2019 was an interesting year in our neck of the woods. It started out too wet to plant, and many corn acres had to be converted to soybean acres as it got too late to plant corn. Then, the season took a turn for the better, as we saw timely rains during the summer. Now your crops probably look pretty good if you managed them well in-season, but now we have one more hurdle to jump. Given the late planting that you most likely experienced, we now have to deal with a late harvest. A late harvest brings with it some unique issues that need to be addressed. In this article, we will discuss some things you should be aware of before the upcoming harvest season commences.
Corn Standability
Before you harvest your corn, you need to be sure that it can stand all the way until harvest. Some stalks and root systems may be weaker than usual due to non-ideal planting conditions. Now is the perfect time to start testing standability. One of the easiest ways to test corn standability is to use the push test. The push test is simply the manual bending of a corn stalk to about a 45-degree angle and seeing if it snaps or falls over. Test multiple plants in multiple areas of the field. If the majority of plants can withstand this test, then you should be fine to harvest with little worry of losing your yield due to plants falling over or snapping. If your fields are not doing so well with the push test, you may want to consider harvesting sooner while the corn is wetter. You may have to put a grain dryer to use, but you will be mitigating against the risk of losing a lot of your hard-earned yield through the snapping or falling over of corn in your fields.
Grain Storage
Hopefully you had good weather this year for a solid yield from your corn and soybeans. While this is certainly good, it provides a new concern in the form of grain storage. You would be wise this year to double-check and estimate about how much grain storage you have available. Also, you will want to go to your fields and conduct yield estimates for your corn and soybeans. You can find the method for estimating corn yields here and soybeans here. Keep in mind that there isn’t a totally accurate way to estimate soybean yield, but the method in the link provided will get you in the ballpark. Once you have your estimates made, compare that with your available storage. You may have to either sell some of what is stored to make room or haul grain straight from the field to a grain buyer.
Hybrid Selection
When checking the pre-harvest conditions of your crops this fall, keep in mind what hybrid you are looking at. Look for stalk quality, standability, root strength, and other health-related factors. Keep notes on what hybrids are showing specific weaknesses and strengths this time of the year. This will help you make your hybrid selection next year based on tests and data on your farm.
Conclusion
As we experience a late harvest this year, it is important to note the problems that come with that and to be ready for it. If you need help figuring out what to be looking for in your fields and want someone to walk you through it, Service and Supply has many experienced crop consultants ready to help. Also, Service and Supply offers a crop-scouting service that includes having a professional on your farm checking your fields from start to finish. Our crop scout can let you know of your crop’s late-season health, standability, or any problems you may not have time to locate yourself. Use one of the contact links below to speak with us and discuss our available services to help you prepare for a late harvest this fall.
