Pretty on the Inside?

 

I think wheat fields are beautiful at pretty much every stage - from bright green sprout to those iconic "amber waves of grain" waving in the Kansas wind. 

However, to me, corn is not a "looker" at harvest time. But we always hope it will be pretty on the inside. (I wrote about ugly corn syndrome in June. Evidently it didn't get a complex because it did OK in the end.) 

Last Friday, we completed our annual quest to discover the "inner beauty" of the crop.

We are relative newcomers to corn and have only had it in our crop rotation since 2013. (Randy has been producing alfalfa for 50 years and wheat for almost that long.) Our 99 bushels/acre 2021 corn crop was almost identical to the verdict last year:

2021 - 99 bu/acre

2020 - 98 bu/acre

2019 - 66.6 bu/acre

2018 - 82 bu/acre 

2017 - 43.6 bu/acre

2016 - 71 bu/acre

2015 - 43.88 bu/acre

2014 - 108 bu/acre

2013 - 57 bu/acre (This was the first year we added corn into the crop rotation).

We began corn harvest on Thursday, September 2. There was an abrupt pause the next day, when it was foggy and humid. Friday night (September 3), we got 3 inches of rain at our house, which stopped corn harvest in its tracks. While the corn was dry earlier, we couldn't get over the ground with the combine again until Wednesday, September 8. We stayed home from the K-State football home opener September 11 to cut corn. We had to be at the state fair on Tuesday, September 14, for Kansas Master Farmer and Farm Homemaker Day. As presidents of our respective branches of the organization, both of us had parts in the meeting and program. Then it rained that evening. 

However, it was pretty from the grandstand as we watched the storm roll in.

We made it through about 45 minutes of the Logan Mize concert before nearby lightning strikes shut down the music for awhile. (We drove home instead of waiting for Sawyer Brown. Looking at radar, we weren't sure the concert would continue, but it did.)

It took until Friday (September 17) for the ground to dry out out enough again for cutting. And we cut the last load of corn for 2021 that afternoon.

This spring, we planted 294 acres to dryland corn. (See the blog post about planting here. The corn was a lot higher than knee high on the 4th of July. And for photos on how it was looking later in July, click here.)

Our acres don't amount to much in the overall statistics of production for Kansas. 

According to the Kansas Corn Commission, a third of our corn stays in Kansas to feed livestock; a third is made into ethanol and dried distillers grain at Kansas ethanol plants; and a third of our corn leaves Kansas to be used in other states or exported overseas, along with corn products. 

Only five states produced more corn than Kansas in 2020. However, since our primary crop here on the County Line is wheat, we don't contribute much to the state's total. For us, corn is one of the crops used in our rotational program to keep soil quality good and weeds down. For my brother and parents in a neighboring county, corn is a primary crop.

Whether it's wheat, corn or milo, Randy still likes being in the combine seat. And I like to go along for the ride.

I think the dry corn cobs look a little like missiles as they get propelled into the header. The corn ears are pulled off the corn stalk and are dragged into the combine with rollers. Inside the combine, the corn kernels are separated from the husks and cobs.

 

The cobs and debris are dispersed out the back of the combine. And the corn kernels go into the semi for a trip to the co-op elevator.

Many farmers have a grain cart pulled by a tractor to transfer the corn from the combine to the grain cart to the truck. 

But we unload from the combine directly into the truck.

 

Here's a little video, but the combine cab window is kind of dusty. It's probably not particularly "pretty on the inside."

It's always good to have the sun set on another harvest season.

 

Unrelated to corn, we discovered that Randy's wheat entry in the Kansas State Fair wheat show had done well. He got second in one of the classes on his Bob Dole wheat variety. And the cycle continues: He began planting our 2022 crop on September 21, the final day of summer (at least, according to the calendar).

Scout's Honor

We're used to hearing scouting reports from the Kansas City Chiefs training camp or yet another commentary on how K-State and other Big 12 schools will fare if and when OU and Texas actually depart our conference.

This fall crop scouting report may not have mass appeal. But it's rather important to a specific farmer.

We practically had to cut through the humidity with a knife, and both my camera and my glasses fogged up on our morning scouting expedition. But after wiping off both, I got the mission accomplished.

The milo is headed out and looking good. (True confessions: We ended up driving to the other side of the milo field after deeming one end ugly. On second thought, that's not very kind. How about this? It was not photogenic because of weeds.)

Milo has made a lot of progress since my last blog post about it. Back in a June 10 post, it looked like this:

It was just up and growing. 

The corn got a little earlier start. We began planting it April 26. 

 

By June 4, it looked like this:

 

 And this was yesterday morning, July 28:

The corn and milo right got an additional boost from the unexpected 1.60" of rain we received as we were leaving church last Sunday. However, the rainfall was spotty. North of town, we got 0.20". That's better than many people, who missed the scattered rainfall all together.

The ears are looking large and full.

The rainfall was especially beneficial since it's been so hot this week.

