Harvest progresses for Blunier, Kerber
FORREST – A combine hydraulic malfunction pushed back Kent Blunier’s harvest slightly but he is still ahead of schedule compared to last year.
The area grower who farms with his father, Stan, is not terribly disappointed with yields this season.
“Given the year, everything was okay. In a lot of situations, we just ran out of water,” Blunier told The Central Illinois Farm Network over the weekend.
Blunier said his fields missed out on much measurable rainfall during July, August and early September which likely had an impact on crop development. One of his fields did experience hail damage from summer storms.
“Ours was not as extensive as some neighbors that weren’t too far from us.”
The idea of being finished with harvest by Halloween is something foreign to Blunier. There have been years when they are just starting around this time or had just wrapped-up corn. Blunier started on his manure work as they have the better part of a million gallons to apply.
“We tend to go a little bit later on that in the evenings especially when we are right by our house,” Blunier explained.
Before fall is over, the Bluniers hope to do some spraying, waterway work and tillage.
Gibson City farmer Greg Kerber has been enjoying the long stretch of dry weather which helped move his harvest along during the first half of October. He had very few breakdowns and took time to clean out equipment for seed beans. There have certainly been no issues hauling grain to the elevator either.
“The elevator has been doing an outstanding job and I think everybody has really been on their game this fall,” Kerber said.
Kerber notes his crops are not record breaking this year but given the dry August we experienced, he thinks it is as good as we could have expected. Kerber would still like to level off tile lines and apply anhydrous before cleaning all of the equipment and putting it away for another year.
He hopes everyone stays safe for the rest of harvest.
“Fields are disappearing at a pretty rapid rate and I think (harvest) should be wrapped-up earlier than last year and we can get on with some enjoyable holiday seasons,” Kerber adds.
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