From the Barns: The rush to harvest

The race is on! After waiting, not so patiently, for the corn to mature, we finally had a field last week get mature enough to start chopping. Now we will race to stay ahead of the corn getting too mature. The corn is really good this year, so I’m sure we will get all the silage we need and then switch to earlage to finish up our harvest.

This growing season has been really good with lots of hay and many acres of underutilized pasture that will eventually get eaten off, but not until much later. We should probably back down our silage pile size since we have so much hay, but there’s always the threat of a hard winter out there, so I expect we will stay the course and make lots of excess forage just in case.

While our crew is focused on harvesting the corn crop our cows are pretty much on their own, grazing off old fescue and patiently awaiting fall rains to freshen up the pastures once again. We still have a group of cows to get through with initial calf processing, but our wranglers are back to school and busy with fall sports activities. We will have to look for a day off school to get that last group captured and caught up on their vaccinations. Hunting season is right around the corner, too, so it’s going to be tough finding a day for cow work.

We will be seeding wheat on our harvested acres as soon as the corn crop comes out and depending on fall rains we may get a little grazing before the snow flies. The fat market is a little softer and being pressured by I’m not sure what. The market is still really good, especially when feed prices are so low. Feeder cattle are still over the moon, so this year’s calf crop will be really fun to market. I’m not sure there has been a rush to retain heifers yet, so maybe this great cattle market will maintain itself for a longer period of time than what is historical.

It looks like the sun is trying to come up so I better wrap this up. With the grandkids in football, cross country and jujitsu, there is someplace I want to be most late afternoons and Saturdays, so making the best use of all the available sunlight is a priority. Be safe this busy season. I’ll see you on the sidelines.