The Farming Thread

[Riles]

Why wasn't the corn harvested earlier?

Why would a farmer leave corn unharvested?

Because it's you, I will answer this from MY perspective since you said you specifically would like an answer to your first question.


There are many varieties of corn obviously and just as many uses. Corn left standing to dry is there either for:

Commercial use, which will be combined at a certain moisture content. A farmer will leave this kind of corn for as long as possible to reach maximum potential because drying corn is REALLY, REALLY expensive and eats into what little profit there is some years. On years like last year, where it was hard to get crops off due to wet conditions, farmers took some really big hits on drying costs, but at that point it becomes a coin toss as to whether it's worth it to harvest at all. Crop insurance thankfully steps in to cover the expenses, provided you haven't had a draw too many years in a row.

OR

It becomes anyones guess. But in reality I don't know of any farmer, that when fallen on hard times, cannot find either a neighbour to assist with harvest or sell the standing crop to a larger producer.

Here in Ontario, silage corn is just coming off around Sept/October and commerical corn much later in the season. It isn't uncommon to see corn left in fields over winter here. It becomes a case (in our instance last year) of too much ground to cover and not enough good weather to across it. The snow it and thankfully we had enough of it that it protected the stalks and didn't break them.

Hoped that helped answer your question.

 

[Killswitch]

I know you're an investor Try.

Do you own any fertilizer companies? Buy any commodities?

I try to watch the corn prices to scale growth and earnings of fertilizer manufacturers and also use them to know whether my fertilizer costs for business will be up or down.

Theres always a distinct correlation.

I've owned TNH, Potash, CF and others over the years. TNH has a nice yield.

 

[trysail]

Because it's you, I will answer this from MY perspective since you said you specifically would like an answer to your first question.


There are many varieties of corn obviously and just as many uses. Corn left standing to dry is there either for:

Commercial use, which will be combined at a certain moisture content. A farmer will leave this kind of corn for as long as possible to reach maximum potential because drying corn is REALLY, REALLY expensive and eats into what little profit there is some years. On years like last year, where it was hard to get crops off due to wet conditions, farmers took some really big hits on drying costs, but at that point it becomes a coin toss as to whether it's worth it to harvest at all. Crop insurance thankfully steps in to cover the expenses, provided you haven't had a draw too many years in a row.

OR

It becomes anyones guess. But in reality I don't know of any farmer, that when fallen on hard times, cannot find either a neighbour to assist with harvest or sell the standing crop to a larger producer.

Here in Ontario, silage corn is just coming off around Sept/October and commerical corn much later in the season. It isn't uncommon to see corn left in fields over winter here. It becomes a case (in our instance last year) of too much ground to cover and not enough good weather to across it. The snow it and thankfully we had enough of it that it protected the stalks and didn't break them.

Hoped that helped answer your question.

Thank you for a lengthy and well-informed reply.



​

 

[trysail]

I know you're an investor Try.

Do you own any fertilizer companies? Buy any commodities?

I try to watch the corn prices to scale growth and earnings of fertilizer manufacturers and also use them to know whether my fertilizer costs for business will be up or down.

Theres always a distinct correlation.

I've owned TNH, Potash, CF and others over the years. TNH has a nice yield.

As a very rough generality, I am more likely to avoid businesses with undifferentiated, commodity-like products.

I have never invested (and cannot imagine ever investing) in physical commodities. Owning an ephemeral contract with Hershey or Archer-Daniels-Midland on the other side does not fit my concept of intelligent risk-taking. They likely know the market far better than I ever will and they can actually use the cocoa beans or soybeans should delivery ever occur.

​

 

[trysail]

So, we're still seeking an answer from the Lit farmers to this question:
when are soybeans usually harvested?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4d/Soybean_flowers.png/200px-Soybean_flowers.png

P.S., the wikipedia has a nice table of nutrient contents of major staple foods, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soybean but I don't see any discussion of growing season or harvesting.

​

 

[trysail]

the attractive young man who runs the stall for the foraging company at the local farmers market, said the exact same thing.

It's a sobering thought, isn't it?


​

 

[dolf]

It's a sobering thought, isn't it?


​

i live in the country, eat the local meat i can see grazing when i look out my bedroom window, see the cereal crops growing either side of my drive, buy a lot of my veges from the farmers' market, sometimes bake my own bread, eat game i see being raised for the local shoot, or sometimes a lamb or duck raised in my beastie's garden.

most of the time i'm as divorced from the majority's food ignorance as they are from their food. living in a bubble.

 

[Riles]

So, we're still seeking an answer from the Lit farmers to this question:
when are soybeans usually harvested?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4d/Soybean_flowers.png/200px-Soybean_flowers.png

P.S., the wikipedia has a nice table of nutrient contents of major staple foods, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soybean but I don't see any discussion of growing season or harvesting.

​

Again, when they hit a moisture content.

It's all about drying.

