Another nice week of harvest weather. I had a hoar frost rain marked for Sept. 17-18. The moon was not tipped according to father-in-law Bob Polinsky), so we got no rain, but we did get some cool weather. We didn't need the rain just right now, but the weather was very close to freezing. We don't need a killing frost right now either. I don't think it would do much damage as the plants are dead ripe or almost. The biggest problem would be in the minds of the elevator agents who will now see frost damage even in the stuff already binned.
The guys are really combining up a storm. Long hours, day after day. One guy I know is working from seven in the morning until midnight. He thought a little rain break right now would be all right. Tired people make mistakes, so it's fine to get the crop off, but everyone needs to be really careful. The crop is good but it can't buy an arm or a leg or a life.
This crop is going to go down as a record high yield and high grade. Coffee shop talk is 40 and 50 bushels per acre for wheat. This year when the guys put in the groceries they got rewarded. This is not always the case. Some years, guys spent the money and the devil stomps on them. I really hated that when that happened.
The input cost for a crop now a days is unbelievable to those who do not farm. They only see the big yields. Big yields come at a cost! Guys are spending up to $100 an acre. If you have two or three or five thousand acres, just do the math! Gambling at the casino is chump change. The worst part is if you have a wreck the crop can be worth less than you spent to grow it.
Most people are spraying Roundup to desiccate and then straight cutting the wheat. This is a high water mark year. It is not many years when we get both high yields and good grades. Hurry hard fellas, this weather may not last!
Most of the canola is swathed with heavy looking swaths. Some is off but most is just waiting for the guys to finish combining wheat. A little curing out is never a bad thing on canola. There has been more than once guys got going on canola that tested dry but was not cured. There is nothing more sickening than a canola bin heating. You work all year and then it heats on you. Your crop is worth nothing. Leave it out there for a little longer. Better in the field curing a few more days than heating in the bin.
Personally my theory was combine it, haul it to the elevator, as it dumped, holler, "Sell!" Then take your money and run. If it heats on the next guy it can't hurt you any more. It's not yours any more!
There are some monstrous oats and barley crops out there. For the most part they were seeded late but did they ever produce. A lot is lodging, making swathing slow going. There will be a multitude of sections and guards bought. These crops are slowly getting swathed, but even when it is swathed it will be very slow to combine. If there are any damp nights or foggy mornings, the combines will be moving slower than ever and some of the big boys will be plug-der than plugged. It takes a good operator to judge just how much to feed in the machine and not plug. Patience is a rare commodity for combine operators, but get a little rammy and you not only get plugged, but with all that horse power, stuff will get broke.
Good harvest to all.
My wife Beverly and I travelled to Sherwood Park to see her sister. Bev has this navigation aid on her phone. A voice comes on and says turn right or left, so many metres to your turn, etc. I am just amazed that a little phone can do all that. I was snickering to myself as we drove along as I was thinking that it was just like having a car full of kids going to grandma's place. Little voices saying turn here, turn there. At least with the phone it didn't repeatedly say "Are we there yet?" Technology is amazing when it works!
Joke of the week: This is the cleanest joke Neil Bettcher knows. A magician and a parrot had an act on a cruise ship. The magician with a slight of hand would hide a coin but the parrot kept blowing the act as he would call out "It's up his sleeve or it's in his hat." Then one day, there was an explosion in the engine room and the ship sank. The only survivors were the magician and the parrot. They are floating along on some driftwood and the parrot is looking and looking at the magician. Finally after three days the parrot says "Okay, where did you hide the cruise ship?"
