Week ending October 20th...

Nothing new to report this week.  It has been a rainy and wet week.  Although we have been blessed recently with rainfall, our tiles have yet to run.  This means our soils are still not at capacity which is what we are hoping for as we go into winter.  We did sneak in on Wednesday morning and chisel a few acres before the rain rolled in around 2 o'clock.  The forecast looks good to get back in the fields this week and wrap up our chiseling.  I anticipate us to get started with anhydrous ammonia applications later this week along with the rest of the farmers in our neighborhood. 

Sitting at a stand still 

Week ending October 13th...

We wrapped up our 2012 harvest on Wednesday by cutting the last of the soybeans.  Fortunately, we saved the best yielding beans for last in Greenfield.  I'm not sure what to attribute these good yields to, but they were planted two weeks later and planted on ground that had been continuous corn for the past eight years.  Some of these beans were originally sold to Cargill at Florence across the Illinois River.  Unfortunately, the Department of Transportation closed the Florence bridge earlier this summer due to failing an annual inspection.  We opted to haul them clear up to Cargill at Meredosia which was a 90 mile round trip.  The distance combined with all the road construction on Rt. 67 made each trip even more interesting. 

Friday night storms rolled in and are still moving through.  So far we have received between 1.5 and 3 inches of rain.  This has halted all tillage activity and leaves us with 450 acres remaining to chisel.  Depending on the soil temperature, we may begin our anhydrous ammonia application next week.  Although, we like for soil temperatures to get at least 50 degrees or lower before we begin applying it. 

This week we will begin washing and putting away the harvest equipment.  We will also fine tune some of the last fertilizer applications and begin making seed decisions for next year's crop - yes, already...

Another load heading to the elevator 

Harvesting soybeans in Greenfield 

Ronnie Brown running the Turbo Disk on the Elkhart Farm

Week ending October 6th...

More harvest progress this week allowed us to get within 200 acres of completing all our 2012 harvest.  Rains rolled in late Thursday evening which will keep us out of the fields the entire weekend; both with the combines as well as the tillage equipment.  We welcome the recent rainfall as our creeks and tiles are still not yet running from this summer's drought.  It will be nervous winter if we don't recharge our soils this fall.  It is essential to have our soils back at full capacity going into winter to ensure that our crops get off to a good start next spring. 

We finally found some good yielding soybeans at our Greene County farms this week.  These were following many years of continuous corn and sprayed with fungicide.  A pleasant surprise to end the harvest season on. 

Friday's rains allowed us time to catch up in the office and spend time with family - like attend one of Owen's soccer games.  Notice the sweatshirts in the picture; the rains brought with them colder temperatures plunging from the 80's to the 50's. 

Have a great weekend everyone!

Cutting beans on the Reiser @ Ashland farm 

Last load from this field 

Owen playing soccer this weekend