They're combining corn!

[pookshollow]

It's February, it's snowing and it's blowing gale-force winds! And they're out in the cornfield back of our place, combining, in the dark.

[Jerry in MN]

Someone was combining corn near here too, in early Feb. They had to leave strips around the outside of the field, where the snow was too deep.

[Ross]

If it was a wet fall where you are they likely couldn't get it off then. Or the local elevator/dryer was full. No harm leaving it except some wildlife damage maybe.

[DaleK]

Wish the combine was rolling here, some of the fields aren't frozen hard enough yet after the thaw. Still got 90 acres out, it was too wet all fall, then once the ground froze there was almost immediately too much snow, then the frost went out. Elevators were full half the time anyway.

[Bearfootfarm]

Down here they normally pick corn in September, and plant a crop of wheat behind it.

[pookshollow]

No harm leaving it except some wildlife damage maybe.

Well, some of them funny-looking "deer" got into it in the fall. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

My first fall at university I was shocked to see corn in the field in November. Where I grew up, corn was cut for silage while it was still green - never combined.

This is the latest I've ever seen them out. It wasn't that wet of a fall.

[DaleK]

Combines don't like mud Pook. More importantly, when it's as wet as it was this fall, the corn doesn't dry down. There was corn around here that still wasn't dry enough to combine in December without turning into mush in the combine. It's drying down a lot better now. Know one guy here who only got his corn off because he spent $30,000 putting tracks on his combine.

The last really wet fall we had was '92, I remember we combined our last corn on Christmas Eve. It was running 35% moisture so we had to roll it and put it in an Ag Bag (Should be 17% or thereabouts here). A lot of people didn't get their corn off until April or May of '93.

[soulsurvivor]

There were combines running in the fields next to us up into December this past year. I really don't know why they were later. Guess I'll have to ask someone.

[wr]

Bearfootfarm, most of Canada has a fairly short growing season so we can't seed one crop behind the other. I can't speak for other provinces but in Alberta, we rely on a 120 day growing season. Ideally, one needs to have crops in the ground by mid may in order to have a crop to harvest. The big operations may seed quite a bit earlier but the ground will not be warm enough for the seeds to till then. I'm not really sure why someone would raise crops up here because it's a pretty exact science. One wants to seed as early as possible, sometime after the last spring blizzard (which usually turns out to the second last storm) and hopefully with sufficient amount of time to work around monsoon season. Summer tends to be hot and dry which facilitates good growth if you have rain at the right time or irrigation. Harvest works exactly opposite of seeding, one must wait till monsoon season ends but most be completed before Halloween, which is the official date of the first snowfall.

[DaleK]

We can plant winter wheat after soybeans come off most years here. Further south west of us, a few people can plant some really short-season soybeans after they take the wheat off in July and still get a crop.

Conditions change really fast around here though. Half an hour south of me they can plant 3000-3200 heat unit corn and get a good crop, here 2800 heat units is pushing it, half an hour north they can't go over about 2200 heat units and it still won't mature enough to combine most years and a bit farther north than that they rarely grow corn at all.

[fordson major]

ive seen soybeans or wheat planted after corn harvest up here!!! mind you he was taking the crop off in may!! for as long as i have known this guy he is always combining some corn in may! (20 years) there has been a lot of corn bins built here in the last couple of years, never a shortage of corn to fill them!

[stranger]

you can't pick it til you can get at it and it has to be somewhat dry on the stalk.

[Peace n Quiet]

My brother in law & sister just finished picking their corn last weekend. By the time the corn dried on the stalk, the snow came and they couldn't get it all off the fields as the snow accumulated. We had a brief thaw which cleared off the snow and they could get out there and finish up the last few acres.

[Karenrbw]

We had a farmer here last year that was combining the corn and his son was coming behind him with the planter. Although that was due to poor farming because no one else had to do that. His son was so embarassed, he didn't even want to come to school the next day.

[CIW]

Do they not use dryers to bring the moisture content down so it can be put in the bin?
If you have to combat both moisture content and the weather it may never get picked.
Around home they have gaint dryers on wheels. They pull them up along side the bins, hook up the natural gas and electricity and go to it.
In the central U.S. when the elevators and bins are full they put down a layer of plastic, dump the corn on the ground then cover it. Some of the piles are 30 ft. high and 300 ft. long. This corn is usually sold for animal feed, direct to the feedlot.
The last thing that they do is call the insurance man.
With the option of selling for ethanol production some corn that has a little extra moisture isn't as big of an issue. They test the moisture content and add a little less water. In fact high moisture corn actually speeds up the fermentation process.
Most combines built today are all wheel drive and they put duals on the front to give them more surface area to set on. Heck they even articulate at the head to accomidate uneven ground. There isn't much that stops them from getting in the fields. Only a few hours is needed to combine a 1/4 section of corn. Heck They even tell you what the yeild on the field is.

[Jennifer L.]

Originally Posted by CIW

Most combines built today are all wheel drive and they put duals on the front to give them more surface area to set on. Heck they even articulate at the head to accomidate uneven ground. There isn't much that stops them from getting in the fields. Only a few hours is needed to combine a 1/4 section of corn. Heck They even tell you what the yeild on the field is.

I wonder if it can figure how much interest you're paying a day on itself, too? Gotta be one expensive machine!


Jennifer

[wwubben]

These combines sell for over $200,000.-------------used.

[sammyd]

If you have the money to run a dryer for your feed that's fine. Lots of guys don't. And with the drop in price it gets harder to run that dryer till the moisture is a little lower.
Buddy of mine is still pulling stuff off as high moisture.
Been a bad year for wet corn. Heard a lot of folks complaining about it. More than usual.

As for access, some guys don't like to tear up their fields with the combines. If it's that wet, they stay out unless they really need the feed or the money. Wait for the freeze, then hit it hard till the snow's too bad then wait for the snow to go away a bit. Been that way for a long time around here.

[rambler]

I've noticed that attitude in Wisconsin, Sammyd.

Here in southern MN, we will go get it at 30%, and go deep into the mud or snowdrifts to finish it up, whatever it takes.

Neither is right or wrong, just different ways of getting the job done for different areas.

Back in the late 1980's I left some corn out into February - it was still 25% at that time, and never did dent. That was the last year 110 day corn was grow in this area! This fall was a lot like it, but did manage to harvest corn around 20% there at the end. We got soaked with rain & then it wouldn't freeze for a week, to get the last 10 acres or so out was a struggle. My most productive day was early in the corn harvest, was a 25-30mph wind, and slushy snow coming down, had to aim the auger right or the corn would blow out of the wagon. Got a lot done tho, probably added 1-2% moisture from the snow tho.

--->Paul

[DaleK]

My neighbour had a custom operator bring in a 4wd combine to do his corn. Took them 6 hours with the biggest excavator they could find to get it out, after breaking a 2" thick steel cable 3 times and leaving 4' deep ruts that'll take years to fix and never completely at that.