Week ending November 24th...

The last of the field work is close at hand.  We have wrapped up all our anhydrous ammonia applications and now only have some in-line ripping to finish on our Greenfield farms.  The weather has turned much colder and dry again.  What tiles were running are no longer.  Recent forecasts have put chances of rain in them and then removed them as the time has gotten closer.  Our hopes of going into winter with the soils fully charged are being dashed quickly; although we know we are better off than a lot of other farmers throughout the Midwest. 

The new rail spur being built on the South side of Jacksonville is going up fast.  This new facility will hold two million bushels of grain and has the capacity to dump 20,000 bushels per hour.  This is the third rail shuttle facility to be built in our area.  And rumour has it that a fourth will be built North of us in Menard County very soon.  Read more about the Bartlett expansion at http://www.bartlettandco.com/viewNews!details.do?newsArticle.id=76.

We continue to make 2013 seed and herbicide decisions as well as clean up fall equipment.  We hope to take in the Greater Peoria Farm Show this week too. 

 Loading the dry fertilizer into the strip-till bar 

Custom strip-tilling down in Loami 

The new railroad shuttle being built in South Jacksonville. 

Bartlett Grain expected to be online by July 2013.

The newer CaseIH tractors now take Urea to clean the exhaust so they meet the Tier 4 emissions requirements 

Owen getting in his last yard work of the year before the weather turned cold

Week ending November 4th...

Another busy week around the farm.  Earlier in the week I attended the Ag Engage seminar in Decatur.  Myself along with Wentworth Family Farms from Downs, IL were asked to present on "marketing our business."  We discussed blogging, having a website, farm resumes, etc.  It was a lot of fun and we got to see many friends we had not seen in a while.

Later in the week the anhydrous ammonia applications resumed.  With the forecast of heavy rains coming we decided to run three toolbars to try and get finished.  The rains arrived slightly ahead of schedule, but we are very close to wrapping it all up.  The rains dropped an even inch on us which should get the tiles running as we head into winter.  The forecast is for sunny weather for the next 10 days which should allow us to wrap up our fall work.  We continue to wash and put away the harvest equipment.  And meeting season has started as we continue to work on end of year financials and cropping plans for 2013. 

Ag Engage seminar in Decatur 

Getting an early start as the forecast was for 100% chances of rain 

Slip plating the inside of the big grain cart - hopefully, this will make higher moisture corn slide down into the auger hole easier

Early November update...

Since my last update we have wrapped up our primary tillage operations and begun applying anhydrous ammonia where we plan to grow corn next year.  Clean up of harvest equipment continues and cropping plans for next year along with seed selections are being made.  Recent rain showers have continued to replenish our soils from this summer's past drought.  We are very close to having the field tiles and creeks start to run again.  These frequent rains give us short windows to wrap up field work. 

Tomorrow is Election Day.  Please make sure if you are registered to vote, you exercise that opportunity; regardless of which party or candidate you vote for.  Many of our ancestors have died in order to give us that right of democracy. 

Waiting on the ground to dry 

Fixing cracks on the grain cart frame 

 Adding tile to the Elkhart farm

In-line deep ripping on the Elkhart farm 

Strip-tilling outside Ashland

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

Week ending September 30th...

Harvest continues to roll on.  Corn is wrapped up and the tillage crew continues to chisel and turbo disk the stalks.  Soybean harvest continues at a sporadic pace as last week brought a few rains which kept us out of the fields for a couple days.  We are now down to under a 1,000 acres of soybeans.  The beans we have harvested so far have been sub-average with a few disappointments that we didn't anticipate... 

Besides the hustle and bustle of harvest, we managed to work in a trip to the Pumpkin Patch.  Correction - it was my first and annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch as this was the boys 3rd or 4th trip the patch.  Every time they come home from a local patch they bring gourds or some new pumpkin to complete our collection.  Dare I say we now have a better display for Fall and Halloween than we normally do for Christmas.  Hope you are in the spirit at your house as well...

 Chiseling on the Quad J Farm

 

 One combine cutting beans at the U of I Farm

 

The other harvesting soybeans on the Clearview Farm 

Annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch