Corn at harvest time is not that pretty. Someone may revoke my farm wife license for saying that. But it's the truth, at least for me.
I think wheat is beautiful at pretty much every stage of its 9-month journey. And at harvest? Well, those "amber waves of grain" actually made it into a pretty famous song, so I'm not alone in my appreciation for a prairie "seascape" of wheat rustling in the hot Kansas wind under an azure blue sky.
Corn on the other hand? Well, it's dried up. So are the stalks where the corn grew. It's a sea of dry brownness. No wonder they didn't make up a song about that.
So I'm always looking for a different way to show the beauty of corn harvest. Having all those golden kernels pile up in the combine's grain tank behind you is kind of pretty ... even through dirty glass.
My favorite farmer loves being in the combine, so that makes for a pretty picture, too.
We started corn harvest September 4. After some rain delays, we finished on Monday, September 24. This year, we had 280 acres of corn, a little less than last year.
Since we are an all dryland farm, wheat
remains our primary crop.
This year, we had a high of 107 bushels per acre and a low of 60. The overall average was 82 bushels per acre. Randy says one-third of the crop was great and the rest was OK. It all depended on when and where the rain fell this summer and the timing for 100-degree days.
All the corn was No. 1 quality. It was a good test weight and dry.
How does Corn Harvest 2018 stack up with previous years' averages?
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).
When you reach the end of a season, it's always good to look back to where you've been. To read more about each stage, click on the links below the photos:
We started
planting corn April 24.
Some of the corn was emerging in early May.
On June 26, it was almost chest height on Randy. This year's variety was a
little shorter to begin with, but it was also stressed with heat and
lack of moisture as it started to grow.
By late June, some was starting to form ears.
I took the
next photo updates on July 16.
There's always harvest drama of some sort. This time, soggy ground led to some
sticky situations.
But, we eventually, got the job done.
Next up? It's time to plant wheat. We plan to get started today.
