Harvest is officially underway at Johnson Family Farms. We tried a little corn Monday, August 31st and it was still 29-30% moisture which is a little high for us. So we harvested a couple semi loads, calibrated the yield monitor and waited for the week of hot weather to dry the corn. Tuesday was spent touring the Farm Progress Show in nearby Decatur, Illinois. Thursday we decided to try our corn near Jacksonville and take advantage of the half-priced grain drying the nearby Bartlett Rail Shuttle was offering. The corn had dried and was anywhere from 18.5-25%. Yields are extremely variable with yields anywhere from 100-270 bushels per acre a common sight on the yield monitor and often in the same pass. Elevation, tile, nitrogen management, and fungicide appear to be paying large dividends. A few neighbors have also started harvest, but many are saying they will begin the Tuesday after Labor Day. The hot and humid week of recent weather has dropped the corn moisture by at least five points. It appears we are trending towards a fall similar to 2007 where corn went from 30% moisture to 18% virtually in one week. The stalks are not very good and our plan is to keep one machine on corn in the foreseeable future and start another combine on soybeans when those are ready in the coming weeks.
The kids are back in school so please be on the lookout for those yellow buses as well as farm machinery on the roads this fall. Give everyone a little patience and enjoy what will soon be crisp fall days filled with football.
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