Sunday, August 4th...

The past two weeks have been very busy around the farm.  We have multiple projects all going on at once.  This year we are adding a grain drying system to our operation.  While most deem a grain dryer as a necessity, we have farmed for many years with only "in bin" dryers.  We have traditionally waited until corn was 19% or less in moisture to begin our harvest and store this corn directly in our grain bins on the farm. The decision was made to purchase the dryer back in January; which looking back now with the delayed planting and cooler weather, looks like a really lucky decision. The dryer will really make a difference this year, but more so it was purchased to give us a two week head start on harvest while we waited for corn to dry down in the field like in a "traditional" year; whatever that is anymore.

We have also spent many hours in our corn fields the last few weeks scouting for insects and diseases.  Fungicide applications have been concluded for the year on our corn with us spraying just under 50% of our corn acres.  Our nonGMO corn was also sprayed with Prevathon, which is a new insecticide from DuPont.  This virtually eliminates damage from ear worm from pollination through the next month.  Ear worms can be a big problem in nonGMO corn because they damage kernels by eating through them as well as chewing through the ear tip exposing it to fungus and toxins.  

Between scouting and the grain bin project, we have also be hauling the last of our corn and assembling the chisel plow we will use this fall.  When someone is free from those activities we have sprayed corn field edges to kill the morning glory vines that seem to like to grow there and of course mowed road sides and waterways.

According to Growing Degree Day calculations based on our planting dates, it seems harvest won't be starting until mid September and could easily span all the way through November.  Traditionally, we have harvest operations completed by Halloween.  It may be a year where we have harvest, tillage, fertilizer, lime and anhydrous applications all going on at once... 

Putting the finishing touches to the new concrete pad for our wet bin

Piers for the bulk Lp tank were poured this week

Grain dryer is set

Applying fungicide to our corn

Almost appears he is spraying the road

A glistening morning dew

Assembling our chisel plow