Ben Klick, Stark County
We are finally getting some long overdue rain. We got two inches yesterday. We got just shy of 300 acres of beans off. We parked the combine at the end of last week and switched over to spread fertilizer, work ground and we got all of the wheat and barley planted just in time for that nice rain shower. It was a million dollar rain two months too late. Now it looks like we?ll get a little heat this week.
We started harvest Sept. 28 cutting beans. We cut for a while then quit to grind feed. We got a good start on the first early beans. The beans were very dry ? 8% or 8.5% across the board. Even with the draper head we were still getting some shatter. Yield wise, we have beans that should have been 70 bushels and they were 50. The top pods were not there. They weren?t filled out.
In talking to others around here, I don?t feel too bad about our bean averages compared to everyone else. We planted beans late because it was wet and we didn?t get the late moisture for them. We?ve been seeing a range but mostly around 50 bushels.
Before this last rain, the last substantial rain we had was the middle of August. We had the wettest July and the driest September on record here. I heard they dug a grave in town and had to go three or four feet down until he hit moisture in the ground.
There are some around here who are ahead of us with harvest, but most everyone around here has been getting after it. A couple of guys have switched over to corn. I have heard some better yields with corn. We may start shelling corn here in the middle of the week when things dry out. We need some corn for feed. As dry as it was, the ground is a little tacky after two inches of rain. It is not even sticking to my shoes.
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