Grain Handling

When her father became ill several years ago, the interactions with his doctors stood out to Rock Falls native Heather Moser.

Kinze Manufacturing is introducing a new grain cart row crop tire next season for custom harvesters and farmers who transport their carts by truck from farm to farm.

Each year, Steve Pitstick develops a plan for his farm and adjusts during the growing season based on the conditions. “The real key to being a good farmer is being able to adjust on the fly,” said Pitstick, who farms about 5,000 acres of corn and soybeans near Maple Park.

This has been an amazing fall. We never know what to expect, but we’ve only had a couple of days off and the corn has dried down great. This field is 20% and yesterday the moisture was at 18%. We were fearful a month ago about drying costs, but it worked out.

The Precision Technology Institute farm added more research opportunities with the installation of a grain storage system being used for the first time this fall.

Dry weather has made quick work of harvest on the Kron family farm, where progress to finish the crop is being made each day. Randy Kron, farmer and president of Indiana Farm Bureau, shared an update with AgriNews.

Steve Pitstick started harvesting soybeans about a week later than he planned this year. “Part of that is due to the later than normal start in the spring and we had a cloudy, somewhat cool summer,” said Pitstick who farms about 5,000 acres of corn and soybeans near Maple Park.

Green combines. Red tractors. Blue grain carts. Although the equipment varies in size and color, the job is the same — to help farmers get their crops out of the field, because it’s harvest season.

With harvest season approaching, Kinze Manufacturing offers maintenance recommendations to ensure that grain carts will be field-ready this fall.

It’s important to check grain dryers prior to the harvest season for any wear or tear that could affect safe and proper operation this fall.

Variability is one way to describe the 2022 growing season. “It’s really the story of variability because it depends on where you’re at and if you were lucky enough to catch some rains,” said Jared Goplen, agronomy manager at Wyffels Hybrids.

GrainVue continuously monitors the condition of crops stored in grain bins and controls the aeration system. “Farmers have to make the decision every day to run the fans or not when they have a crop in a bin,” said Greg Trame, director of technology sales for GSI.

A northern Iowa farmer spent a night trapped in a grain bin before crews rescued him. The farmer became trapped in the afternoon by grain in the bin on his farm in the Ackley-Iowa Falls area, according to the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier.

Although he has not found tar spot in his cornfields yet, Steve Pitstick will spray a fungicide for prevention of the disease. “We’ve had tar spot since 2018,” said Pitstick who farms about 5,000 acres of corn and soybeans near Maple Park in northern Illinois.

The Ogle County Farm Bureau Young Leaders through financial support from COUNTRY Financial recently donated grain bin rescue augers to three area fire departments serving Ogle and Lee counties.