Soybean Harvest 2017...

Two posts in two days...it's a recent record!  Ha!

Yesterday after the corn was finished, the headers were switched and they combined the soybeans.  I hope none of the neighbors had wash hanging out...or had just washed their windows!

(actually, I deed peek at the wash lines, and they were all empty!)

Phoebe watched intently from the barn hill...

See what I mean...a cloud of dust!  The beans were definitely dry enough...

And off they go.  The loaded truck heads east around the corner to the mill...the combine heads to the next farm, trailing his grain header behind...and the tractor and grain cart bring up the rear...

(a note of interest here...that huge grain cart holds 1000-1100 bushels, which when full, is about the same as a tractor trailer load of grain!)

The bean yield wasn't quite as spectacular as the corn yield was this year, but "mid-seventies" bushels per acre is still good!

Now it's time to bale 6th cutting hay this afternoon...pick the rest of the standing corn...shred  corn stalks and bale fodder...and clean out heifer pens, now that there's a place to spread the manure.  Fall is definitely our busiest time of year!

Corn Harvest 2017...

It's been a terrific growing season for the corn this year...plenty of rain just when necessary, and just about the right amount of heat.  Some would say the corn could've used a bit more heat, but the humans are happy with what we had (or didn't!!)...

This was my view from upstairs last night around 9 pm, as the truck arrived and soon after, the combine...

They ran for an hour or so, until the truck was full, and then quit for the night. 

The combine and full grain cart were waiting in the field this morning.  When the truck arrived, the driver emptied the full cart, preparing it for the next load...

This is one huge machine! 

...a twelve row corn head...

...and no, it's not ours!

Jim and I rode in the combine for the last field.  What a fun view!

Looking behind the driver's seat, into the hopper, which is filling with shelled corn...

There was a little bit of downed corn along the edge of this field that plugged up the head for just a little, but it was no problem to get going again...

These machines are fascinating to me...sensors, cameras and computers are everywhere!  When this beacon light above the cab begins to flash, it indicates to the grain cart driver that the hopper is almost full...

...and he shows up just in time, driving along side the combine as we continue through the field, emptying our load into his cart...

Here's a shot of the computer in the cab which shows the yield, the moisture, the area of the field (the colors indicate the yields in different parts of the field), the weight and the bushels...

All the corn is now shelled, except for a few acres that Jim plans to pick to fill the corn crib again this year.  The corn here at home was still a little high in moisture.  We're docked (or not) according to those numbers, so by picking and filling the crib, we can wait until next to sell it, when it's dried out completely.

We're very happy with the corn yields this year...over 200 bushels per acre is great!  Some fields were close to 250 bpa, and we're thrilled with that! 

Next is the soybeans...

When Jim and I hopped out of the combine this morning on that last field, the plan was to switch to the grain header and begin on them.  That will take a little while...they'll show up here at home in a few hours and then I'll have an idea how they're yielding. 

The word from the combine driver is that they've been doing will this year.  We'll see!

Harvest 2016...

Fall harvest is in full swing all around these days...

Last evening the combine arrived to harvest soybeans.  They finished combining late last night, and emptied the last of the beans from the grain cart into the semi this morning...

Then it was time to switch from the bean head to the corn head...

Then he headed out across the harvested bean field towards the corn.  He opened up the fields here at home so that Jim could pick the rest of the corn here for the corn crib...

Jim began picking around lunch time this morning, and here are the first two bin wagons emptied into the corn crib...

Jim doesn't fill the crib every year, but decided it would be a good idea this year to pick at least a portion of our fields rather than shell them out to be sold or stored in the grain bank.

If the weather stays nice and the equipment works like it should, he should hopefully finish up by tomorrow.  Then it will be time to shred stalks and bale corn fodder.

2014 Harvest...

When we woke up on Saturday morning, there were over 30 acres of beans still standing, and a bunch of acres of corn.

When we went to the barn for evening milking, the fields were bare.

Here are a few pictures of the corn and bean harvest, courtesy of our friend and neighbor Steve Emerson. His pictures turned out way better than mine did!  Thanks Steve!

First, they harvested the corn at the two locations where we rent ground...

The combine can hold a lot of shelled corn, but when it was possible, the grain cart drove along beside the combine...

When he was full, he would go and empty his load into the grain truck. These next pictures are ones that I took here at home) ...

This truck wasn't full yet, but it sure didn't take long to fill it...

I got a kick out of watching the cows watch the combine.  This is Patty, mesmerized or perhaps confused about what's going on.  Wouldn't she love to hop the fence and get into that corn field?!  She'll have to wait for that corn later.  It will be dried, toasted and brought back to the farm as we need it.  There goes one of the full grain trucks up the road behind her...

When the corn was finished, they switched headers on the combine and harvested the beans.  (one more picture courtesy of Steve)  It was a windy, but beautiful day.  I'm sure glad all that dust wasn't blowing in my windows!

The corn yields were great this year!  I don't know exact numbers, but I heard talk of over 200 bushels per acre.  It was a little wet though, so between low grain prices and being docked a bit for drying, the final numbers won't be so high.  The beans were plenty dry, and yielded okay.

It's a great feeling to be finished with harvest for the year.  It's not time to rest, though! Right now Jim's wrapping the last of the hay for the year, and then it'll be time to bale corn fodder and haul manure.

The leaves are beautiful about now, and have only begun to fall.  We've been having absolutely beautiful weather, and once again I am reminded of how thankful I am to be able to experience the change in seasons every year!

Combining Corn...

Yesterday's rain put the combining on hold, and the combine sat in the neighbors' field waiting for some nicer weather.  (The little boys who live there just love watching the equipment...and they wanted to know if the combine would stay at their house forever? ...sorry guys!  :)  )

Thankfully, the rain only amounted to a scant half inch, so by mid morning today, the combine was back in the corn field...

This is the view looking down from inside the cab of the combine.  Most of the corn that was combined today was standing nicely, like this.  There were several areas of the fields, though, that were down.  The black arms that you see are intended to help pull downed corn up off the ground and into the combine...

This is looking back behind the driver's seat into the grain bin, through the dirty window.  After the corn kernels are separated from the cob, they go into this bin, which holds 225 bushels of shelled corn...

When the bin is full, the driver hears a warning beep that it needs to be emptied.  In this picture, we're heading for that 18-wheeler that was waiting along side the road...



All finished!  The combine with the header attached is too wide to safely travel on the road, so he will take off the header and pull it behind him on a cart...



I learned a lot today riding on the combine! 

 I learned about how the hot stretch we had this summer came at a bad time...right when the corn was pollinating.  As a result, some of the ears were short and not filled out completely. 

 I learned how this kind of stress during pollination can actually cause the stem (?) where the ear is attached to the corn stalk to be very thin.  As a result, some of the ears fall to the ground before harvest, and are wasted.

The corn yields were decent, but not so great, as compared to the soybeans...soybeans are much more forgiving in bad weather.  But we're thankful for what we got...looking at all the weather extremes we had this year, it could have been much, much worse!

You'd never guess, that looking at the blue skies in these pictures,  that we're expected to have cold rain, and between 6-8 inches of snow tomorrow!  I'm never really ready for that...and it's only October! 

But now that the corn is off, maybe it could snow.  Just a little.