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PSA: Mind your trash

Between the Fencerows: Trash cans narrow roads for grain farmers trying to haul in the 2024 harvest, a season already challenged by average yields in corn and soybean fields.

Kyle Stackhouse, Blogger

October 18, 2024

2 Min Read
trash can by rural road
Kyle Stackhouse

I greatly dislike trash and recycling days! It has nothing to do with trash or recycling, but everything to do about those nicely lined up containers that almost always seem to be placed directly across the road from a mailbox or electric pole.

With several different service providers, it seems to be a daily challenge to dodge the containers when moving equipment. So, please, please, please if you live in an area where you see farm machinery on roads, offset your container from mailboxes and poles or pull it off the road an extra foot or two.

I realize many people don’t even think about this being an issue, so this is just a friendly PSA.

Cars can get in the way, too. For the most part, though, automobiles haven’t been in the way as much this fall. Hopefully, we will finish up before farm equipment wears thin on everyone’s patience.

Ahead of schedule

I’m pretty sure one record will be broken for us this year. Unfortunately, it isn’t going to be a yield record. It will most certainly be harvest completion date.

We are on track to finish earlier than ever before. If we pushed really hard today and Saturday, we could finish this week – except for double crop soybeans that aren’t quite ready yet., However, completion will likely slide into early next week.

Related:Not much to drain during drought

Weather has been great. We’ve only had a few rain days. Since we’ve been getting a lot done and the forecast doesn’t look disruptive, we’ve been shutting down at a reasonable time in the evenings. We only worked a couple of late nights this fall. When I read area harvest completion numbers this week, I was really surprised they weren’t higher.

Stackhouse Case combine in bean field

Average yields

I hope I’m wrong, when I do the final tally of the scale logs, but yields remain on my previous forecast. No records will be broken there.

  • Most dryland beans were APH average with a couple of fields above average and one below average.

  • Irrigated corn and irrigated soybeans have generally been good, but not significantly above average.

  • Dryland corn has mostly been average, with a field or two above. There haven’t been any real stinkers.

About the Author

Kyle Stackhouse

Blogger

After graduating from Purdue University in 1999 with a degree in Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Kyle Stackhouse began farming in Plymouth, Ind., in northern Indiana. Kyle farms alongside his father Brad, not as an employee but as an owner who runs separate businesses in three counties in a 20-mile radius.  Kyle shares insight into day to day operations, current issues, and management of the family's mid-sized grain farm that specializes in NON-GMO and Identity Preserved crops.

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