By Pamela Smith
Soybeans call shotgun on Chandra and Mike Langseth's harvest schedule. The Barney, North Dakota, farmers almost always start the harvest season with soybeans and follow with corn.
This week, some 600 miles to the south, Tina, Missouri, farmer Zachary (Zach) Grossman was preparing to swap out the corn head and take the first swipes at soybeans. He's not finished with corn and was hoping to have a bit more in the tank before switching to beans, but that's not the way the crop is drying down this year.
There's no hard-and-fast rule about what crop gets harvested first. In general, it has more to do with it being ready. But when there's a coin toss, soybeans are more prone to harvest losses, noted Mike Langseth. "Or, said another way, corn can hold in the field longer. We don't have a real big harvest window in this part of the world, so soybeans generally get priority."
The Langseths and Grossman have been reporting in this season as part of DTN's View From the Cab series. The diary-like feature covers crop conditions and other aspects of rural living. This is their 21st article and much like the rest of the season, rainfall -- or lack of it -- continues to be a theme.
"Dad likes to say that we got a 2-inch rain," Mike said. "Two inches between the drops." DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick said both areas could see showers during the weekend, but the system has some erratic movement to it. "Models are still unsure about where it will go next week, but for the most part, it will be leaving the Western Corn Belt drier this week.
"Another front will try to move into the Northern Plains late next week and that could produce some rain in Barney, but again, not a huge chance or confidence in that. If we can trust the long-range forecast, we might be looking at better storm, and rainfall chances, during the second half of October," he said.
Read on to learn how harvest prospects are shaping up for the two farms, why soil testing goes beyond the need to assess fertility needs for 2024 and efforts to make harvest more efficient through improvements.
ZACHARY GROSSMAN: TINA, MISSOURI
If Grossman could order a 1-to-2-inch rain, he'd do it and not give a second thought to the fact that it is harvest time. "It wouldn't slow us down long. We're dry enough a rain would soak right in and it would sure help our pastures," he said.
Ironically, despite the dry soil moisture conditions, low humidity and some 80-plus temperatures of late, the corn crop has been slow to dry down.
"We keep opening fields that are teetering at or just below 20% and then, find ourselves backing out because the corn is just a little too wet. We've been able to keep moving by jumping from field-to-field," Grossman said. "But it has been hard to find whole fields dry enough."
Although the corn crop was drought-stressed during the season, plant health remained relatively good. When the area received 12-inches of rain in a two-week span in early August, he wondered if it caused the plant to mature differently. "It's been a big topic of conversation locally that despite good drying weather, corn is not drying down like you might expect," he reported.
Grossman farms with his father, Curt, and brother, Trent. "Our running total average yield on the acres we've shelled so far is falling somewhere between 150-to-160 bushel per acre (bpa). "We've already seen a 100-bpa yield swing from our worst field to our best field and those variabilities are directly related to soil type," he said.
"But our best corn is yet to come, and we still have over half our acres to shell," he added. Test weight has been averaging 56 to 60 before adjustment for dry down.
Switching to soybeans during corn harvest is a common practice in this part of Missouri. "When the beans are ready, you go get them. Corn will wait on you. Soybeans won't," Grossman said. "When we get done with beans, we'll go back to corn."
One thing that helps this year is the addition of on-farm storage with forced air drying. "We're lucky to have Ray-Carroll (a farm cooperative) within 15 miles of our farming operation and they are great to work with. But having the flexibility of not making that drive and being able to manage moisture is going to nice," he said. More storage space is on his wish list for the future. This year is the family's first foray into seed production and Grossman likes the thought of finding ways to add value to the crop by using management and attention to detail.
On the cattle side of the business, Grossman will wean calves around Nov. 1. "I've been able to rotate pastures and keep things going. My outlook on grass is I've got about a month left without another shot of rain," he said. "But I'm thinking ahead and knowing we're going to need moisture to get those pastures to recover."
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