2014 Crop Year
Harvest Season
December Projects
We had a couple of projects going on in the month of December. We finished up fall tillage work which was stopped and restarted several times as the frost set in and went away. Several 24-hour shifts were run to get the work done. The wet and frozen conditions made for a challenging tillage season. We were able to get the work done on the fields we wanted to get over.
We were able to get a lot of limestone spread on the fields before the snow set in. We used a John Deere spreader and tractor from our brother John to spread fields in the north. We would like to get some more spread this winter but it will depend on the weather.
We did some ditch maintenance work on some of the farms, cleaning out the ditches and cleaning culverts. We used a mini skid steer to clean out one of the culverts. It was a little scary to drive the machine in the culvert under the drive but it worked well. It took about 3 feet of silt out of the bottom of the culvert.
Below are some pictures and videos of this month’s work.
Week Ending November 17th
We finished harvest on November 17th. It is good to be done. The corn continued to stand well until the end. But the blowing snow flurries say it is time to be done. Corn moisture levels stayed in the lower 20% range until the end of harvest. The cool weather late in the harvest season did not help much with the dry down.
The weather continues to look more like winter than fall. Several days of temperatures in the 20s have frozen the ground enough that we had to shut down the tillage machines.
We continue to haul limestone to the fields for spreading. Hopefully, we will get caught up on spreading before the real winter weather hits.
We had some visitors to the field this week including Karoline who recently broke her arm after falling from her barrel racing horse.
Below are some pictures from the week.
Week Ending November 9th
We continue to run hard in corn around the Yorkville area. Yields are good but variable. Field averages are 200 to 230 bushels per acre. There continues to be a lot of variability in the fields due to excessive water throughout the growing season. Yields are off sharply where any water stood during the year.
We added a second 16-row corn head this past week so we could run both machines in corn. The two machines keep the carts and trucks busy. We were able to get over 80,000 bushels delivered in a single day with the two machines. All the corn from the north farms goes to our own drying facility.
We had a team of white Percheron horses stay at the farm this week who are in a movie being filmed down the road.
Below are some pictures and videos from the week.
Week Ending November 1st
We were able to run in soybeans around the Yorkville area this week. We finished soybeans and started on corn. Soybean yields were good (70-80 bushels per acre). The soybean stems were dry following the frosts we had in the area. The dry stems allowed us to make good time in the beans. The soybeans were dry by the end of the week, down to 11% moisture. We are very glad to be done with soybean harvest.
Week Ending October 25th
We were able to run in soybeans again this week in Farmer City. Yields continue to be good with some fields averaging over 84 bushels per acre. Stems continue to be green which makes for tough going. Moisture levels have been good at 12 to 15%.
We were able to finish soybeans in Farm City by the end of the week and start moving machines home.
Tillage and limestone spreading resumed again this week with the return of dry weather.
Week Ending October 19th
Rain and wet field conditions kept us from harvesting soybeans this week. Since we could not be in the combines we started some drainage tile projects. We hauled our tile plow and tractor to Farmer City and started installing tile.
One of the wet fields we have in Farmer City is tiled on 100-foot centers with 4-inch plastic tile. We are splitting the existing tile runs twice at 33 feet to get the field to drain better. We are able to hook into an existing main so the work is going quickly. We are using 4-inch plastic tile and installing the runs with the tile plow.
We are using RTK GPS to control the grade of the tile plow. We are able to run over 3 mph with the plow.
Below are some pictures and videos of the work.
Week Ending October 12
We were able to get started on soybean harvest in the Farmer City area this week. Frequent rain showers made it hard to string together many days in a row of good harvesting weather.
We are running two Lexion combines in soybeans: a 595R and a 780. Both machines are running 45' MacDon draper heads.
Yields so far in soybeans have been very good. We have had field averages in the upper 70s. The yield monitors have bumped above 100 bushels per acre in some areas of the fields which is a first for us.
