Harvesting dilemma

[farmaholic]

Lots of posts to many topics for early "SUNDAY" morning. Most Sundays there's more life in a morgue than there is here.

Anyway....

Forecast for this area looks like crap again later this week....again!
Push like the dickens to get "feed wheat" off? How tough? Who can afford to dry feed wheat at these prices?
We don't have alot of wheat left to take off but I would like it coming off the field dry.

I've always preached about not trusting a forecast. Well there is a wet trend in place and the trust is lost in forecasted dry days....opposite of last spring and early summer when the dry trend was in place and I had little faith in rain in the forecast.
Now when they forecast rain I believe there is a good possibility it's going to happen. Trends, we need this wet one broken to comfortably finish this harvest.

8 days left in September and it looks like half of them are a write off....October better be better and all bets are off for November, once the ground is frozen and it snows.....almost game over.

We are only about a third done. We are usually much further advanced for this date.
Brutal harvest weather.

[bucket]

There is a report you won't hear from saskag.

[furrowtickler]

Lots of posts to many topics for early "SUNDAY" morning. Most Sundays there's more life in a morgue than there is here.

Anyway....

Forecast for this area looks like crap again later this week....again!
Push like the dickens to get "feed wheat" off? How tough? Who can afford to dry feed wheat at these prices?
We don't have alot of wheat left to take off but I would like it coming off the field dry.

I've always preached about not trusting a forecast. Well there is a wet trend in place and the trust is lost in forecasted dry days....opposite of last spring and early summer when the dry trend was in place and I had little faith in rain in the forecast.
Now when they forecast rain I believe there is a good possibility it's going to happen. Trends, we need this wet one broken to comfortably finish this harvest.

8 days left in September and it looks like half of them are a write off....October better be better and all bets are off for November, once the ground is frozen and it snows.....almost game over.

We are only about a third done. We are usually much further advanced for this date.
Brutal harvest weather.

That’s about the same as everywhere right now
Very tough to make the “right” decision now.
I hate the fact of taking off tough down graded wheat as well , but it’s still standing and after last years flattened tough wheat , here the wheat will come off ASAP . Not going to ruin a swather and or combine on wheat that we will barely break even on as it is .
Going to do black beans first next two days, we can take them at 20 or less , then wheat as long as it’s under 18 . We have air and can add heaters if needed.
I am just praying I don’t have to get out of cab much and the header works smoothly.
Ground firmed up good yesterday.
Guys with dryers we’re going on wheat at 22 yesterday.

[GDR]

Haven't combined anything yet, half of my canola is swathed and was ready, other half still grass green, forecasting snow and freezing lows for the end of the week, highs of 3 degrees. I'm gonna knock the rest down to try and beat the frost thats the current harvest dilemma.

Barley is close or ready, wheat is coming but lots still would be damaged by frost.

On the bright side this weekend is about the nicest weather weve had in a long time, sun and 20 degrees.

[blackpowder]

Just finished peas. %15 done.
Swathing canola yet.
Dryest wheat was barely 19.
We're filling some bins to truck to the dryer later.
What do you want? Jam on it?

[jazz]

I got the durum covered. Sitting at 17 should go today and looks ok for a few days. I still have a #1 there just because it was so damn late to begin with. It liked that last soaker.

My canola is the bigger worry. 2deg here this am and good chances for frost by the weekends. Now or never to do something with it. about 25-35% still greeen plants in there. Going to give it glyphos and Heat and at least get it on its way. Hoping I dont abort too much yeild.

[farmaholic]

Then Lerner sends out an update that seems to have poor harvest weather arriving here sooner than Enviro Canada....

[Partners]

This bullshit weather sure takes the fun out of harvest.
All remember last yr so grain companies and saskag not going to cry wolf until they have to..
Amazing how weather forecasts are 100 percent correct at harvest?

[jazz]

Dad calls me on the cell yesterday as I was running a test. Says because of climate change we are going to have to gear up different, get more aeration etc. Just about choked on my sandwhich.

[farmaholic]

......so just let the shit lay there in a swath "hoping" to get it dry later!
But in the meantime it's losing more weight and possibly sprouting it even further down than the allowable tolerances for a # three?

[Hamloc]

Here in central Alberta the weather network has rain starting Thursday then snow flurries Friday through Sunday with lows of -2 and up to 5 cm of snow. Norway forecast model has a couple of tenths of rain on Thursday and snow beginning Saturday into Sunday capped off with lows of -4 on Monday. Either way the forecast is shit. My son and I are arguing over whether to swath all the wheat, digging all that flat wheat out of the dirt last year sucked. My thought is yesterday we combined a 40 acre field of barley we swathed 19 days ago. 3 o'clock tests 15.2, nice sunny day with a breeze away we went. Tested the sample pail when we were done, tested 15.6, fml. Thought it would dry down more as we went. So I am not that crazy about swathing it.

[jazz]

......so just let the shit lay there in a swath "hoping" to get it dry later!
But in the meantime it's losing more weight and possibly sprouting it even further down than the allowable tolerances for a # three?

There is a ton of standing durum around here in the same boat. Not sprouting yet but probably lost 2 grades and will be feed by the next rainfall event. Take it tough and stick it in bags? don't know what the solution is anymore. We haven't had a week of decent harvest weather yet.

[bucket]

This spring an older guy said we would just be going through the motions. ...next time I hear that.....the sprayer is making 2 passes and I am going to the lake....

No one gets paid properly to do this shit. ...

Can't buy anything over 14.5 ....well maybe they should invest in dryers instead of individual farmers....

If you have 200000 bushels to dry it's not a small investment...

[chuckChuck]

Dad calls me on the cell yesterday as I was running a test. Says because of climate change we are going to have to gear up different, get more aeration etc. Just about choked on my sandwhich.

I am surprised by the number of ordinary people who probably vote Conservative and don't like Trudeau who admit human caused climate change is real.

And your father is right. Farmers will have to adapt to more erratic weather, longer droughts, longer wet spells and longer heat waves, and bigger precipitation events.

Prairie weather is always erratic but the intensity and frequency of events is increasing.

[samhill]

Not if you’ve been here for 140 years.