View from the Cab: Over the hump
The finish line is a tad blurry but I think I can barely see it over the hill for harvest 2019.
We are all ready to put this season to bed. Ever since spring, we have been battling unpredictable weather, low commodity prices and trade uncertainty. Add to that the daily stresses of farming, and you have a year no one will soon forget.
I must say the harvest season has been going well for us so far, given the year we are dealing with. Most thought the crops would be extremely delayed from a maturity standpoint when they actually weren’t that bad. There is still some wet corn out there and an occasional green soybean stem, but we have been pretty fortunate in our part of the state.
Trying to get all of these soybeans out has been a bit nerve-wracking. We don’t want to have beans standing out in the field over the winter which is why we are hurrying to get them cut. Soybean harvest tends to drag on since weather conditions play such a big factor in when you can and cannot go. I’m not too worried about our corn left standing which we can pretty much get out of the field at any time.
Farmers in northern Illinois and other parts of the Midwest still have a long harvest season ahead of them. Growers in the north and west are still trying to come to terms with the recent winter storm which severely impacted the corn and soybean harvest in that section of the country. Some of the photos I have seen on social media are unreal.
The family combine rides have continued during the past week. Kasen spent quite a bit of time in the cab the other afternoon. We had a good learning session as he asked what yields meant, when we would get the field done and if the bean head could go through corn. I’m glad Kasen was with me as he spotted a large rock sitting right on the bean head as we came up to the end of a row. He may have saved us from a large repair bill.
It was fun giving the neighbor boy a ride in the combine as well. He seemed impressed and was very polite the whole time. He had the honor of experiencing a skunk smell in the combine. Turns out, we ran over a skunk out in the field. Oh, the joys of harvest season!
(The View from the Cab is powered by Petersen Chevrolet-Buick in Fairbury)