Green stems in the beans have made for tough slow conditions. Hopefully, we will get a break in this wet weather and get some sunshine to run in next week.
Week Ending October 5th
We finished up all the corn in the Farmer City area this week other than a 5-acre patch that is surrounded by soybeans. We will start on soybeans this coming week.
Yields continue to be very good. We have hit some patches in the fields that reach over 300 bushels per acre but those are rare. Most of our fields continue to have field averages of 230 to 270 bushels per acre.
We were able to get started on tillage work this week. We are running 22-foot CaseIH 875 disk rippers this year. The machines were able to run in tillage early in the week before rain hit late in the week.
We continue to haul in limestone to spread on the fields. We are hauling from quarries in Joliet which is nearly a 100-mile one-way trip.
We added another combine and draper head to the fleet this week. We bought a used Lexion 595R. This is a track machine with a similar capacity to our current 780. The main difference is the 595 has less horsepower. We will be running the 595 in soybeans with a 45' MacDon draper head.
Below are some pictures from this week's work.
Week Ending September 28
We started harvesting corn in the Farmer City area on Monday, September 22. We had a good week of running with warm/dry conditions each day. The first corn we picked was 109-day corn. The moisture was around 24%. By midweek we were into full season 113-day corn which had a moisture of 25%. By the end of the week, the moisture had fallen to 20% on even the full-season hybrids.
Yields have been very good. Field averages have ranged from 230 to 250 bushels per acre. Yields across the fields have been varying considerably based on where water stood during the growing season. The low areas typically fall to less than 200 while higher areas can reach 280 to 300.
Field conditions continue to be on the wet side. Some of our fields still have standing water from the recent rains. Total rainfall for some of the fields since we planted them was 36 inches which is about twice the 10-year average.
We have a good crew of guys helping us with harvest this year including Efren Real, Randy Wilkening, Jim Naughton, Phil Aulis, and Bergen Nelson as well as our immediate family.
The corn in Farmer City is going to the ADM facility there. The elevator was able to keep up well. By the end of the week, we were running 6 trucks to keep up with the corn coming out of the field.
We hope to finish corn in Farmer City next week and get on to soybeans.
Below are some pictures and videos from this week.
Week Ending September 13
We continue to get machinery ready for the upcoming harvest season. Harvest is still atlases a week away for us. Our corn is still testing around 30% moisture. We will likely wait until the moisture levels fall to the mid-20s. Our soybeans are still very green. They will probably not go for another month.
Truck Painting Project - September 10
We bought two additional used trucks to add to the trucking fleet a week ago. They are Freightliner Classic trucks and match our other trucks in terms of engines, transmissions, and body style. As with our other trucks, they were white when we bought them. We spent the last week cleaning them up, polishing the aluminum, and painting the bodies. It took some work but they look good in the end.
Truck Painting Project - September 10
We bought two additional used trucks to add to the trucking fleet a week ago. They are Freightliner Classic trucks and match our other trucks in terms of engines, transmissions, and body style. As with our other trucks, they were white when we bought them. We spent the last week cleaning them up, polishing the aluminum, and painting the bodies. It took some work but they look good in the end.
Spring & Summer Field Work
Week Ending August 30
This week we made a quick trip to visit South Dakota State with our daughter Kristine. She is just entering her junior year in high school but the college visits start early. On the way there we tried to hit the Farm Progress Show in Iowa but like many other events this summer, it got rained out. We were able to see a few things at the show but not much given we were only in the gate for 20 minutes before they shut it down for weather.
We were able to take time to visit with the Keller family in Blairsburg, Iowa on the way through. The Kellers run a very nice farm operation. They are cousins of Sarah.
Below are some pictures from the trip.
The kids went back to school this week—another sign that fall is coming soon.
New Baby - August 19th
Brad and Kelli welcomed new baby Dean Stewart into the world today. Brothers Vincent (6) and Joel (4), as well as sister Cecilia (2), are very excited to get him home.