Since our dryland crop is dependent solely on Mother Nature, the rains have been particularly beneficial. Still, there's still some time between now and harvest. My husband is his usual optimistic self. I am more a "Don't count your chickens" proponent when it comes to corn.

Ugly Corn Syndrome

June 4, 2021

The headline on the email caught my eye: Ugly corn syndrome.

"OK, that's a new one," I thought. Even an old farm wife can learn something new. So I clicked on the link to the Farm Journal article on www.agweb.com to look at the article written by Rhonda Brooks, dated June 3.

Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie was advising farmers in the Corn Belt to look for three conditions, including ugly corn syndrome. (They were also to scout for making replant decisions and scout for insects.) While Ferrie said that some farmers tell him they have some of their best corn and soybean crops in recent memory, others say they have some of their worst. Here's what the article had to say about ugly corn syndrome:

It’s showing up in some fields now. Farmers finding yellow or yellow-streaked corn this spring have likely experienced too much rainfall, affecting nitrogen availability. High carbon loads can also be a factor—corn-on-corn or areas that had cover crops are more likely to show this phenomenon.

Ferrie’s research in Illinois shows it takes 60 pounds of N for corn after beans and 100 pounds of N for corn after corn to keep the corn crop from slowing down during what he calls the carbon penalty stage.

June 4, 2021

 

Last week, Randy and I were laughing about ugly corn syndrome. By the way, he hadn't heard of it either. But this week, we began to wonder if some of our corn is suffering from that malady. There is a yellow tinge in some places. Since we got an unexpected 0.70" of rain Monday, it's possible that the corn's off-color can be attributed to "wet feet," lack of sunshine and the resulting deficit in nitrogen. Forecasts are for hot and humid the rest of this week, so I guess the corn will be getting the heat units it needs to grow (though there's also some concern when there's a rapid shift from cool to downright hot, too). I, on the other hand, would prefer the "heat units" and humidity to be lower. I'm not ready for mid-90s, with a heat index of 100. 

June 9, 2021: You can notice the yellow tinge in some of the corn plants.

In the name of research, I emailed my corn crop consultant (AKA my brother, Kent, who raises a lot more corn than we do.) His diagnosis - after I sent some photos - was, indeed, ugly corn syndrome. He attributes it to the amount of cold, cloudy and wet weather we've had. He also said some varieties show it more than others. 

June 9, 2021

 And the hot weather is doing more than making me uncomfortable, he says. It also impacts the corn. They started planting irrigated corn almost two months ago.

We see it (ugly corn syndrome) to some extent most years, more this year due to the amount of cold, cloudy and wet we’ve had. Some varieties show it more than others. I think it’s also the plant having to metabolize the herbicides we use in the cloudy and cold. It’s doing fine but should be waist high at this point, and we’re not.  And now that we’ve warmed up, it’s really trying to grow fast, and it doesn’t have the root system developed to handle that quite yet.

Kent Moore, Pratt County farmer

Another spring-planted crop - our milo crop (below) - appears off to a good start. It may be hard to see the little green sprouts down the rows in this overview shot.

But a closer look revealed a good stand after good moisture.

No ugly milo syndrome here ... at least, not yet. (For the record, I'm not sure ugly milo syndrome is a "thing," but until last week, I didn't know about ugly corn either ... other than corn that was impacted by a drought or low yields or another dozen problems.)

So far, so good.

***

If you'd like an in-depth look at corn, my brother is featured in this video produced by Kansas Corn. He operates our family's fifth-generation Pratt County farm in South Central Kansas.

Adopt the Pace of Nature: Corn Update

May 10, 2021

Adopt the pace of nature: Her secret is patience.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

We have drive-bys on our country road. They just aren't the kind that happen in a disreputable part of town like the ones you see on the evening news.

 

Country drive-bys don't include souped-up engines.

They don't bring a danger of violence.

They may sound a little like this:

"Do you see any green out there? ...

"I think I see some green ...???"

 (My Farmer should know by now that my eyesight is such that he's always going to see green before me on one of these drive-bys.) 

Like Ralph Waldo Emerson, farmers understand the pace of nature. However, Emerson may not have known a farmer waiting for his planted seeds to emerge from the ground before he penned that quote.

May 10, 2021

While I will contend that Randy is one of the most patient people I know, I also know that patience doesn't extend to plants emerging from the ground. It doesn't necessarily apply to recalcitrant cattle, broken-down machinery or newfangled technology either. OK, maybe I should rephrase that earlier statement. Thankfully, he's pretty patient with me.

Anyway, the time between planting and emergence is not among his most patient times. But there's usually a reward for the waiting.

The tiny seed knew that in order to grow, it needed to be dropped in the dirt, covered in darkness and struggle to reach the light.

Author Sandra Kring

If that's not a metaphor for life, I'm not sure what is. Sometimes it feels like life drops you in the dirt. You get covered with darkness. And it's a struggle to see the light. But it's there, if only you look hard enough.

Living on a farm offers plenty of object lessons like that. Case in point: Our 2021 corn crop. 

April 29, 2021

Because of some rain, chilly weather and cattle chores, we were a little later than usual getting the corn crop planted. (You can read more about it here.)

