Franklin

Kingston

Genoa

Weekly - 0
Cumulative - 30.00

Franklin - Paul Taylor - The week ending Oct 8th brought the weather we needed and the progress harvesting we have been awaiting for. No measurable precipitation occurred and the rain gauge ran over with sunshine.

Many bean acres came out this week. I got finished Friday, but I would estimate 40% of soybeans still left to harvest Columbus Day morning. Yields were better than expected and field averages I have seem range from 55 to 73 bpa. Quality was excellent and they should store well. Moisture levels are drying to very low levels (i.e. 7%M) and I have heard some are waiting for a rain to remoisten the beans before continuing harvest. It’s the second consecutive year for excellent soybeans. Who knows what’s going on with that?

Corn harvest has been pretty much interrupted for now, but a few got back at it late week. Moisture levels have dropped several points and yields are reported better than expected in many cases. I have not been back since trying Oct 3 after getting 29%M tests then. I’m hearing moisture levels should be down to low twenties by now. We’re saving several thousand dollars a day in propane cost with this drying. Just hope the corn continues to stand until harvest wraps up.

All in all, 2011 has been a year of extremes with record high prices, a wet spring followed by a dry June and early July, and then 17.25” of rain mid-July to Oct 1. Mostly that has worked for us agronomically. Large crops will help take the pressure off the cry to reign in ethanol, the best economic stimulus for rural America in awhile.

On the political front, we face realignment with our congressional districts, tightened spending controls with state and federal budgets, and pressure on many supports we feel are important to our financial security. Hopefully, the programs to protect crop insurance and add improvements to our farm safety net can come about as we likely to lose the majority of our direct and counter-cyclical payments.
The old Chinese proverb says,” May you live in interesting times.” By golly, I think we’re in ‘em now.
Until next time …
Paul W Taylor

Kingston - Russ Deverell -
Russ

Genoa - Ron Peabody - Genoa Report: Week of October 2, 2011

A precipitation-free week, and a good one to get harvest 2011 kicked off in the area. I see a lot of combines rolling; have not heard any harvest results thusfar. Our tenant on the family farm in Marshall County reported a farm average of 226 bpa of No. 2 corn on the home place. He's pretty happy.
Ron Peabody

South Grove

Mayfield

Sycamore

Weekly -
Cumulative - 31.43

South Grove- Henry Burgweger -
Henry

Mayfield -

Sycamore - Ed/ Eric Gabriel -
Eric Gabriel

Malta

DeKalb

Cortland

Weekly - 0
Cumulative - 27.20

Malta - Jim Quincer - For the week, no rain, none is needed at this time only maybe to wet some things so as not to have any field fires in this area.
JQ

DeKalb - Roger Faivre - No rain for the week. A great week for harvesting soybeans.
Roger

Cortland - Dave Yaeger - No rain this week and nice temperatures. Plenty of beans harvested along with some corn. Neighbor told me his beans went 77 bpa and no dock. He was very pleased. Corn has taken its time in drying but this past week should have caused a couple or so points drop in moisture.
Dave.

Milan

Afton

Pierce

Weekly - 0
Cumulative - 27.40

Milan - University of Illinois Research Farm - Russell Higgins, Manager - No rain this past week at the research farm, great weather for crop dry down. Hope to start plot harvest in earnest this week, Variety testing folks are on their way.

Russ Higgins

Afton - Eric Lawler / Steve Glascock (Babson Farms) - No rain for the week. Harvest of soybeans is fully underway, with excellent yields reported. Some fields 70 bu+. Very little corn harvested this week. Moisture levels have come down rather well with the excellent weather. Thanks for the opportunity to participate. Have a safe finish to the 2011 harvest.
Steve Glascock

Pierce - Jamie Walter - No rain for this last week of reporting. In fact I'm not sure I ever have had a nicer week of weather for harvest. Corn harvest is well underway with generally stronger than anticipated yields. Fields have dropped moisture nicely over past week. Be safe!
Jamie, Sent from my iPhone

Shabbona

Clinton

Squaw Grove

Weekly -
Cumulative 25.70

Shabbona -Mullins Farm - Rainfall inches

Clinton - Wesley Anderson - 0 Rainfall

Squaw Grove - Leroy Cowan - I have to say that this past week was a beauty. No rain, much harvest. This has been an interesting year to say the least. I hope the Lord gives me another year of reporting. Have a great fall and wonderful winter. Talk to you in the spring.

Paw Paw

Victor

Somonauk

Weekly -
Cumulative -

Victor - Roy & Lester Plote - Rain- None Dust- Plenty

A little heat and wind at the right time can reduce the corn drying bill, but at the same time increase the shatter loss and dry the soybeans too much, too fast! We finished wet corn on Tuesday with a range of 31-25% with an avg of 27%, dry yield conversion over 200. One crop advisor said, "don't expect those yields on your other corn on corn ground. That cattle manure likely saved that crop." The calm Wed morning was perfect for putting on the bunker cover. Started beans Wed after lunch and still at them Sunday. Moistures range from 13.5 to 9.5% with most in the 11 area. Replant spots will be another week at least before ready. Yields are very good overall, but the avg will still be affected by the replant yields and their quality.

Some are threatening to quit beans because they're too dry, while others are still waiting for the green pods to ripen and moistures to get below 15%. Still not a huge amount of corn harvested. Heard from some that it gain 2% after the last rain spell and still isn't dropping as fast as would be expected. I still don't see many ears tipped down.

From near Bement, IL I heard over 1000 ac of corn harvested by a farmer averaged 95 bu. And, southern St. Clair county (light soil) has bean fields barely making 20 and corn 40-100. Heavier ground still getting 30-45 beans and 80-140 corn.
Be careful, and watchful for fires. We are needing a rain, just for safety reasons now. Some devastating fires occurred in Nebraska and Iowa in the past couple days. Have a bountiful harvest!

Roy

Somonauk - Chris Frieders - Crop Report for the week of Oct. 2nd, through Oct. 8th.

This was the week when most people started harvesting. Early in the week we did some early season corn and by mid week we switched over to beans and a lot of guys were running on beans by then as well. The corn was running between the low 180's and the low 200's with moisture around 22 to 23 % which I expect to really drop this week with the warm temps. The beans are over dry with moisture around 10% and yields in the high 50's to low 70's. So far the crops seem to be better than expected in the area which is a good thing. I hope everyone has a good and safe harvest.
Chris Frieders

Sandwich

Weekly -
Cumulative -