From the Fields: Surprised how good the yields were

We’re running some vertical tillage over our soybean stubble to break down the residue and break down some of the tire tracks that we made during harvest. We’re trying to get all of this done before we put the anhydrous on. A shower is in the forecast this weekend, Nov. 8-9, and then it’s going to cool off next week. That ought to be just right for putting on anhydrous.

The harvest went really well. We finished on Sunday, Nov. 2. It took us a little over a month to harvest. It went really smooth. We got all of the soybeans done and then we had a rainout to give us some days to work on stuff. We needed a rain at that point. There were a lot of field fires around the area. Then we got back into the corn and I don’t think we had another rainout until we were done. We were going fast and furious. We got done harvesting and we took a few days to clean out some fencerows that needed cleaning before we started tillage. We have a few days left of tillage before we can start applying anhydrous.

We were surprised how good the yields were for how dry it’s been. The corn and soybeans were both really good. We figured we were probably 5% over our Actual Production History for the year in both crops and actually our toughest ground did better than our better ground this year. I think it caught a few extra rains on some of the farms and it made a big difference. We got that rain in mid-August and I think that was the big difference there.

Our oldest daughter, Katy, received her American FFA Degree when we were in Indianapolis for the National FFA Convention & Expo and watched her walk across the stage for that honor and congratulate her. It was quite an honor for her. She was wearing the blue jacket for the last time when she did that. She wants to be an ag teacher when she’s done with school. Maybe her next time at the convention she’ll be an actual teacher. We’re proud of her for all that she’s done and continues to do. That was the same weekend as Dad’s Weekend at the University of Illinois. We left the convention and celebrated Dad’s Weekend with her at Champaign.

The Illinois Corn Growers Association’s annual meeting is right before Thanksgiving. They have some speakers lined up for us and we’ll elect a new slate of officers at that annual meeting. I’m looking forward to going down to that.

Right before that, we’ll be going on some college visits with our younger daughter, Sarah. We’ll be going to Texas A&M and Oklahoma State.