Preparations for harvest have been moving slow. We will have to pick up the pace to be ready on time. Right now, we are thinking we will start around Sept. 16. That isn’t very far away!

Knowing work demands will be picking up very soon, we pretty much took Labor Day weekend off. We did however spend time Monday starting up irrigation again. I also spent a good chunk of the day cleaning up and organizing the barn lot at my house.

Since we are still without shop help, we are asking our equipment dealer to do some of the repairs necessary before harvest. One combine was just sent to the dealer last week and will require a week’s worth of work. Damage was done to the rotor and cage due to rock ingestion while picking the down corn last fall. Both draper heads are also on the list to have some work done to them, also damaged while harvesting the down corn. I wish inspections had been done sooner, but they tell us they will get the work done before we need the machine.

The good news is the other combine should be pretty much ready to roll. We used that machine for wheat harvest, so all we should have to do is change some concaves so we’re set up for corn or soybeans, grease the machine, and give it a once over. Pretty much the same with the corn head -- check the gearbox oil levels, grease it, and go! Fortunately, we will be starting harvest with corn. We will have a little time to finish up loose ends before we get heavy into harvest.

On the crop report front, we picked up about an inch of rain the beginning of last week. We are again dry and need some rain pretty soon. We attended a field day 40 miles west of us yesterday. Their plot tour included the report of 5 consecutive months of below average rainfall. August hurt the worst as any rain received was either in the first few days or last few days of the month, leaving a need for moisture during the heart of grain fill.

It won’t be long before we start to see how things will turn out for 2022.

The opinions of the author are not necessarily those of Farm Futures or Farm Progress.