Friday Crop Report on a Thursday!

[sumdumguy]

How tall did it get?

[newguy]

How tall did it get?

8 feet.

[furrowtickler]

Woodland or furrow any experience with silage baling corn? I know Olds College had planned to do that a couple years ago and had a shorter variety that was really bushy and thick, I never heard how it turned out. Would like to try some corn but not sure I want to graze it.

Is it a must to use a planter or can a guy experiment with the drill?

I don’t have any experience with silage baling corn yet
It’s been kicked around by a few guys
The corn we cut is going to be baled here in a few days will be dry most likely. That’s what they wanted to do. Stocks still had a fair amount of moisture in them , we were surprised when they were swathed.
I will ask around if anyone has done silage corn bales.
I am sure someone has tried .
Maybe on an average year the corn too tall to swath ?
Was not an issue this year. Tallest was 6-7 ft in early August , but corn does shrink a lot this time of year .
We had our faba beans silage baled at around 65% moisture, then they haled them home and wrapped them . That worked very well but totally different plant of course

[woodland]

Woodland or furrow any experience with silage baling corn? I know Olds College had planned to do that a couple years ago and had a shorter variety that was really bushy and thick, I never heard how it turned out. Would like to try some corn but not sure I want to graze it.

Is it a must to use a planter or can a guy experiment with the drill?

Haven’t tried baling it. I imagine getting the air out with the coarse stalks and keeping the plastic from getting holes could be tricky. Never really looked a chopping baler but I thought the knives retracted for the last 6 inches so the bale would hang together?

We seeded a quarter once by by blocking 2/3 of the runs on a press drill and it did ok. I know of one guy who protills the stalks, floats the seed and fertilizer, and hits it again with a protill and is happy with it. Looks good from the highway at least.

When each seeds costs 1/4 of penny it kinda bothers me to see any on the surface. A drill should work fine as long as the meters don’t grind the seeds. I know nutrien up here has a little planter you can use but it’s on 30” rows and I think that’s too wide for us northerners. Our planter is on 22” rows and seems to canopy decently.

Get a few bags of seed and try it. We alternate long and short season varieties within the planter as a hedge with the weather. Sometimes moving critters into corn that have never seen it they get scared to go in it. Kinda comical to watch at times. Experimenting can be fun🍀

[BreadWinner]

How much fertilizer does it need Woodland?

[furrowtickler]

We have tried both 30 and 15 in rows , I know one guy with a 20in and I really like that set up
We found the 15in canopies in nice but not as good as cob development.
The 15 in rows if offset seed placement is good for heavy land in shorter CHU areas .

[LEP]

Haven’t tried baling it. I imagine getting the air out with the coarse stalks and keeping the plastic from getting holes could be tricky. Never really looked a chopping baler but I thought the knives retracted for the last 6 inches so the bale would hang together?

We seeded a quarter once by by blocking 2/3 of the runs on a press drill and it did ok. I know of one guy who protills the stalks, floats the seed and fertilizer, and hits it again with a protill and is happy with it. Looks good from the highway at least.

When each seeds costs 1/4 of penny it kinda bothers me to see any on the surface. A drill should work fine as long as the meters don’t grind the seeds. I know nutrien up here has a little planter you can use but it’s on 30” rows and I think that’s too wide for us northerners. Our planter is on 22” rows and seems to canopy decently.

Get a few bags of seed and try it. We alternate long and short season varieties within the planter as a hedge with the weather. Sometimes moving critters into corn that have never seen it they get scared to go in it. Kinda comical to watch at times. Experimenting can be fun🍀

My neighbor is a dealer and has a planter that goes with the seed. Says proper planting is critical for best results. Too close or double seeded results in no cobs on those stocks.

Cobs are what you want.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Hey……..
We got the exact same picker here. A bottle of rum is required after a day of “operating” the picker. 😎

Your rock picker operators are even younger than my rock picker operators. So I had to never considered trying to motivate them with a bottle of rum after a hard day's work. If it's working for your kids, then I will try that for now on.

[woodland]

How much fertilizer does it need Woodland?

Not really sure of the blend (my brother figures that out) but the fertilizer has run about $115/ac. Hopefully we can cut the rates back for next year since we usually put out on the high side and only what the cows take out with them gets removed. Usually seed runs about $85 or so. It’s nice to see the ground getting more tilth and fibre in it after a couple years.

[woodland]

Your rock picker operators are even younger than my rock picker operators. So I had to never considered trying to motivate them with a bottle of rum after a hard day's work. If it's working for your kids, then I will try that for now on.

I think ice cream is more appealing and appropriate for my picker apprentices…………..😉

This was from last year as we didn’t get around to picking any this year.


The littlest one was a swamper in the tractor. 🍀

[furrowtickler]

Enjoy the weather and thanksgiving weekend...




From this mornings drive

[furrowtickler]

It’s fairly obvious that even in tough times there are a few that still enjoy doing what we do even though we agree / disagree once in a while politically.
I have had a few good conversations with forage lately, we may disagree politically but at least can still carry a conversation on common topics . A few just simply can’t get past themselves ever here

[woodland]

Finished combining our “crapola” at midnight and that’s it for harvest ‘21😎

Now to finish drying it since it’s mushy and like 25%+ moisture. Starts heating in a day. Taking two passes through the dryer.

Now to get on with picking bales, disking, landscaping, getting the moo moos ready for corn, seeding some grass, and cleaning up/putting away our equipment. I know one neighbour is still going but otherwise I don’t know of anyone else out this way.

Definitely another fun crazy year. 🍀

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Finished combining our “crapola” at midnight and that’s it for harvest ‘21😎

Now to finish drying it since it’s mushy and like 25%+ moisture. Starts heating in a day. Taking two passes through the dryer.

Now to get on with picking bales, disking, landscaping, getting the moo moos ready for corn, seeding some grass, and cleaning up/putting away our equipment. I know one neighbour is still going but otherwise I don’t know of anyone else out this way.

Definitely another fun crazy year. 🍀

Congratulations on second place.
We quit combining canola when we couldn't find anything under 15% moisture. Still a few hundred acres left. With a decent forecast, standing crop, and expensive nat gas and electricity, I figure I will let mother nature freeze dry it down some more.

[woodland]

Congratulations on second place.
We quit combining canola when we couldn't find anything under 15% moisture. Still a few hundred acres left. With a decent forecast, standing crop, and expensive nat gas and electricity, I figure I will let mother nature freeze dry it down some more.

These last quarters didn’t come up till late June.

This was from July 12 and we were pretty sure it wouldn’t make it. The fact it ran in the teens for yield was surprising. Sample canola is worth $17 to the feed mill which is fine with me. Gas is way cheaper to me than leaving a crop out over winter. Currently raining lightly here while welding up cracks in the old feed truck.

We stop when the combine can no longer physically eat it. Sometimes it feels like your riding the space shuttle from all the rumbling and grumbling going on behind ya. 😎

Good luck AF5. Hopefully your weather window stays open. Far from ready for the big freeze here🍀