View from the Cab: Crazy times coming

By: Kent Casson

The crazy time is coming. Are you ready?

I am speaking of the pending harvest season which looks to be a few weeks away for many but some start dates will vary depending on the crop type and planting date. It is nice to get an early start at harvest in case the weather turns nasty later in the fall, but I must admit I’m not quite ready.

We still need to make some final equipment preparations, catch up on mowing and perform other tasks before even thinking about driving up and down those rows of corn and soybeans. Maybe I can just pause time for a moment to make summer last a bit longer.

The Illinois State Fair and Fairbury Fair have come and gone as we prepare for the Farm Progress Show in Decatur and Threshermen’s Reunion at Pontiac this week. These are pretty much the final ag events of the summer before our attention turns to what is out in those fields of Central Illinois. By the way, make sure you wave at my family riding on my father-in-law’s 1968 John Deere 4020 tractor during the Threshermen’s Parade in Pontiac on Sunday.

Hard to believe the silage chopping has started in local cornfields which usually signifies a few weeks until corn harvest begins. The chopping can be a good indicator of what kind of yields to expect out in the fields this year, although I haven’t heard any official reports just yet.

Thanks to Bob Lawless and a number of volunteers with the Livingston County Corn Growers, we have some yield estimates for the county. The LCGA conducted its annual yield tour in each township last Monday. The county average yield for corn was 205.9 bushels per acre. The low was 168 with a high of 248.3 for a range of 80.3 bushels. Indian Grove Township’s average was on the low end with the high end occurring in Waldo Township north of Gridley.

Local farm managers helped line up potential fields for the tour. If you observed a pile of corn husks along the road, the Livingston County Corn Growers crew may have been out in your field checking.

Mowing never seems to be slowing down this year. While many are used to brown grass in August and early September, this has not been the case for 2021. In fact, I could practically bale my front yard. Spraying and trimming seem to also be never ending jobs this summer.