Christy: Rain, rain, and more rain

This fall is turning out to be a very wet one. Wednesday dropped an inch of rain around home, and not quite as much by Fulda, Minnesota, and Hartley, Iowa. Out in South Dakota, the rain parked our crews by Roscoe and Elkton. I think we will hopefully have everyone up and going again today, but it will be short lived. There’s more rain forecast for Wednesday. Sounds like it could be a pretty big rain that will wash us out with the possibility of two inches. I really hope that doesn’t happen.

Before all this rain, we were moving through acres very steadily. Corn out by Roscoe is going pretty quickly, as it was damaged by a dry summer. Yields out there have been way below average, averaging about 50 to 80 bushels an acre. They still have some acres to cover, and maybe they won’t see the rain we have forecasted here. As I know I’ve said before, I hope they have a much better year next year.

Roscoe, SD Photo by Patrick Gomon

Roscoe, South Dakota. (Photo by Patrick Gomon.)

Around home, corn harvest before Wednesday was going really well. You know it’s moving fast when traveling the gravel roads you don’t have to stop at as many corners because the corn has been combined. The corn around home is doing really well, between 220 and 280 bushels an acre. I’m hoping whenever we do get around to combining our own corn, it averages just as well. I think it’ll still be a little while before we can start working on that, though.

Last week we also had another demo in the field. Jason Crumly, a territory representative with Honey Bee AirFlex draper heads, came out with a header for us to try out in a field of soybeans. These heads differ greatly from the MacDon Flex Drapers we run currently. The AirFlex features air suspension that eliminates a lot of the hydraulics other heads use. Because of this, you can get a much closer shave to the ground. As Jason pointed out, I could clearly see the difference from where our MacDon cut, to where the AirFlex went through.

For a lot of crops like lentils, peas, and soybeans you can ensure getting every pod, no matter how low to the ground. Because of less hydraulics, the AirFlex is also lightweight. These heads are simplistic in design, and a great option for when you have low-podded crops. The only downfall to a harvester is that because these heads aren’t widely used yet, they don’t have the harvest support that we have with MacDon. It’s really important when we’re on the road that we can get support for problems and get back up and running quickly. I think that will change in the future, and be a great option for harvesters soon.

With another week of harvest in the books, we are getting that much closer to the end. I think I can almost see it. We just need to get past this rain to complete the year.

Christy Paplow can be reached at christy@allaboardharvest.com.

All Aboard Fall Harvest is brought to you by Pivot Bio, Western Equipment, John Deere, Unverferth Manufacturing and US Custom Harvesters.

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