The Sun Sets on Corn Harvest

The sun has set on the County Line's 2014 corn harvest. What would harvest be without a little drama at the end?

 

As I arrived to bring supper to the field Tuesday evening, storm clouds floated on the horizon. We were on the final field, and Randy was hoping to get harvest finished before it rained.

After supper,  I climbed into the combine cab to take a final ride for the year. We got about 200 yards when there was an ominous clanking. The combine had a problem. Thankfully, I was already there in a pickup, so we drove back to the farm for tools.

As always, I offered to "hold stuff" during the repair, since that's about the extent of my mechanical ability. My offer was politely declined, so I did what I always do: I took photos. You might as well find the silver lining. In this case, the silver lining was right there in the western sky, though the peace and tranquility may have been somewhat shattered with the blast-furnace wind howling from the south and the clanging and muttering going on at the combine header.

The guys finally got the offending part removed, and Randy determined he could run without it. He filled both trucks, but, since the co-op was closed, he couldn't finish the field.

We got 0.10" of rain overnight, but Randy was able to finish Corn Harvest 2014 Wednesday afternoon. This was only our second year to raise corn on The County Line, so we are admittedly novices. Last year, during a drought, our overall average was 57 bushels per acre, with a low of 18 bushels per acre on rented ground that is primarily used for hunting.

This year, with good and timely rains, the overall average was 108 bushels per acre, all on dryland fields. We had a high of 145 bu/acre and a low of 82 bu/acre.  We know others who've had higher bushel totals for the year, but we are thankful for a good harvest.

And now here's a photographic recap of of 2014 corn crop:(Click on the blue links under each photo to read more about each stage of the corn life cycle.)

We began the journey in April with planting.

 Emergence

I used my human measuring stick throughout the five-month journey.

May

June

 

July

Another season comes to a close on The County Line. Today, it's time for a trip to the Kansas State Fair. I think I'll take a jacket - and that's a good thing!

Where's Randy?

When the kids were little, we had a "Where's Waldo?" book. You wouldn't think it would be that hard to find a bespectacled guy in a red and white striped shirt that kind of looks like a circus tent. But on many of the pages, it would take awhile to discover where Waldo was hiding in the brightly-colored scene.

I know the feeling in real life now. It's a good thing I was following Randy into the corn field. I'd never have found him otherwise.

July 2, 2014

It had been 13 days - and another 3.5 inches of rain - since the last update photo June 19.  (Click here for previous photos with my human measuring stick.)

June 19, 2014

Once I found him, he was all smiles. And it's no wonder. Many of the corn stalks have three ears of corn.

More ears, more grain - or so we hope!

The silks on the ears are turning brown, which signals the plant is pollinating. (Thanks to fellow Kansas blogger Nicole at Tales from a Kansas Farm Mom for finding the link about corn pollination.)

The corn has a well-established root system, helping to keep it upright. There are roots in the soil, but there are also what are called "brace roots," which help keep the stalk from falling over. According to an article from Purdue University, the brace roots enter the soil some distance away from the stalk, so have a better angle from which to brace the plant. 

While the wheat crop hasn't been all that great this year, it's fun to dream about a good corn crop. But, as always, there is a lot of time between planting and harvest.

We Now Interrupt This Program

"We now interrupt our regularly scheduled program." Remember hearing those words as you were watching your favorite television show as a kid? It always seemed like it was at a crucial moment. You know, like wondering, "Will the Coyote finally catch the Road Runner? And I'm going to miss it because the president needs to tell us something?"

In some ways, you feel like that when there's a rain during wheat harvest. We got 0.70" of rain here at home yesterday evening, where we were cutting wheat. We'll see if we got more or less at other locations where we still have wheat to cut. (We are nowhere close to being done.)

Earlier in the day, the clouds dotted a bright blue sky and made for a beautiful Sunday afternoon ride.

 

The sky provided a picturesque backdrop as we approached the Zenith branch of the Kanza Co-op to take a load of wheat.

But, by 6:30 or so, Randy was racing to get as much cut as he could before the skies opened up.

It sure made for a pretty backdrop for the golden wheat. You have to look at the bright side, right?