 

But by May 10, the little corn plants were "up and at 'em." The seedling soldiers were marching down the fields.

 And just like that Sandra Kring quote said, they were reaching for the light.

We are relatively new to growing corn on our dryland farm. We definitely "self identify" as wheat farmers. (That's a buzzworthy thing to say nowadays, isn't it?)

So I'm still somewhat amazed at how quickly corn grows. It's a lot different from wheat. I took the first series of photos on May 10. By May 20 - 10 days later - the plants had gained some height and some hardiness.

May 20, 2021

 

We collected about 1.90" in the rain gauge in the past 10 days or so, including 0.20" last night. I took the photos below yesterday morning (May 24).

Corn field, May 24, 2021

We're thankful for the moisture to give the crop a boost. There's more rain in the forecast. We'll see if any actually falls.

Corn field, May 24, 2021

 Randy planted 50 acres of milo on May 24 as well.

I guess more drive-bys are in my future. "Do you see any green out there? ..."
 
 

Corny Analogies

I've found a few of these hitchhikers lurking on the floor of our farm house lately.

Thankfully, most of its buddies ended up in the ground. 

It's corn planting time in Kansas. In the scheme of things, our farm is kind of like that single grain on the kitchen floor. The 294 acres we planted this spring on our dryland farm don't amount to much in the overall statistics of production for Kansas.

However, only five states produced more corn than Kansas in 2020. USDA estimated the 2020 Kansas Corn Crop at 766 million bushels, with a yield of 134 bushels per acre and 5.72 million acres harvested. Last year's crop was the second largest in Kansas history, falling only to the record 2019 crop of 801 million bushels. 

According to the Kansas Corn Commission, a third of our corn stays in Kansas to feed livestock; a third is made into ethanol and dried distillers grain at Kansas ethanol plants; and a third of our corn leaves Kansas to be used in other states or exported overseas, along with corn products. 

Since our primary crop is wheat, we don't contribute much to that total. For us, corn is one of the crops used in our rotational program to keep soil quality good and weeds down. For my brother and parents in a neighboring county, corn is a primary crop.

 

We began planting corn on April 26, a little later than our normal plant date. However, in mid-April, we had fairly chilly weather, so the soil temperature wasn't conducive for growing anyway. Plus, we had some cattle-moving tasks to complete first. (And, it allowed a visit with the granddaughters before we began the new task - bonus!)

Today, many farmers plant RIB corn (refuge in a bag) - whether it's irrigated or dryland.

The green-colored seeds have a different genetic make-up and are treated with a different insecticide than the purple-colored seeds. The purple seeds are a refuge for several different insects in a field, giving them a habitat to satisfy EPA rules. Before RIB technology was available, farmers had to plant so many acres in a field to a corn that wasn't resistant to the bugs and the rest of the field could be resistant. With RIB technology, farmers can plant it all at the same time, without changing seed and figuring acreage requirements. 

 

Randy adds a seed talc - or lubricant - to the planter boxes to facilitate the seed's journey from planter to soil. 

 

He also applies a starter fertilizer to promote early growth. The make-up of the starter fertilizer was determined after Randy did soil testing before planting. 

 

It included nitrogen, phosphate, sulfur and zinc. After planting, the co-op is applying more nitrogen, along with herbicide 

The fertilizer is in the tank pulled by the pickup. First stop is pulling up to the scales at the elevator to weigh the empty pickup and fertilizer trailer and tell the scale operator what kind of fertilizer we want. (There's another stop after the tank is filled for a final weight.) I also let them know how to bill the previous load of fertilizer.

Then, it's off to the fertilizer shed, where an employee fills the tank with the "recipe" Randy has ordered. 

I stand around and take photos of our prairie skyscrapers and the clouds. (What else is new?)

 

This year, we again picked up the seed as we need it at Zenith, so on some trips, we also get the bagged seed from another building. 

Once back to the field, Randy can then use the fertilizer in the trailer to refill the fertilizer tanks on the planter, attaching a hose. 

He starts a motor to pump the fertilizer to the planter.

He runs the motor until the tanks are filled. (You can see it's only about one-third full in this photo.)

 And then he's off to make another round. 

  

As always, we're "keepin'" it rural, just like our ancestors did.

 Corn was a primary crop in this area when it was settled. The 6th Biennial Report of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture of 1888 reported that corn was the main crop for Stafford County, covering 48,030 acres. Oats were grown on 10,849 acres, while the winter wheat crop totaled 8,717 acres. Pasture ground was tallied at 13,446 acres. Other crops in 1888 were millet, spring wheat, rye, Irish and sweet potatoes, sorghum, castor beans, cotton, flax, hemp, tobacco and broom corn. Swine outnumbered cattle in livestock. (Information taken from Stafford County History: 1870-1990.)

We got done planting our 294 acres of corn on Saturday evening. We still have a small food plot to plant as a custom farming job, but we are at a pause because of about 0.60" of rain we've received over the past two nights. We are thankful for the moisture.