Getting Things Wrapped Up

“I’m Ready To Get This Year Wrapped Up”

Trent Brandenburg wants to complete his soybean harvest and fall tillage to complete the outdoor part of this crop year. Marketing decisions and work on his implements in the machine shed continue all winter.

Trent is about a quarter done with his soybean harvest, with yields averaging 50-60 bushels per acre. Much of the crop has been too green to harvest, plus the much-needed fall rains have improved pod fill (the beans getting bigger in their pods) for increased yield. The killing frost before daybreak on Monday October 8 has stopped any further growth and made the stems of the bean plants softer and thus easier to combine. Trent does not anticipate much progress this week with rain forecast for most days.

Trent has completed his corn harvest with an average yield of about 125 bushels per acre. This is far below the yield of some recent crop years, but a still a crop size that would have been thought good not too many years ago. Most fall tillage on Trent’s farm ground was completed before the recent spate of rains. The freshly-tilled soil was thus able to absorb the rainfall better to help replace soil moisture lost in this year’s record drought.