The combine has gulped its last "bite" of our dryland corn crop, and we're moving on to the next crop - planting wheat for harvest in the summer of 2014.
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| Photo through the dirty combine window, but you can see the corn cobs coming into the combine. |
This was our f
irst time ever to raise dryland corn. We planted it as our row crop instead of milo this year. Randy picked the right year to try it. After the past two summers of extreme drought, we received some timely rains this summer.
Wheat is our primary crop, and that won't change anytime soon. But Randy was pleased with the overall average yield of 57 bushels per acre for our debut as corn farmers.
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| View from the combine cab during harvest |
We had a low yield of 18 bushels per acre. That ground isn't as fertile with any crop, and pollination of the corn crop occurred during the hottest and driest days of the summer, further dropping yields. Our highest yield was a field that brought in 78 bushels per acre.
Harvest time is like seeing miracles happen. It's pretty amazing to think that this small plant I photographed in May ...
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| May 2013 |
... then t
hroughout the summer ...
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| August 2013 |
...
yielded its grain in September.
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| On the left is the corn cob after the grain has been removed by the combine. |
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Randy has already placed his order for next year's corn seed. And the adventure continues ...
I find it so interesting following farm blogs and how and when people cut and plant their crops. Here the corn hasn't been cut yet. Usually in mid October they start. Wheat has been planted is about 6 inches or so tall. And some have planted sunflowers, for the oil I guess. Its nice too watch the farmers. Since we don't have any crops, its quite inlightning to me. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'll be writing about planting wheat soon. I love looking at your photos because it looks so different from where we live! I think that's what is fascinating about finding different blogs to follow.
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