Friday, August 17, 2012

Farm Friday

I'm happy to be back on schedule and have a Farm Friday update today!  This week after we got my father-in-law back home and on the mend, we started getting equipment ready for the fall.  LP had his first combine ride of the fall earlier this week when we moved it out of the machine shed - he was very excited for that!

My "backyard" is getting closer and closer to being ready for harvest.


The corn stalks and husks are starting to dry and the ears of corn are beginning to drop.


Because of the drought conditions, the ears of corn are not as long compared to "normal" years.


The corn is now at the R5 development stage, as know as the Dent stage.  As you can see the tops of the kernels are dented.  The moisture content is lessening, which causes the dent.  It is always exciting to see your corn dent because that means harvest is near!


My "hog's backyard" has benefited for some casual rains over the past couple of weeks, but of course, could still use some more.


Here is an up-close look at a soybean pod and seeds.  Currently the soybeans are reaching the R6 development stage, also known as Full Seed.  After the soybeans reach R6, the plants will begin to mature and dry.


The drought has obviously affected our fields, along with the rest of the central United States, this year.  The news media keeps comparing this year's weather conditions to those of the 1980's and 1930's.  We might be having similar weather to the Dust Bowl years, but our crops are doing a lot better than they would have back then.  The conservation methods used by farmers today help keep our topsoil from blowing away and the hybrid's of today have traits to help withstand dry conditions.  I wouldn't like to think what are crops would be looking like right now if we didn't have the practices and genetics that we do.

Do you have any questions about the harvest process?  Do you have any questions about this year's drought?

3 comments:

  1. I do think that with no-till practices as well as the genetics that the hybrids of today has helped many fields in North Iowa this year. The fields around us that are no-till have looked healthier the whole season.

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    Replies
    1. It'll be interesting to see what management practices research trials results will be this year.

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