Week Ending August 16
It is usually after our farm party that we start setting our minds on getting ready for fall. This week we changed the narrow tracks back to wide tracks on the tractors for fall. We put narrow (18") tracks on for side-dressing and replanting. We also finished cleaning out the silos of last year's corn. The mowing crew made another round of mowing all the roadside ditches.
Annual Farm BBQ - August 11
Each year we hold a farm BBQ for many of the people we do business with. The event is catered by Fay's Barbecue. They cook their famous pork chops and BBQ chicken. This year we had over 120 people in attendance.
Heavy rains hit the party in the evening but that did not stop us from having a very nice evening. The kids enjoyed using the Lexion combine bounce house supplied by Claas.
We are thankful for all the great people that work with our family.
Week Ending August 10th
We spent most of this week getting the farm cleaned up and ready for our annual BBQ. We cleaned out all the buildings, washed up the machinery, and spruce up the grounds. Getting the place cleaned up gets us ready for the party and ready for fall since much of the machinery gets polished up.
We also spent a day this week freezing sweet corn. We picked a pickup load of sweet corn in the morning and spent the rest of the day cooking, cutting, and bagging it up. We put up over 100 bags of corn this year which will keep our three families supplied most of the year.
Week Ending August 2nd
We tackled a field tile project this week. We are installing a new tile main from the main farmstead to the drainage ditch. The 12-inch main will catch some of the farmyard surface water and catch some of the existing field tiles. We trenched in the tile with our old Vermeer pull-type trencher.
We were hesitant to run the new tile through good-looking soybeans but the work needed to be done and now was a better time than the middle of the winter when we would be able to get to it after harvest.
Below are some pictures of the work.
Week Ending July 26
We spent the last week spraying fungicide on the corn and beans. The excessive height of the corn made spraying it a challenge with our Hagie sprayer. Given the amount of rain we have had we are concerned about the spread of stalk rot in the fields. The fungicide should give us better stalk health and keep the corn standing into the fall.
We traded for new CaseIH rippers for fall. Our dealer delivered the new ones this week, plenty early enough for fall work.
Week Ending July 19th
We spent this week at the National High School Rodeo finals in Rock Springs, WY. Our daughter Kristine (16) qualified for the finals this year in the pole bending competition. It was a long drive out there, but we were able to stop and see some sights in South Dakota and Wyoming on the way. Below are some pictures from the trip. Kristine had some bad luck and knocked down a pole in one of her runs, but she had some great run times. We are proud of her achievements and looking forward to a new rodeo season.
Week Ending July 12
Crops did better this week as we started to dry out from earlier rains. We are installing a GreenSeeker crop imaging system on the sprayer. It will help us determine the health of the crop. The cameras on the boom determine the darkness and health of the green vegetation. We will use the imagery to manage some of our fertilizer applications.
Week Ending July 5
Another week of rain and storms. We lost some areas in the fields to flooding this week. Our north fields took it the hardest. Winds twisted some of the crops up but they are slowly standing back up straight.
Week Ending June 29th
We had over 4 inches of rain in many places early this week. Standing water took out crops in some of the low areas of the fields.
We were able to get back in the fields late in the week to spray soybeans. Most of the beans look good despite the heavy rains.
The rains and heat make the grass grow. We have been staying busy mowing yards and ditches as well as doing some summer landscaping projects.
Corn continues to be delivered to the river terminals. The corn coming out of the bins has stayed at a good quality and consistent moisture.
June 16 Videos
Below are some good videos from the last couple of days. The first one is a video of side-dressing near Yorkville. The other videos were taken by our Pioneer dealer, Plunk Brothers, over our fields in Farmer City with their new remote-controlled helicopter. The aerial videos show some of the crop damage from excessive rains in that area.
Week Ending June 8th
We have been busy spraying corn and side-dressing nitrogen on corn. By the end of the week, Brad was nearly done spraying all of the corn and Efren was nearly done with all of the sideddressing in the Farmer City area.
