Late fall harvest requires more planning, management

By Nathan Winter
Extension Educator – Agricultural Productions Systems
McLeod/Meeker County
The most recent Minnesota Ag News – Crop Weather that is put out by the United States Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service indicates that there are continued harvest delays. You can find the most current report at http://www.nass.usda.gov. These harvest delays are obvious to the farmers and agricultural professionals, but also to those living in the rural areas that are used to seeing more work done by this time of year.

The Oct. 18 report indicates that the amount of corn harvested in Minnesota was at 3 percent compared to the five year average of 31 percent. The amount of soybeans harvested was at 34 percent compared to the five year average of 83 percent. These average numbers may be higher or lower depending on the local conditions in your area.

Some of the factors that have attributed to the lack of harvest progress include a cool dry summer that slowed crop development progress. Those factors, in addition to continuous October rains, have backed up the harvest timing considerably.

When weather conditions improve it is going to be imperative that many avenues are considered for getting the crop out of the field. In soybeans, looking for the best well drained fields should be taken into consideration as well as the specific varieties in case there is one that is lower in moisture than others.

The other consideration would be to look at harvesting corn first if that makes more sense with field conditions than soybeans. Looking at those field conditions as well as different varieties and their moisture will also be important.

Putting all of those considerations together is going to be important as well as realizing the facilities and equipment you have available to handle higher moisture soybeans and corn coming off the field. Does it make more sense for dockage at the elevator for soybeans if you are going to be doing more handling and moving for corn? Do you have the right facilities for higher moisture soybeans and corn than normal? What is the best way to handle the higher moisture grain and continue to get the most amount of grain out of the field while time allows? There are no easy answers to these questions because farmers have different fields, equipment, storage, and resources.

The best advice is to continually evaluate the situation to determine how to make the best plan and manage the situation at hand. Get out in the field and determine the field conditions and the moistures of the grain to be harvested. For future consideration try to do the best possible job you can to avoid compaction or excessive ruts through the field. Avoiding compaction and ruts will probably be impossible, but it is still a factor for the future crops potential.

Other factors that have to be addressed are to determine the best way to accomplish fall tillage and looking at your nitrogen applications for 2010. Is there time to adequately accomplishing fall nitrogen applications of urea or ammonia this fall? If you do apply, be sure to utilize products like N-Serve to help hold the nitrogen for spring. What is the best plan for spring if tillage is not accomplished and no fall fertilizer was applied?

It is obviously going to be a long fall, but planning and being prepared when conditions improve is going to be imperative to efficiently get the crop out of the field. No matter the situation be sure to plan for safety as well. A shorter harvest window pushes individuals to cut corners and one of those corners is safety. Always remember to plan, prepare, and practice safety in your daily work!