From the Fields: Do the math

The rain hasn’t totally shut off for us, but it’s starting to get dry. I know some of you have been on the drier side of things this season, so I’m not going to complain. We are starting to show stress on the gravel and sand ground and the clay knobs are really dying faster than one would expect. There is a lot of irrigation around our area and up until last week you didn’t see anything run hardly all year. Now they all seem to be running around the clock trying to keep up with heat. Soybeans on the poor ground and hill tops are dying and changing from green to white and gray looking. The corn on the more stress-type ground is starting to die off and show signs of harvest. There aren’t huge amounts of acres, just spots in fields that on a more normal year would have shown this already, but with the amount of rain we’ve received, it’s managed to keep up with the more productive ground and not show much variation this year.

I think our corn will be fine, but we need a good rain to help hold that test weight up and keep stalks alive and healthy for a while longer. Those million-dollar rains everyone talks about are what we need to finish our bean crop off strong and really fill those pods out. I looked at some this past week and they are still trying to set pods and bloom on the last set of trifoliate. We could use a good inch or two this next week or so to get really big potential out of things.

I know, I know, it’s too early to talk about seed and prices and blah, blah, blah. I hear this stuff from growers sometimes when we are getting some prices out to guys. I agree and maybe now isn’t the time to lock in the whole farm, but it’s a good way for us to throw the prices and products out to customers so when they are sitting in the combine or figuring up scale tickets they can reflect back on not only products that performed well, but also poorly ones, too. We have to think so far in advance anymore it’s always good to know what the price point on my seed will be if I pay for it by a certain date. Or, if you are running and a hybrid really sticks out you already know in the back of your mind I have X cost per unit and they have X supply of this, so I want to plant X amount of acres to this number next year. It’s just a good way to know where you sit and know what’s coming down the road whether you order early or later. It’s more of a tool so we can feel guys out on what they want and what they think we need to plan for on each acre they farm the next year. The plans can change a hundred times over, but when we have a starting point it makes it easier to change as opposed to starting from scratch.

NCGA National Corn Yield Contest! Yes, that’s right. I entered a field of our LG Seeds 5643 VT2 this year. I had an idea last winter to plant a field and follow it month by month while filming it and telling what went on each month. I do this with our LG area rep to show our customers and potential clients a hybrid’s life for a season. We have been posting it on YouTube each month and on my Facebook page, so guys can view the timeline and what I did to get it to the finish line. I wanted to see under our normal practices and adding a few new tools where I could take this selected hybrid and how well I could place against my peers.

I have a lot of respect for those guys who can really push the limits on this stuff nowadays. I see how quickly things can unravel and go the other way when you’re trying so hard to make sure that plant has every opportunity to gain yield. I’m always excited to see what’s next and how we can change and adapt to implement new things or methods to make our farm better. We will see once harvest gets here how it stacks up to the rest of the crowd, but I’m just looking forward to actually finishing it and seeing the videos all come together so people can see start to finish what the hybrid we selected can really do on acres that look and feel just like what you farm.

Thanks for following along again this week. I hope everyone stays cool with temps still on the warm side and stay safe out there.