We are experimenting with sharing our combine with a farm we know well in North Carolina. The A. L. Baucom farm is using our Claas combine in wheat this spring. They started combining wheat this week. I went down for a couple of days to help them get started with the machine. They are using our machine with our 45ft draper head as well as several Deere machines with 40ft heads. They are trying to get their wheat harvested as soon as possible so they can plant soybeans into the wheat stubble.
We also continue to repair broken field tiles and plant in some of the wet spots we could not get to earlier.
Below are some pictures from the week.
Tire/Track Changing Day - May 27
Switching over day. Now that all the crops are in, we spend a day getting the machines switched over to running down the crop rows. We change the tires on the sprayer and tracks on one of the tractors to narrow tread. The narrow tracks (18 in) will be used to pull the side-dress bar.
Keith got to try out the new (to us) Toro mower. He enjoyed the fact that is more than twice as wide as the other machines.
Farm Update - May 26
We finished planting today, May 26th. The past week was a busy one for us. We planted nearly all the corn and all the soybeans around our home area in less than one week. We caught a good dry week and we were able to make good progress in the fields.
We ran the CaseIH 24-row and Horsch 24-row planter in corn. When we switched to beans we used the CaseIH 36 row and the Horsch. At times the tillage crew was running 3 machines; the two 60 ft field cultivators and a 30-foot Horsch Joker. Brad was able to keep ahead of all the machines spraying both the corn and bean fields. We ran the new roller over all of the beans after the planter.
We are thankful to our part-time helpers Chad and Chuck for stepping in and helping us get everything done last week.
We had a raccoon incident one morning. The raccoon decided to take up residence in the conveyor on the seed tender. When we fired it up he ended up inside the seed tank on the planter. He was fine but I was in no mood to wrestle him out of the seed tank so we put a ladder down to him. When we started up the planter fans he climbed out. The problem could have been much messier for both the raccoon and us.
The corn we planted early in the week was up already in less than 6 days. The warm/moist conditions have everything growing fast now.
We are now busy getting ready to start the next rounds which will be post-spraying in corn and corn side-dressing off nitrogen.
Below are some pictures from the week.
Week Ending May 17
We were able to get started on corn around the Yorkville area early this week before getting rained out. We had rain and cold conditions most of the week, keeping us out of the fields. We are getting all the machines ready to go for the next break in the weather.
We spotted a nice rainbow from the field. Hopefully a sign of good things to come.
We were able to get to some excavation projects. Brad and Kelli are building a new barn at their place. We moved the dirt for the new building pad there.
Week Ending May 10th
We had a good week of running in Farmer City. We managed to get all of the soybeans planted and moved equipment home to start planting corn in the Yorkville area. We planted beans with the Horsch 24-row and the 36-row CaseIH planter. The Horsch did well in beans. We were able to run up to 9 mph.
We are using a roller in some of our soybean ground to level out the soil and push down any rocks. The roller is a 62-foot Roll-Rite roller. We are pulling it at about 15 mph, running on the same traffic pattern as the other equipment. One of the objectives of the roller is to make the grain head run better in the fall and not be catching any rocks or dirt clods in the head. We are trying the roller both before and after the planter pass.
Below are some pictures from the week.
Week Ending May 3rd
Rain and cold conditions kept us out of the field this week. We moved some more machinery into Farmer City so we could go strong on soybean planting once the weather breaks. Field conditions remained too wet to start any work in the Yorkville area as well.
Week Ending April 26
The field conditions were very good this week. We were able to start and finish planting corn in Farmer City within the week.
The new 24-row Horsch planter ran up to 9mph, maintaining good seed placement and burning only 0.2 gallons per acre of fuel. We are planting corn at populations of 35,000-37,000 seeds per acre. The planter is equipped for liquid fertilizer. We are applying liquid Force insecticide in the starter.
