When I got up this morning, the rain had started to fall and it is obvious we will be out of the fields for the next few days. Last week we made tremendous progress on the fall harvest. We were able to cut soybeans seven days in a row and we only have 10% of the soybeans left to harvest. We were able to shell some corn the week before and we are very pleased with the yield performance we are seeing.
The soybeans yields have been very erratic. Our productive soils have performed at normal or above normal levels and the poorer soils have been a disappointment. The yield differences are a result of the replanting we had to do in June. The replanted soybean yields have been variable and the May-planted beans have been about normal. It is not a surprise that when you plant in June, conditions need to be ideal to achieve normal crop yields. We are also seeing the results of crop stress this year, which explains some of the variations in yield. We had severe water damage in early July and some areas did not recover from that. We are seeing it now on the yield monitor.
The corn crop is doing great. It has been a very pleasant surprise so far. Our average harvest moisture has been 20.5%. We have been very pleased with that, but what we have harvested has all been April-planted corn.
The weather has been absolutely wonderful and perfect for drying down the late-planted corn. We had concerns a month ago about whether the crop would make it to full physiological maturity but that concern has been eliminated and it will be at near normal harvest moisture levels.
If it does frost in the coming week it will be alright. Back in late August and September, early frost was a huge concern. I didn?t think the corn would make it but with the warm temperatures it has been ideal for the development of that late-planted corn and yields won?t be affected as much as I thought they could be.
The standability of the corn is going to be on a field-by-field case. Some of the April-planted corn definitely needs to be harvested but the later-planted corn stalk integrity is still intact and not a concern.
