Thanksgiving is here...

Moving from the Williamsville farm

Harvesting at the U of I farm in the bottoms

Dumping corn at the bin

I can never remember a year when we we've had corn standing in the fields during Thanksgiving. But this year we still have 22% of our corn out in the field as we celebrate the Thanksgiving Holiday.

This week we snuck in one good day of harvesting and finished up the U of I farm at New Berlin. We moved West after finishing at New Berlin and just as we were arriving at the Martin Farm in nearby Strawns Crossing it started to rain again. We ended up with 0.5", which after last week's 4.0" looks like a flood. Our hope is to finish the Martin Farm and head south to begin harvesting in Greenfield.

One of the many thanks I would like to extend this Thanksgiving is to Josh Schlicht & Chris Dowson as they each gave up one of their combines when they heard one of our's went down with a blown engine. It is always nice to have neighbors and friends you can depend on; especially during a fall like this.

Happy Thanksgiving from Johnson Family Farms!

Saturated again...

Rain set in Sunday and hasn't stopped since. We have received between 3.2" & 4.5" depending on location, which has brought all harvest and tillage operations to a halt. To-date we are 76% complete with corn harvest, 100% completed with soybeans and tillage is closer to 50% complete.

Above are some pictures of our tornado corn harvest operation. The roll-a-cones we added to the 8-row corn head worked great, but the daily progress was very slow. We have a few more acres of the tornado corn remaining to harvest, however we are thankful for the progress we were able to make in the last couple weeks.

Harvesting...

Today my son, Owen made the trip out to the field to inspect what we've been up to. He was quickly moving around the combine making sure to pick up any corn we may have left on the ground.

We have made tremendous progress since my last update. Today we finished the Elkhart farm and have now moved to the Williamsville farm to work on the tornado corn. Progress is slow, but we are getting most of the corn that remains somewhat upright. Elevators have been closing early due to the large amount of wet corn being harvested. We are hauling 50 miles one way to Sunrise Ag Service in Havana to fill some of our remaining grain contracts. The line at the local elevator is approximately 1:45 min. so we are hauling it significantly farther, but making the trip in the same time; also taking advantage of a better basis. Rain is in the forecast, but we will continue to harvest barring any mechanical failures.

Taking advantage of the weather...

What a good week for field work! Everyone has been busy this week. Dad and Bob have both been harvesting corn and covering a lot of acres while the weather is good. It has been a good week as we have been able to harvest everyday. Today we were able to start the chisel plow again, although there are still a few wet holes to avoid. We are also running a third combine working on our tornado corn in Williamsville. It is a slow process as the roll-a-cones take frequent adjustment and the elevators have been closing around 1 pm for wet corn. The corn around the Ashland/Pleasant Plains area bounces between 17-20% moisture while the Williamsville corn is 23-26%. Tomorrow's plan includes more field work as well as Bob switching over a combine to work on the remaining acres of soybeans we have left to harvest. I will try to get some pictures for my next update.

Enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend!

Back to the fields...

Despite damp soil conditions, we were able to start harvesting corn again today. The rolling ground of the Lehmann Farm gave us favorable harvesting conditions, although challenges presented themselves throughout the day and into the evening hours.

The corn is still good to very good with moisture's hovering around 20%. We hope to cover a lot of ground this week with the favorable forecast; both with the combines as well as the chisel plow.