From the Fields: Caught off guard

We cut the third cutting of alfalfa hay and are starting to look ahead at corn harvest. We looked at the forecasts on Monday morning and it looked like a good week to cut the hay for the last time. We got it laid down and had plans of doing other things through the week while the hay dried. Well, Mother Nature dumped another inch of rain on us again Tuesday with only a 20% chance forecasted. Once things dried up a little, we worked the rest of the week to dry the hay out so we could bale some small square bales for winter. We can’t feed rounds or big squares in our barn due to it being built in the late 1800s. They didn’t make it accessible for anything except loading square bales up in the loft to drop down to the cows beneath. We were able to bale on Friday and got around 400 small squares to put up and four dry round bales in case we have an emergency and can’t get to the other feed.

We also looked at a few of our cornfields we planted early to see how close harvest will be. Wow, the plants are still green from top to bottom, so a guy would think we’ve got a ways to go yet — wrong! We pulled ears and they were full dent, which in 20 to 25 days should be considered done reaching psychological maturity and should be in that 25% to 30% moisture area depending on the GDDs and the weather. I’m not saying go out and start shelling corn in about a month because the corn is done. I’m just trying to get it through my own head that these plants don’t look normal, meaning we usually harvest dead or dry cornstalks.

This year might be a whole different ballgame for us that don’t see green healthy looking plants this time of year. We’ll have to get out and pull some samples to test and do a lot more scouting to see which fields will run over others unlike most years we just go farm to farm because it’s all around the same place in moisture and drydown. Some people will be caught way off guard when they figure out the grain hanging on those green stalks are actually ready to pick. Keep scouting your fields for signs when you feel comfortable starting to harvesting.

Hope, Ind.