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Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Harvest Has Started!

Well, kind of.  With the summer reaping that the guys do (all the hay/oats we chop and/or bale), it seems like we've been harvesting for months...and we have!  But the harvest I'm talking about here is the corn harvest. 

Today (Tuesday, September 20), Josh and Loren began combining corn.  It seems like its a little early to be doing this (it is!), but there IS a logic behind their reasoning.  We not only use the corn grain, but we also use the left behind stalks in two different ways.  One way is to bale the stalk into big round bales to be stored and  used as bedding for the livestock when its super cold out this winter.  The corn stalk bedding puts a layer of protection between the animals and the frozen ground and also helps retain the heat it gathers as the animals lay on it.  To bale, the stalks have to be very dry so as not to mold, so its typically done later in the fall when its had time to air out. 

The stalks that are being harvested today is used for feed.  As soon as the combine has harvested the ear, a brush cutter (think of it as an industrial lawn mower for tough plants pulled behind a tractor) is ran over it to chop the long stalks left by the combine into smaller pieces that are more manageable.  Right behind the brush cutter are hay rakes that sweep the cut stalks into wind rows.  Just as soon as that job is done, the chopper (the same one that was posted about a couple time already this year) is used to chop the stalks that will be stored in an ag bag (already posted about) to be used for feed.  The fellas do all this as quickly as possible.

Why, you may ask, is speed the key?  Well, I'm glad you asked!  The whole reason they started combining already is that there has to be moisture in the stalk  for it to ferment (store) properly.  Usually, we let the corn get just as dry as it will in the field to prevent us from having to spend money on electricity and/or gas to dry it.  Corn that isn't dry to a certain percent level will mold in storage...and moldy corn is not good for much of anything!  So if the moisture percentage is too high, farmers have to blow air, either heated or not, on it through the bin to bring the moisture down to a storable level.  So combining wet(ish) corn early is sort of contradictory to our end goal.  However, we not only use the grain to feed but also the stalk, as already mentioned.  If we combine early and are able to reap the stalks with juice still in them, we have to blow air through the corn to dry it but we get the benefit of a whole new feed source of the stalk!  The idea is to combine when the kernel is dry enough to just need a little drying while the stalk is still wet enough to chop....  and that's today!  And the guys have to do all the combining, brush cutting, raking and chopping before the wind and sun dries our the cut stalk.  The end product is called corn stover, and will be blended in with the better quality haylage/corn silage this winter for cattle feed.

The kids and I weren't able to do any of the field work with Josh today, but I was able to get a picture of the action in the field when we when stopped by to take them coffee time:


Sarah Rose enjoying her cream filled cupcakes we made a few days ago.


If you look in the at the upper left hand side of the picture, you can see the combine working while on the right hand side of the picture is the tractor/brush cutter/rake set up working on the area just combined.  The rake set up is via the "Van Zante Modification" method we've become accustomed to here.  Josh and Loren have rigged up a way for them to mow and rake at the same time.  I'll post closer pictures of the set up later.


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