The tillage crew continues to stay ahead of the planter running the 60-foot cultivator. We are maintaining our controlled traffic patterns in the fields running the 60-foot planter behind the 60-foot cultivator and 120-foot sprayer in corn.
Brad is spraying Harness Extra and 28% liquid nitrogen on the corn ground.
We started planting soybeans Saturday, and look forward to when we can return to the field after the wet spell has paused.
Week Ending April 19th
The guys started fieldwork and spraying in Farmer City. Field conditions were dry, but soil temperatures were still too cold to plant. They plan to start planting corn next week down in Farmer City.
We installed Dawn GFX row cleaners on the new Horsch planter. The down pressure of the row cleaners is controlled hydraulically from the cab so that they can be adjusted for varying field conditions.
See pictures and videos for details.
Winter Activities
Week Ending April 5
Based on the calendar I should probably switch the name of my post this week over to spring but it still feels like winter. We at least got rid of most of the frost this week and we had a couple of days of sunshine.
We were able to get back into the field where we had left off a tiling project back in December. We finished installing a 15-inch tile main. It was good to be back in the dirt again after the long frozen winter.
The majority of our seed has now been delivered but it still may be a while before we start planting. We are going to need some sun and heat to dry things out. We had about 2 inches of rain for the week so we are fairly wet in the fields.
Week Ending March 29
We continued to get equipment ready for spring this week and deliver corn to the river elevators. The weather remains cold and wet. No sign of spring yet.
Week Ending March 22
We picked up our new planter this week. We are going to run a Horsch 24r30 planter this year. We tested one last year and liked how it performed. The Horsch planter has electric drives on the seed meter, bulk fill, and hydraulic down pressure; it holds 140 units of seed and 1000 gallons of liquid fertilizer. We were able to run over 8 mph last year and maintain good seed placement. We are looking forward to running it over more of our acres this year. We will still be running two CaseIH planters as well.
My immediate family and I traveled to Disney World / Florida for a quick spring break this past week. The parks were very crowded but it was nice to get away for a few days.
Week Ending March 16th
Winter continues to hold on to us in northern Illinois. We had 4-5 inches of snow last Wednesday. Several 40-degree days since then have gotten rid of most of the snow but we still have some snow piles and ice. The melting snow has caused some localized flooding.
We have been working on equipment in the shop. The flotation tires got put on the Hagie and the guys are going over the planters.
I made a quick trip over the weekend to the Rea family farm operation in Walla Walla, Washington. The Rea's are part of the Centrec Consulting Groups peer group that we are proud to be associated with as well. I enjoyed learning about their farming operation and getting to know their family better. They have an impressive, diversified farming operation in the beautiful Walla Walla valley.
Below are some pictures of this week’s work and some of my photos from Washington State.
Week Ending March 7th
Winter continues here in northern Illinois. We still have snow cover and cold temperatures. It has been a long winter and we are hopeful that spring is around the corner.
We did have one sure sign that spring is coming soon. Our seed corn deliveries started coming in this week.
We continue to work on shop projects. This week we rebuilt the undercarriage on one of the grain carts. The rebuild included new tracks, lubrication, and resurfacing of the pivot points.
Below are some pictures from the week.
Week Ending February 28th
More wintry weather this week. Keith and friend Drew did some bobsledding in the snow.
We got our tender trailer ready to deliver dry fertilizer. We switched out our seed box holders on the trailer for stainless steel bulk boxes to be used for dry fertilizer. Once the snow cover is gone we will start applying dry phosphate and potash to the fields. At planting time we will switch the trailer back over to the seed box holders.
Some pictures from the week are below.
Week Ending 2/15/2013
By Kristine Stewart
This week, the guys have been continuing to detail the tractors in the shop. Also, soybeans hauling is now done. The bins are cleaned out for the year. Bob and Brad spent time at the Farm Machinery Show, researching planters and other equipment for the upcoming growing season.
