A 2017 Corn Report: Mother Nature Won

Mother Nature won. In the epic battle of Farmer vs. Mother Nature, she denied access to timely rain. She opted for 100-degree temperatures during critical growing times. She would tease us with rain clouds we could see on the horizon but kept the raindrops from falling on our parched fields.

So, it's a bit anticlimactic to report on Corn Harvest 2017. On second thought, let's just keep it lower case ... corn harvest 2017 doesn't deserve the capital letters. It was not a bumper crop. In fact, it was the worst corn crop we've had in the five years since adding it to the crop rotation on the County Line.

 

 Our 320 acres planted to corn yielded an average of 43.6 bushels per acre.

 

Since we are a totally dryland farming operation, we are dependent upon Mother Nature's rains and her heat index during critical times like pollination. She seems to be like the playground bully when it comes to County Line corn.

To compare with previous years, 2016's overall average was 71 bushels per acre. Our first year of corn production was 2013, and we had an average yield of 57 bushels per acre. In 2014, we had our best year to date, with an average of 108 bushels per acre. Overall yield average for 2015 was 43.88 bushels per acre.

The journey toward Corn Harvest 2017 began in April, when Randy planted the crop. (For a look back along the way, click on this link.)

April 2017:  The corn seed in the middle of the photo was at the end of the row, where Randy turned. Most of the seeds end up underground, where they are supposed to be, but I still liked the photo.

May 2017

We finished corn harvest September 25, but it would have been sooner had we not had some combine problems.

Our 320 acres of corn likely sounds like small potatoes - or small sprouts - to anybody who has circles of corn.

But we are primarily wheat farmers, and we were thankful for our second-best wheat crop ever here on the County Line.

After a nice, gentle 3.40" rain the week before, we started planting wheat on October 2. However, we've gotten 0.50" in the past couple of days, so we are at a standstill in that process. No complaining about moisture is allowed! We'd like to keep on Mother Nature's good side for this crop.

More on wheat planting to come ...

Pop, Pop, Pop Goes the (Pop) Corn in the Pan!

Does it confound anyone else that I can remember a poem from grade school, yet I sometimes can't remember a name that's right on the tip of my tongue? Or, when I'm watching Jeopardy!, and I know the answer. Really, I do! But I just can't transfer the answer from the depths of my mind to my mouth quite fast enough.

The yield may not be good, but Randy loves to be on the combine.

We started cutting corn yesterday afternoon, and as I rode with Randy in the combine, I kept thinking about a popcorn poem I learned at Byers Grade School. We are cutting field corn, not popcorn, but the corn coming into the bin behind Randy still reminded me of the poem.

Pop - pop - pop!
Goes the popcorn in the pan.
Pop - pop - pop!
You may catch me if you can.
Pop - pop - pop!
Says each kernel hard and yellow.
Pop - pop - pop!
I 'm a dancing little fellow.
Pop - pop - pop!
I can whirl and skip and hop.
Pop - pop - pop - pop - pop - pop - pop!

Maybe I can't remember that other stuff because my brain is cluttered with nonsensical trivia like that! (My sister, Lisa, also remembers the poem, too, so it has stood the test of time.)

Our dryland corn will not be a bumper crop. It won't even be an average crop because of dry and hot weather during pollination and grain filling stages. But it's still a job that has to be done. The first field we're cutting is at 16 percent moisture, which is dry enough to haul to the elevator.

You can find "gold" in every situation.  So I did.

I didn't like taking photos of the field we were cutting from the combine cab because it looked weedy and sparse. But I liked the Corn Palace-like mosaic that Randy's shadow cast against the backdrop of a filling grain bin.

Because Shawn was swathing sudan on a custom job for a neighbor, Randy was both combine driver and semi driver. I went along for the first trip to the Zenith elevator for Corn Harvest 2017.

Once we arrived a Zenith, Randy untarped the load ....

 

 ... then pulled onto the scales to be weighed. 

 A sample is taken to test for quality and moisture, using the probe at the office.

Then it was time to go to the dump pit. This time, they sent our truck to the outside dump site.

 

The grain is dumped via gravity from the bottom of the semi.

And then it's "See ya later!" to the guys at the elevator pit.

Back to the office we go to weigh on empty.

Ask the truck driver to pause so you can get creative with the rearview mirror shot.

