Corn

[mngoosehunter]

When do you think the corn will start to come down? I know up north some of it is still green so im thinking 3 weeks or so. Havent been down south and I was just wondering what you all think about the corn down there? I heard down in south eastern Mn some were going to start cutting today.. probably just a little for cows? Thanks

[bassNspear]

from what i have heard from other farmers, its about a month behind right now.

[SORNO]

My renter plans to take the corn in the middle of next week if it stops raining. He runs a lot of land thou so he needs to take it if it isn't quite ready yet.

[mrklean]

In southern MN my dad said if there is no rain its next week, its pretty dry about 20%

[Dave S]

My cousins run approx 3500 acres and started taking corn out almost 2 weeks ago.

[Shoot2Kill]

Here's another question for you guys related to the fields. I live south of St Cloud and it seems that nearly every farmer chisel plows every single one of their fields within a day or two of harvesting it - whether it's corn or beans. The corn came off the field behind my house yesterday and this morning they were out chisel plowing it already. I know they're not into farming to feed the wildlife, but chisel plowing everything in sight leaves very little if any food left for deer, phesants, etc and there is nothing better than hunting next to picked corn fields in the fall - IMO.

So my question - why are all of these fields chisel plowed in the fall when they do it again in the spring? I'm originally from Iowa where I hardly ever saw a field turned over in the fall.

[BLACKJACK]

Here in Kandiyohi county, the people that have livestock have already chopped lots of corn. Still lots of soybeans in the field, they'll work on that first. I did see some corn being picked yesterday. The good thing is that nowadays with the big equipment it doens't take them long, the big farmers will pull in with 2 combines and semi's and an 80 will be gone in a day. The flip side is that with the high cost of fuel for drying, they may leave it longer in the field, hope for a freeze and some drying weather.

The good news is that there will be lots of birds for later in the season!! I actually think its a good thing to have a delayed harvest, its not such a slaughter early.

[Shoot2Kill]

The good news is that there will be lots of birds for later in the season!! I actually think its a good thing to have a delayed harvest, its not such a slaughter early.

Exactly. Late season should be excellent.

[fishermatt]

Here in north central MN there is some corn being chopped for silage, but there probably won't be any combining done til after rifle season unless we get a hard freeze and then some good sunny weather.

[SORNO]

Here's another question for you guys related to the fields. I live south of St Cloud and it seems that nearly every farmer chisel plows every single one of their fields within a day or two of harvesting it - whether it's corn or beans. The corn came off the field behind my house yesterday and this morning they were out chisel plowing it already. I know they're not into farming to feed the wildlife, but chisel plowing everything in sight leaves very little if any food left for deer, phesants, etc and there is nothing better than hunting next to picked corn fields in the fall - IMO.

So my question - why are all of these fields chisel plowed in the fall when they do it again in the spring? I'm originally from Iowa where I hardly ever saw a field turned over in the fall.

I am in the south central part of the state and there are a lot of framers, including my renter, that does No Till soybeans. I would say 50% or more of the corn flieds around me within 15 miles are standing corn stalks all winter long. I never understood why they couldn't wait until string or even wait until all the crops were out before they plowed.

[mrklean]

You dont plow in the spring you dig, thats pretty much turn the top soil over so you can get ready to plant. In the fall you plow to turn everything over, get the roots turned over. They plow right away because its a time thing, get everything done ASAP because you never know when the snow will come and you will be stuck with untilled fields. Many farmers have teams so one team does harvest the other does the tilling, so they harvest a field then the other guys come right behind and till them up.

[Dotch]

Someone alluded to the "team" concept and that's sort of how fall tillage works only around here on the mid-size and smaller operations, it usually involves having people hanging around with free time on their hands who love driving tractor. The fall tillage is known as "primary tillage". It is usually accomplished with a moldboard plow, a disk-chisel or ripper combination, a v-ripper, in some cases an in-line ripper. The purpose for this is to eliminate some of the residue on the surface to allow the soil to dry out and warm up faster in the spring. Getting it done closely behind the combine as someone mentioned is a plus because it's done before conditions deteriorate as they frequently do later in the fall. P & K fertilizer can incorporated at this time and the field is put to bed for the season and ready for secondary tillage in the spring when the ground is fit. Early planting is crucial to high yielding corn, high yielding corn pays more bills. That said, it the field is going into soybeans the following season, standing stalks or reducing tillage is an option as the planting date is not as critical. No till soybeans however have received mixed reviews especially in parts of SC MN and this fall has been no exception. Questions about yield, harvest date as well as soybean aphid behavior remain. Moldboard plowing cornstalks to plant soybeans the following year, especially now with the cost of fuel probably doesn't create a very good return on your tillage $. Secondary tillage is performed in the spring with a digger or soil finisher. This prepares the seedbed for the crop, whether it be corn or conventional soybeans.

Oh yeah, almost forgot, corn moistures in SC MN are all over the board. Later maturing and later planted hybrids are still carrying a lot of moisture, in the mid to upper 20's yet. In areas where stalk rot set in early and caused premature plant death, some of that is being harvested and put right in the bin. The area from about Waldorf to Amboy contains many fields where this occurred. This is more the exception and not the rule across SC MN however. With the days getting shorter and temperatures becoming cooler, the chances of getting much help from Mother Nature to dry this crop down further in the field are becoming slim. Yields in the non-stalk rot areas are trending above expectations so far. Translation: With wet corn and above expected yields, it likely will be a more drawn out affair waiting for the corn to come off than it has been in many years.

[mrklean]

Are you a farmer Dotch?

[Dotch]

On the side. I work with ~ 150 farmers as a part of my profession.