Week Ending 2/15/2014 - From The Stewart Littles
By Kristine, Karoline, and Keith Stewart
This week, besides the usual Cats getting trapped in the shop, we had an additional feline visitor. Cupcake, one of us kids' favorite kittens born this summer, got herself into quite a predicament. Behind the tool bench in the "office" (warm and cozy) section of the shop, there is a small gap, just wide enough for a spooked, mildly stupid kitten. Karoline -- the official cat whisperer -- implemented every trick in the book, from horse lounging whips to food to running water -- Cupcake's greatest weakness. Yes, that attraction has gotten her in trouble before, thankfully before it was about -20 below...
Even as a last resort, Dad finally got to use his special scope camera (usually for engines, not kitten rescue) he received for Christmas. With an attached, bright light, one could accurately assume that it did not deflect the cat, but she just came closer to Dad's camera located in a small, impermeable crevice, and farther from freedom. Oh, and all you could see from the camera was dirt and dust, so the camera was ultimately not all it was cracked up to be.
After about a half hour of luring, Karoline finally got Cupcake out from behind the bench and transplanted back into the barn. And there was much rejoicing.
Week Ending 1/26/2014
By Kristine Stewart
After the Stewart Rodeo Team "Shop Crew" regrouped after the long weekend, the corn and grain heads were brought into the shop. The guys blew off, washed, lubricated, and repainted both of the heads with a little bit of help from Karoline and me.
Week Ending 1/26/2014 - From the Stewart Littles
By Kristine, Karoline, and Keith Stewart
Lately, the buzzwords in our house have been "Keith's Cuddle Cows." Yes. It is exactly what it sounds like. For Christmas, Keith was gifted an older cow and her little baby heifer. Yikes. In all actuality, however, he is always willing to do his cow chores... and clean up after them. Lately, he has been working on teaching the calf, lovingly called Noel, how to lead. It's all well and good until the calf decides to run - with or without Keith holding on. Then, it's pretty much a calf roping run gone wrong. Thankfully, no one has gotten hurt, and the little guy has calmed down and doesn't go on quite as many joy runs.
Week Ending 1/19/2014
This week, the guys hauled approximately 30,000 bushels of beans to Cargill in Morris and are still in the process of getting the machinery ready for the spring. Besides these two main tasks, Efren and Randy spent lots of time, elbow grease, and chrome polish to detail one of the semi-trucks. You can see the masterpiece below.
Week Ending 1/19/14 - From the Stewart Littles
By Kristine, Karoline, and Keith Stewart
This week, Brad and Kelli were on a Pioneer Seed trip, leaving Vince, Joel, and Cecilia at home with the tag-team grandmas - Grandma Diane and Grandma Dawn. From new phone apps to macaroni necklaces to Vince's "Gun Show" to rogue rangers... it was quite the week.
Keith was involved with an Ellis Island simulation at school, making him dress up like a Russian young boy from about 1905. Oh, and he couldn't speak English either... Karoline traveled to a youth retreat in Indiana through Cross's Youth Group she is involved in. I was also in Indiana for the 3rd rodeo in the Midwest Youth Rodeo Association Winter Series Rodeos along with Mom, Grandma, and the Super Chaffer, Grandpa Craig.
Week Ending 1/12/2014
By Kristine Stewart
We have been experiencing typical Northern Illinois weather - except it has been a bit more extreme, in both temperature directions. Monday started off below -20°, and by Friday, it was 40°! Multiple inches of snow accompanied the bitter cold, so one of the jobs done was pushing the snow. Also, we took time to analyze yield maps and plan important inputs for 2014 such as fertilizer, chemicals, and seed.
Week Ending 1/5/2014
By Kristine Stewart
In the shop, we have been cleaning the machinery up from the fall, putting new breaks on the semis, and pushing and blowing the 8 inches of snow from this week. When the temperatures are not too extreme, we have even pulled the sled behind the Ranger through some of the large snow drifts on the farm. For the first time in 2 years, we have finally had enough snow to pull the bobsled behind the tractor.
