View from the Cab: Harvest thankfulness

By Kent Casson

Just when it seemed harvest’s end could not get here soon enough, it is gone like that.

Now we are weeks removed from the combine cab and the equipment is being cleaned while the final fall work is taking place on the farm before we embark on another season.

I am thankful we had good yields and a smooth fall season overall aside from a couple of minor mechanical issues. There were no major breakdowns and we worked hard for many days in a row to bring in the crops. I believe we started harvest around September 20 and kept going until October 29 like a well-oiled machine.

In a little over a month’s time, we made it across all of our acres with minimal rain delays. A few sprinkles in early October barely stopped us and we kept rolling. The biggest challenge at first was getting cornfields to dry down then things almost got too dry – not only from a moisture percentage standpoint but from a fire safety standpoint as well.

While there were field fires left and right on some of the windiest and warmest days, we were fortunate to not have anything ignite on the combine or out in the field. Nothing is worse than a combine fire, which is why that thought was in the back of our heads for much of October.

Soybean cutting went well, although a little higher moisture content would have been good. There were days when the moisture reading would dip to nine percent which isn’t good for beans. That means you are pretty much losing money out in the field. We may have gained a point or two at the end of soybean harvest but it wasn’t a whole lot better. I heard stories of growers taking out beans as low as seven percent on some of those hot, dry days!

While harvest has been completed, I am still playing catch-up with my other work stuff which never ends. Piles of papers on the desk wait for me each day, messages keep coming into the phone and the e-mail inbox never stays empty. Busy is good, I guess.

Now plans are being made for the next season like what kind of seed to purchase for what field, the types of chemical programs to use and fertilizer and fertility plans for the coming year. Perhaps input prices will come down a little and commodity prices will rise. A little wishful thinking never hurt anyone.

There is plenty to be thankful for in this season of Thanksgiving. Let’s all remember that while passing around the pumpkin pie and taking in the football games.

My attention turns to the hardwood as we will be covering local sports nonstop on the Casson Media High School Sports Network.