Friday, October 10, 2008

Harvest is here.

This is our combine with the bean head on.

Harvest time is here in Sigourney,Iowa. The farmers are bringing in soybeans and a little corn. The corn is still very wet. It needs to be 13% moisture to store or 15% to sell; otherwise you get a dock in price or pay the high price of lp to dry the corn. The corn is testing 28-30% now. It needs alot more good drying days yet. Since we had such a wet spring, the crops were late getting planted and they are now late getting out. Last year at this time, Mike was half finished. He just got started last week. The little corn he has done has been twisted in the field and is laying flat, so this creates the combine to work slower than normal. He is hoping that not all his fields will be this way. (I am also hoping this because he gets very irritable at this act of mother nature)

I have been working between both elevators and traveling back and forth to the field. When Mike travels from field to field this means many trips. He has to take the combine, semi (to haul the grain), tractor and auger wagon (sometimes he takes two tractors and wagons) and his pickup/service truck for repairs and traveling to town or home. (let's see that's 5 or 6 trips to ONE field.) It is nice to look at the beautiful countryside and the weather here has been great lately. Just to let you know how many different fields he farms ...there is 9 different ones. (unless I forgot one or two, ha,ha)

6 comments:

Tracy said...

Harvest time is my favorite time on the farm. I love seeing the harvest moon, hearing the wind blow through the cornstalks, and taking Dad lunch & supper in the field. I miss home! Great job on your post, Mom!

Holley said...

Really enjoyed your post. Great to hear some of the details of what a harvest actually entails. Found the moisture content of corn fascinating too. Thanks for the post!

Amber said...

That is so interesting!! One of these days we WILL come and see the farm. That is very interesting about the moisture content of the corn! I had no idea!

Tracy said...

Mom, I'm not nearly as busy as YOU! I was exhausted after baking all day and don't know how you stay on your feet all day long! You are my inspiration!!!!

Carrie said...

Thanks for writing on my blog! I am so glad that I read yours...I am a city girl and this is really interesting to me. Not to mention that I think Tracy is lucky to have such a sweet Mom based on all your blog comments I read from the rest of the girl's sites!

Kelli said...

What a great post! I love hearing about farming. My dad's side of the family are farmers and my mom's side of the family owned and operated a sawmill. I always said that I would love to live on a farm because it would be so beautiful. But I don't want to do all the work. :-) My grandma still lived on the farm until she was just recently moved to a nursing home. She's 95.