Even more importantly, the rain gave the corn a good drink of water at just the right time. Some of the corn is tasseling. The rain and the cooler temperatures forecast for the beginning of this week should make for good growing conditions for the corn and for the alfalfa.

Equal Time

Our photo shoot in the corn field across the road yesterday had this funny outtake. My human measuring stick was trying to keep the airplane-sized mosquitoes off his face. This blooper made me laugh, in spite of the pesky dive-bombers. 

Wheat is grabbing all the headlines, crowding out the attention like an older sibling suffering through the baby's birthday party.  But wheat is our major crop, and harvest is the culmination of nine months of growing. So far, the yields have been between 12 and 35 bushels to the acre. Test weights have been averaging 59 pounds per bushel. After our best crop ever last year, it's a reality check. It just illustrates the unpredictable life on a farm. We are impacted by factors over which we have no control, like the weather.

While we've been busy elsewhere, the corn crop has taken off like a junior high boy outgrowing his tennis shoes. I decided it was time for a growth chart check. You know the ones:  You line the kid up with heels firmly squished against the wall. You make sure he's not standing on tiptoes. You line up the book on top of his head. You have the pencil locked and loaded to record the height milestone on the door frame. You ooh and ahh over how much he's grown. 

The corn is growing faster than any toddler at the moment. We took these photos yesterday while we were waiting on the wheat to dry out. We didn't get any measurable precipitation yesterday. It was just a sprinkle, along with overcast skies and humidity.

Compare yesterday's pictures (above) to the photo from June 6, two weeks ago. Pretty amazing, right? My human measuring stick is about to get surpassed in height.

The photo below was taken on May 28, less than a month ago.

Now, it's nearing the tasseling stage.

It evidently is an all-service buffet for the deer around here, too. They seem to have bellied up to the corn bar.

The rains we've had during the past two weeks have been just what the farmer ordered for the corn crop. It's also good for the alfalfa.

After I delivered supper last evening, Randy took a brief time out from the combine to check the hay. It was dry enough to rake together two windrows this morning. Baling may come after he gets off the combine tonight. Meet my husband, the multi-tasker.

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I'm linked to the Country Fair Blog Hop hosted by Tales of a Kansas Farm Mom, Dirt Road Charm and High Heels and Shot Gun Shells and Country Linked. Click on the links to check out their blogs. 

Like a Sponge

If you stand in the corn field, you can almost hear the plants slurping water.

You can practically see it grow, too. Here at home, we've gotten 3.20 inches of rain in the past 30 hours or so. That's on top of the 2.20 inches we got Friday night. (A caveat: North of Stafford, we've had only 2.5 inches total from Friday through this morning.)

The photo directly above was taken on May 28. The first photo in this post was taken last Friday. Today, I'm leaving for Lincoln, Nebraska, for the Great Plains Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. With some sunshine and this much-needed, soaking rain, I expect that my human measuring stick will be even more covered up by green corn when I get back.

The rain and cooler temperatures put the brakes on wheat harvest, which is good. I have been worrying about what I'd do if I was in Lincoln when it was time to cut wheat.

We are thankful for the rain. It's too late to help wheat yields, but it's great for the corn crop, alfalfa and our pastures.

Growth Spurt

There's a song from the musical "Oklahoma!" that claims: "The corn is as high as an elephant's eye."

Well, we aren't there yet, but the little bit of rain we got last Sunday morning gave enough of a growth spurt to rival a kindergartener outgrowing his gym shoes. Depending on the location, we got between 0.50" to 0.80" of rain. It didn't come close to the 2.5 to 3.0 inch "forecast" the weather guys were predicting in Central Kansas prior to last weekend, but every little bit helps.

A month ago, the corn plants were just starting to emerge.

Photos from blog dated April 29, 2014

There's a corn field across the road from where I pull out of our north drive. I actually did a double take earlier this week. It really was like it grew overnight.

The rain gave the corn a boost. But the moisture also gave a foothold to weeds. Randy had the Kanza Co-op spray the corn with Round-Up on Wednesday to knock back the weeds.

We would like to schedule some more rain. If only it worked that way!