 

[Riles]

I think it's between 12 to 15% if I can remember. A growing season is going to depend on where you are located and then the seed variety chosen according to the typical average heat units expected in a growing season.

 

[dolf]

I think it's between 12 to 15% if I can remember.

harvest was nerve wracking this year, i'm told.
lots of afternoon rain when the crops were ripe,
rain, for weeks on end, the tractors sitting idle.

 

[Riles]

harvest was nerve wracking this year, i'm told.
lots of afternoon rain when the crops were ripe,
rain, for weeks on end, the tractors sitting idle.

Here the problem was/is/will be not having a long enough growing season before the bad weather hits again. We have not had our typical heat this year and it has affected what's in our fields. Crops got in late because snow stuck around for a long time. Hay was hard to get cut and baled dry because we couldn't hardly get 3 days without rain in a row. The rest remains to be seen.

 

[glynndah]

So, we're still seeking an answer from the Lit farmers to this question:
when are soybeans usually harvested?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4d/Soybean_flowers.png/200px-Soybean_flowers.png

P.S., the wikipedia has a nice table of nutrient contents of major staple foods, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soybean but I don't see any discussion of growing season or harvesting.

​

The soybean field across the lane is still growing. When it's harvested, I'll let you know.

 

[Amberchgo]

Sex in the middle of a corn maze. That's my next bucket list item.

Thanks for helping all!

 

[BotanyBoy]

I think it's between 12 to 15% if I can remember. A growing season is going to depend on where you are located and then the seed variety chosen according to the typical average heat units expected in a growing season.

http://i.imgur.com/45WW0wy.gif

Also the only real way to tell if it's ready or not is to inspect the product....that's the real end all be all.

 

[doowdniw]

harvest was nerve wracking this year, i'm told.
lots of afternoon rain when the crops were ripe,
rain, for weeks on end, the tractors sitting idle.

For a farmer, rain is either a blessing or a curse. The farmers in West Texas who have been in a drought for the past several years wish for any rain at all at this point. Not quite dust bowl conditions, but pretty bad.

 

[dirtwrench]

Soybeans get harvested, as Riles said, when they are ready. Here in Iowa, I'm usually combining my soybeans end of September, beginning of October. The moisture content must be below 14% or the local elevator will put a charge on your load for drying cost.

The question about corn from much earlier is a similar answer. Around here, corn above 14.9% moisture gets a drying cost added on. However, my local elevator will let me unload into the "dry corn" pit at anything under 16.5%. They know at that moisture, it will blend and come out to the moisture content they need to safely store the grain. For me, corn harvest starts as soon as possible after soybeans. I am normally combining corn late October thru mid November.



It is nice to see people asking questions about farming, rather than just bitching about farmers. I thank you all for that.

 

[JohnnySavage]

Where I had dinner last Saturday:

http://i1136.photobucket.com/albums/n487/johnnysavage1/10649583_10154577417335245_5607437579619046746_n.jpg


http://i1136.photobucket.com/albums/n487/johnnysavage1/10592680_10154577373445245_8004756846347408427_n.jpg

 

[chillywilly2]

I see one lady there that should be skipping desert

 

[dirtwrench]

A place like that Johnny, you know the food is good. May not be all that good for you, but DAMN, it's gonna taste good.


I'm glad to see the Harvestore (blue silo) in the pic. The place I grew up on had two- one with a big American flag and the farm & family name on it.

 

[MichaelinChina]

I think there are some farmers around here.


Perhaps they would like a thread of their own. As for me, I'd like a place where I could occasionally throw a few questions in their direction.

In Australia they have the National Farmers Federation for farmers of either gender, to discuss issues, but you can bet it's a club for 'the man on the land'.

Country Women's Associations for the women to socialise, occasionally becoming political.

So, a question to farmers: Is there such a thing as a farmer's wife, not counting lesbian farming marital partnerships?

 

[MichaelinChina]

I see one lady there that should be skipping desert

Play Spot the Obese!
I can see half a dozen!

 

[JohnnySavage]

Yea, the Amish don't really spend a lot of time down at the Gold's Gym.

 

[MichaelinChina]

On a serious note, any forum that brings like minded people together, and after perusing the posts, I see a great deal of knowledge transfer happening - about harvest times, climate conditions, etc.

It's an unlikely site (Literotica) for hosting such trading of knowledge but hey, any port in a storm, if it succeeds in the differences among us becoming narrower.

Us? The farm V the non farm sector, the knowledgeable V the less knowledgeable, etc. on a huge range of issues including rural social problems and possible solutions.

It doesn't have to be the usual organisations that promote such knowledge transfer.
It can happen on a semi-porn site!

 

[MichaelinChina]

Yea, the Amish don't really spend a lot of time down at the Gold's Gym.

Amish diet probably is healthier, and thus less obesity, so no need.

 

[BotanyBoy]

Amish diet probably is healthier, and thus less obesity, so no need.

Not to mention I bet none of them spend all day sitting on their ass like a bunch of cubical jockeys.