[mrklean]

icic

[1900_LE]

Hey what do you guys consider to be "late season"? We're thinking about coming up that way to hunt my uncle's farm in Blue Earth co. Was thinking about over Thanksgiving.

[Dave S]

My relatives switched from chisel plowing to using a mold board plow to bury the stalks. They get better decomposition by spring and higher yeilds in the fall. Other wise there's too much waste on the top soil that affects the spring planting.

Plowing immediately after harvest also promotes more moisture absorbtion (snow) in the winter time vs. having a flat compacted topsoil for the snow to blow of.

[First Ice-Mike]

In West Central Minnesota it will be close to Thanksgiving before the corn is out. I just checked some this morning and it was still over 30% moisture. With LP prices the way they are farmers aren't going to start until they have to.

FI

[so haaad]

Here in Kandiyohi county...The flip side is that with the high cost of fuel for drying, they may leave it longer in the field, hope for a freeze and some drying weather.

The good news is that there will be lots of birds for later in the season!! I actually think its a good thing to have a delayed harvest, its not such a slaughter early.

Yes and yes. The corn may be out there longer than usual this year, and the late season pheasant and deer hunting should be pretty good!

[carpshooterdeluxe]

guys that contracted lp at a "decent" price are taking corn out now and doing some drying. our renter will be taking his corn off next week or the following week, depending if they move north or south. they farm close to 5000 acres and are still in the process of finishing beets and beans. some guys switched over to corn last weekend because it was too wet for beans, but mostly just to open up the head lands and take some moisture samples. i did see a few quarters around sioux falls here tonight that were down and black already that were unharvested on monday.

[Shoot2Kill]

Someone alluded to the "team" concept and that's sort of how fall tillage works only around here on the mid-size and smaller operations, it usually involves having people hanging around with free time on their hands who love driving tractor. The fall tillage is known as "primary tillage". It is usually accomplished with a moldboard plow, a disk-chisel or ripper combination, a v-ripper, in some cases an in-line ripper. The purpose for this is to eliminate some of the residue on the surface to allow the soil to dry out and warm up faster in the spring. Getting it done closely behind the combine as someone mentioned is a plus because it's done before conditions deteriorate as they frequently do later in the fall. P & K fertilizer can incorporated at this time and the field is put to bed for the season and ready for secondary tillage in the spring when the ground is fit. Early planting is crucial to high yielding corn, high yielding corn pays more bills. That said, it the field is going into soybeans the following season, standing stalks or reducing tillage is an option as the planting date is not as critical. No till soybeans however have received mixed reviews especially in parts of SC MN and this fall has been no exception. Questions about yield, harvest date as well as soybean aphid behavior remain. Moldboard plowing cornstalks to plant soybeans the following year, especially now with the cost of fuel probably doesn't create a very good return on your tillage $. Secondary tillage is performed in the spring with a digger or soil finisher. This prepares the seedbed for the crop, whether it be corn or conventional soybeans.

Oh yeah, almost forgot, corn moistures in SC MN are all over the board. Later maturing and later planted hybrids are still carrying a lot of moisture, in the mid to upper 20's yet. In areas where stalk rot set in early and caused premature plant death, some of that is being harvested and put right in the bin. The area from about Waldorf to Amboy contains many fields where this occurred. This is more the exception and not the rule across SC MN however. With the days getting shorter and temperatures becoming cooler, the chances of getting much help from Mother Nature to dry this crop down further in the field are becoming slim. Yields in the non-stalk rot areas are trending above expectations so far. Translation: With wet corn and above expected yields, it likely will be a more drawn out affair waiting for the corn to come off than it has been in many years.

Holy cow - thank you very much for that explanation.

It makes sense I guess, it's just frustrating because the food source for wildlife, while still there to a point, is very much decreased when the field is turned up. I know the farmers aren't into it for feeding deer and pheasants to increase my hunting - a guy could hope right?

[Dotch]

Well, don't totally give up hope just yet. I've always been a fan of integrated tillage systems rather than a single system approach. Including zone tillage where only a narrow band is tilled and the rest remains untouched on some acres may be more to everyone's liking, especially if crop input costs remain as high as they are.

On the flip side as things are presently, it makes food plots planted or left for wildlife that much more important. The amount of pheasnt traffic over the winter between my neighbors corn food plot and my smaller more diverse plot last year was simply amazing. I had corn in my plot too but they didn't touch it. They were preoccupied with the semi-dwarf sunflowers and nary a volunteer sunflower was found this spring after working it down. They're back again already this fall.

Best wishes and luck to you this fall!

[vexi]

here in wc minnesota we just started corn this last wed. We did find some dryer corn and were able to finish some feilds. The good news is there were many birds in the corn feilds, like I lost count in the one feild. The bad news is I'm quessing that most of the corn wont come out until the middle to end of nov.

[graingrower]

I attempted to combine some corn on Thursday 10-18, but the moisture was way too high to continue. The monitor indicated levels in excess of 40% in some places. Under good conditions, corn can dry .5%/day; at that rate there will be considerable acreage standing a month from now. Even the soybean stems were too tough to cut and the grain moisture was above 14%. Most of the corn in this area was planted prior to May 15, but rain delayed bean planting through the end of June. Today was the best harvest day of the week as I combined nearly 80 acres of soybeans! Wagon loads were unloaded by just after dark as sprinkle showers are forecast; time for supper.

[spearman]

you would be surprised how much corn is left on top after fall tillage its more than you think. plus birds kind of search fields when there out and can remember where the corn is when it starts to snow there smart enough to leave the big statsh till they need it. as far as gas goes its down to 1.63 to think i almost contacted it fo over 2.00 in afield today thats around 23% lots of birds in the corn.