Tractor Seat Update

October is a busy month for harvesting corn and soybeans on our farm.  Usually in North Central Iowa harvest starts around mid-September and our goal is always to be done by mid-November (or at least by Thanksgiving!).  This year we didn't get started with harvest until this week, so we are starting a couple weeks late.

Why did we start a couple weeks late?  Well, it all goes back to when we planted the corn and soybeans in May and June.  This spring was very wet so we ended up planting our crops late.  We don't harvest our crops until they are mature and then we like to have them dry in the field.

My Farmer unloading corn to go into our dryer

Why do the crops need to dry in the field?  We like to have our crops dry in the field as much as possible, because the corn and soybean processors we sell our crops to have moisture standards they are looking for.  They need to crops to be dry so they can then turn them into feed for animals or ethanol for your vehicle.  The longer the crops dry in the field, the less amount or time and money we need to dry them through our grain dryer system on our farm.

This week has been moving a little slowly but we're just happy to be making progress.  We've combined around 10% of our soybean acres and 5% of our corn acres as of today.

What questions do you have about corn and soybean harvest?  Remember to Comment for a Cause!

(This post is a part of a 31 Days from a Tractor Seat series.  The best way to keep up with this series is to follow via email on the right sidebar of this post and by liking the Corn, Beans, Pigs and Kids Facebook page.)