30 Sep Christy: Soybeans are underway, and corn too

Worthington, Minnesota—Rains kept combining away for the weekend, and it’s not a bad thing this time. We have taken advantage of the break by getting caught up on some shop projects, and also getting corn heads ready.

Before the rain, Paul was able to start a field of corn after running into wet and green soybeans. It measured 18% moisture and 60-pound test weight on the first sample. They were able to get going on that field later in the day, and then the rain came.

Today, Paul is able to start picking corn again, but I don’t believe any soybeans will be ready to go until tomorrow, unless the sun wants to come out. It’s actually been pretty chilly the last couple of days. The forecast is supposed to turn around later this week and get back up in the 80s. That warm of weather will be ending soon, though.

Our crew by Ray, North Dakota, made it back by Elkton, South Dakota. They have already started some soybeans there, but they’ve been pretty wet yet for the most part. They’ve only been able to piece out a few fields for one farmer, then they’ve been able to combine some beans that are going through a drier before being stored in bins. The closest elevator wasn’t set up to take beans yet, so the beans that were dry went all the way to Miller, South Dakota. That’s a two-hour haul one way from the field. The beans are yielding well that way between about 60 to 70 bushels per acre. But as I’ve said, I think after this last rain we had more people will be able to get in the fields and fall harvest should be in full swing shortly.

Soybeans by Roscoe, South Dakota are a little more behind here where we have started. A crew will head that way by next weekend with hopes of getting started there soon. It’s been nice to have a bit of slow start so we can get all caught up and moved around before it’s busy again. Even still, it’s been busy for me all around with Zoey’s activities and school on top of harvest responsibilities.

I absolutely love this time of year. As someone who grew up in the hot humid south, I love when fall comes to cool everything down. Winter also signals it’s time to be done for a while and this year I will be very grateful for the end. It’s been a long year so far, and we’ve only just begun fall harvest.

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