make sure everything is working right until you hit the field. By Saturday afternoon both planters were running well. We are still having some issues with the air clutches that shut off the individual row units on one of the planters. Working out those types of minor problems can wait until a rainy day.
We planted through the weekend and by Monday morning we had 1500 acres planted. We worked all night Sunday night which seemed a little extreme given we were only on day 2 of the season but it worked out OK given the rains that were on their way. We were rained out on Monday afternoon. Monday night we had 1.5 inches of rain in Farmer City so we will be out of the field again for a while.
April 23
We moved machinery to Farmer City today. With forecasts for rain in northern Illinois and expectations that we will find better field conditions in central Illinois, we took the leap and moved machines to the south. All but one of the tractors is now in position in Farmer City.
We were getting rain in Yorkville by late Thursday night so for now maybe we made the right move.
Below are some pictures of the machines headed south to hopefully start planting.
Week Ending April 18
Still too wet and cold to start planting this week. We spent the week working in the shop and fixing field drainage tile.
Spring Preparations
We have been busy this winter getting spring equipment ready for the upcoming season. As of April 1st most of the spring equipment was ready to go. We are now waiting on the soils to dry out and warm up following the excessive rains we have had early this spring.
We have made several equipment changes this winter to get us set up for the 2009 season. We traded in our STS12 Hagie crop sprayer with a 90 foot boom for a STS14 Hagie sprayer with a 120 foot boom. This will allow us to get over the fields faster. The sprayer is equipped with a automatic boom leveling system and a direct chemical injector that allows us to change chemical mixes as we go through the field. As with the other sprayer, it is equipped with auto steering and GPS driven boom shut-offs.
We are currently building a new sprayer trailer to haul the new sprayer. The old trailer was too small to haul the new sprayer. The new trailer will allow us to haul more water and the sprayer as well as give us the ability to quickly remove the water tanks and haul other machinery as needed.
We traded our Challenger 875B in on an Challenger 875C model this winter. It has some new features including a steerable hitch that we are looking forward to testing out this spring.
We also added a mini-excavator to the fleet this spring. It will be useful in fixing field tile and doing other small dirt work projects.
Below are some pictures of the various activities we have been up to this winter getting things ready for the 2009 season.