Do a quick check of the prices (pretty much all down - sigh).

Attach the scale ticket to the magnet clip and head back to the field.

And repeat!

Putting A "Dent" In It

 

 The lack of rain is putting a dent in our hopes for a good 2017 dryland corn crop.

Really ... the corn is "denting"  You can see the little indentations in this closeup photo. In other words, when the corn begins to "dent," the kernels are starting to dry down.

Rainfall has been spotty this summer. And our farmstead has been in one of the dry zones. The storms on Saturday night into Sunday dodged our part of the Stafford/Reno County line. We only got 0.30" of rain. As we drove to church Sunday morning, we were seeing puddles in fields and along ditches, so Randy pulled into the co-op to look at their rain gauge. It had 2 inches! We tried not to be jealous. We were on our way to church, after all. 

The weekly U.S. drought monitor released August 1 showed that our part of the world is "abnormally dry" (the part in the yellow).

In reality, rain that falls now will be too late to save the corn crop. The yield potential has already been determined, and it was hot and dry during pollination earlier this summer. Then there wasn't rain to help fill the corn heads either.

There is some corn there, but the ears are small.

We still have some chances for rain this week, so we'll hope it materializes. The milo crop could still benefit from some timely rains.

The milo looks surprisingly good, despite the lack of moisture.

The alfalfa hasn't fared so well. Randy tried a third cutting on a portion of our alfalfa acres. We got a whopping 8 bales off of 45 acres. Some additional acres down now should do a little better because that area got a rain during county fair time, unlike the acres closer to home.

For fields like this one, he decided it wasn't worth the time or the fuel to harvest what was there.

If it rains, it's possible we would still be able to harvest more alfalfa. Right now, Randy is more concerned that we haven't been able to plant any after-harvest sudan. We usually supplement our alfalfa and silage with sudan as part of our cattle's wintertime rations.

All day on Monday, I kept thinking about The Carpenters song, "Rainy Days and Mondays." We would have been celebrating with rain on Monday. It sure wouldn't haven't gotten us "down."

An Explosion (of Sorts)

You might be a farmer's wife if you look at fireworks and think one of them looks like corn tasseling.

See the resemblance? OK, maybe it's just me.

But there is an "explosion" of activity happening in the corn fields these days. And we could use some rain.

If you're a faithful reader of Kim's County Line, you know that I may have been a bit persnickety about rain falling on our swathed alfalfa earlier in June. The same could be said about the little showers that interrupted Wheat Harvest 2017. But we finished that task a week ago, Wednesday, June 28.

June 2, 2017

June 2, 2017

Now we could use some rain for our dryland crops. And therein lies the dichotomy that is a farmer's brain.

From May 1, 2017, blog post

We started planting corn in mid-April. By April 28, it was starting to emerge. On June 2 (as you can see in the two photos at the top), it was at the top of Randy's boots and growing.

June 21, 2017

By June 21, it was up to Randy's waist.

June 27, 2017

Then, on June 27 - less than a week later - I almost had to play the Where's Randy variation of Where's Waldo.

July 4, 2017

We took a 4th of July trip to the same corn field. The corn is tasseling, and it could use some moisture. All our corn is dryland corn. In other words, we don't have irrigation. Mother Nature is our irrigator.

Let's hope she's in a cooperative mood!

***

MILO UPDATE

On the way to plant milo: Photo taken May 26, 2017

A timely rain could also provide a boost for the milo crop. 

Randy planted 110 acres of milo on May 26. I took photos of these tiny plants on June 2.

On June 27, the milo field was looking good, but some moisture would certainly help it.

Milo on June 27, 2017

It has grown a lot in just a week. We took photos in the milo field on our way back from checking the Ninnescah Pasture yesterday morning.

Milo on July 4, 2017

 

OK. So maybe I'll have to admit there's some truth to that saying that farmers are never happy about the weather. But there are always silver linings. (The sky below was during wheat harvest. We didn't get rain that night, but someone to the east of us did.)

There was a silver lining -- and a whole lot of other colors, too -- in the fireworks display last night. Sterling is a small town with a big show. Thanks to all the sponsors!

I'm never happy with the fireworks photos I shoot. But I always give it a try. We saw drones flying around the sky last night, taking photos. I'd love to see their birds' eye view.