Harvest starting here

[bigjohn]

Farmer friend has already picked about 200 acres of corn. About 2 weeks ahead of time this year. Darn stuff is so cheap you can't afford to take a dock on it for moisture. He has a contract with hog facilities and they take it with more moisture than elevators.

[bigjohn]

Took my beagles out to run this morning and saw 2 more corn fields picked. I'd say from here on out they'll be out next week picking.

[tickranch]

I've noticed several corn fields harvested around here. There are a few that don't look like they'll be worth harvesting.

[bigjohn]

tick we have a bumper crop this year. Some of the most fertile ground in the country lies in my county.
Wouldn't be surprised to see several 300 bushel an acre averages on corn and 80 bushel on beans.

[krank]

We have State Fair corn. Prices are lower than 2019. Farmers need good weather to make the most of this. Neighbor said another neighbor started combining. Mine just turned completely brown.

[bigjohn]

Really ramping up here now. Few bean fields starting to turn also. Not much silage cut here anymore. Cattle so high many are opting to wait to buy replacement cows.

[krank]

Grain prices are at an all-time low so enthusiasm is also at a low.

[bigjohn]

2 times the work for the same money as last year.

[krank]

Its all part of the plan.
I do have a way to store my grain instead of sell it but there are storage fees. So you are betting that future price will outweigh current price with storage fees.
We have a neighbor that has dozens of 55,000 bushel bins. He can sit on a crop for years.

[bigjohn]

A couple of weeks before farmers started cutting corn ,there was a steady stream of grain trucks headed to the ethanol plant, grain elevators ,and train depot to get rid of what corn they had stored from last year. Heard the same thing from all I talked with,"should have sold last fall".

As a commodity,corn and beans farmers are no different than us trappers with fur to sale. We are at the mercy of the market which can change in the blink of an eye. And just like all commodities, the middle man makes the most money without having to do the work.

[krank]

I had a barrel of old corn and I dumped it in the woods. Too moldy for livestock feed. I need to go out to the combines with an empty 55 gal barrel and use sign language to get it filled.

[bigjohn]

They are flat getting er done on corn here. krank you could fill several 55 gal barrels with corn that overflowed trucks here. Seen one cheap pile that must of been 30 bushel laying on the ground. You'd think they'd want every last kernel as cheap as it is.

Trucks lined up a half mile down the highway waiting to unload and this place has 2 sets of scales to speed things up.

Beans gonna be ready before the end of the month which is the earliest I've seen.

[krank]

Sunday, I threw a barrel in the tractor bucket and drove up to the neighbors combine and he filled my barrel and drove off. I caught him later and gave him a jar of honey.
Last year, the big corporate farmers spilled a pile and never tried to recover it. I saw my neighbor out there with a scoop and buckets. I joined him. We both got as many buckets as we could fit on the side by side. Twice.
When it gets below zero and the snow flies, the birds will eat a five gallon bucket of corn in one day. I grind it. I pour a pile in the fence row for the rabbits.
Deer will camp out on corn until it is gone.

[bigjohn]

Finally got a great rain which slowed the harvest a couple days. We got almost 2.5 inches here but that barely muddied up the few creeks still flowing.

A couple of bean fields harvested this past week but elevators have nowhere to put them.Telling farmers to hold off on them.

[krank]

Moisture content in corn was way below allowable so some farmers were waiting for rain to bring moisture content up to the allowed minimum. No sense is selling a bushel of corn cheap if it doesnt weigh much. First time I ever saw that scenario.

[bigbob]

Now THAT is weird!

[krank]

I had to think about it. Elevator is figuring 15.5% minimum and a bushel is 56# at that content. They weigh your load and divide by 56. If your 12% corn weighs 49# then you are getting cheated one bushel for every 8 bushel.

[bigjohn]

Corn has to be 12% moisture to store very long. Lf left in the field to dry too long it becomes starchy = poor quality for feed. The chicken and turkey operations took corn that was 23% but then they are going to grind and feed quickly.

[krank]

When I was a little kid on the farm, the neighbor got a grain bin and ran a dryer. If you went out at night you could hear it running. I didnt like that.
Same place now has 25 grain bins and each are 55,000 bushel capacity and they run 24/7. That a lot of corn. They also use a fumigant for weavils that cost $100s per bin to treat. Bon appetite.

[bigjohn]

Lots of combines running this afternoon.