View from the Cab: Short day, long harvest
Shorter days are here and winter isn’t far off. In fact, it feels like winter is already here with last week’s crazy weather.
I actually don’t mind the shorter days. It is light earlier in the morning and dark earlier at night, which means I can get to sleep much easier as I try to go to bed somewhat early in order to rise by 4:30 a.m. We did gain an hour of sleep over the weekend which I don’t mind at all. In fact, I am still trying to recover from that hour I lost last spring.
Days with limited sunlight remind me of sledding with the kids and having a snow ball fight in the front yard. It’s a time when we pause outside to watch the snow plow drive by and the cats jumping through the white stuff. Winter at our house also means hot chocolate and plenty of family memories being made indoors.
The shorter days aren’t bad when all of the fieldwork is wrapped-up for the season and we can simply plan for next year at the office desk. That’s not the case this year unfortunately, as we still have crops left to harvest in extremely soggy fields. I have a feeling the shorter days will not be on our side as drying time will be limited and the fieldwork window in general will continue to shorten.
Many thought last year was wild the way the weather took a turn for the worse after Thanksgiving, but that was nothing compared to this. There are still quite a few growers with corn standing out in the field and even soybeans in some places. Who knows when all of the beans will be cut. We could be waiting a while for just the right conditions.
Perhaps we should replace all of our tractor tires with tracks so we can get these crops out in a timely manner without tearing up a field in the process. Ruts the size of craters are possible this fall. You better have a decent tillage tool lined up for next spring.
There is a bit of hope for those farmers trying to finish up the season. The first day of winter is not until Sunday, Dec. 22 so we have a little extra daylight until then to get the work done. If all of the corn and beans are in the bin by Dec. 25, that would be one awesome present to all of us.
(The View from the Cab is powered by Petersen Motors of Fairbury)
