Farmers slog through long, late harvesting

Oct 28, 2008      Agweek

Mikkel Pates

Oct. 28, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- As the national economy reels, farmers in the region have a more immediate concern: harvesting a crop that has had too much rain this fall. Here is a state-by-state summary of the National Agricultural Statistic report as of Oct. 20, followed by a set of Agweek crop stops between Hankinson, N.D., and Yankton, S.D.

--North Dakota: Progress is mixed. As of the Oct. 20 report from the National Agricultural Statistics Service, the state's corn crop still was rated 68 percent in the good and excellent quality rankings, but only 3 percent of it had been harvested, compared with a 34 percent for that date in the past five years. Despite a late maturity, remarkably 89 percent of the crop was ranked as "mature," compared with the 91 percent average for this date.

Other harvest progress in the state compared with the average: dry edible beans, 84 percent, 94 percent average; potatoes, 93 percent dug, 96 average; soybeans, 70 percent harvested, 88 average; sugar beets, 77 percent lifted, 99 average; and sunflowers, 10 percent harvested, 34 percent average.

--South Dakota: Progress is similarly a slow slog, after the first freeze across the state at 28 degrees. Corn was 14 percent harvested, picking up 3 percentage points from the previous week and a full 20 percentage points behind average. Soybean harvest was 76 percent, only 7 percent behind average. Winter wheat was 93 percent seeded, with some farmers waiting to finish until after row crop harvest. Farmers in the northeast edge and southeast edge of the state have received more than 2 inches of rain in the past month, while the western third of the state has received less than an inch or nothing at all.

--Minnesota: Only 19 percent of the corn had been harvested in the state, compared with an average of 43 percent for this date. Corn moisture was 23 percent, which is above the five-year average of 20 percent and the crop condition ranked 70 percent good to excellent.

Soybean harvest was moving along well at 83 percent, up 16 percentage points from the previous week and only 5 percent less than the average.

Sunflower harvest was 33 percent complete, compared with a 39 percent average for the date. Topsoil moisture was rated adequate in much of the state, except for the Red River Valley and northwest corner, which was rated surplus. Moorhead was the wettest spot in the state, posting 8.7 inches ahead of normal rainfall since April 1. It was raining again Oct. 21.

--Montana: Winter wheat plantings were right on average at 96 percent complete. Seventy-one percent was emerged, ahead of the 65 percent average. Harvest progress for other crops included corn for grain, 4 percent harvested, 18 percent average; potatoes, 79 percent harvested, 85 percent average; and sugar beets, 54 percent harvested, 62 percent average.

Subsoil moisture rated good and excellent was 54 percent, above last year's 35 percent and above the five-year average of 27 percent.

--Hankinson, N.D.: Rick Prochnow and his brother, Mike, and their father, Ron, raise corn, soybeans and sugar beets in the southern Red River Valley. Like everyone in his neighborhood, Prochnow has been dealing with wet soil.

With more than 4 inches of rain in October on top of saturated soils, they started out a second set of "tracks" Oct. 11 for the grain cart and drug an old one out of the Quonset that had been unused for several years and fits the combine. They're concerned about soil compaction and getting through the fields.

"We've had a set of tracks for the combine for several years, but we haven't used them recently," Rick says. "We even thought about selling them."

After checking to find there were none available locally, the Prochnows paid about $20,000 for a custom-built set from Land Luvr tracks from Clifton, Ill.

"They said they could provide them in a week, 10 days," Prochnow says.

They located them through contacts at the Wil-Rich manufacturing company in Wahpeton, N.D.

The Prochnows' soybean harvest ended Oct. 10. They also were doing some custom harvest for a nearby farmer. "It went pretty good -- 37 bushels per acre. Good quality," Rick says.

"The corn looks pretty good, other than we had a cold May," Rick says.

"I think we were behind about 2,000 heat units this year. It's taken longer to mature."

Prochnow had expected to get at the corn harvest by Oct. 20 or 21, but there was more rain. The Prochnows, with 2,000 acres of corn, were busy finishing their auger system for moving corn among bins.

The Prochnows and their farm workers have 550 acres of sugar beets through the Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative. The bulk of those are grown on the sandy loam near Hankinson. This year, though, Prochnow expects that the beet lifter will have to be pulled with a safety pull with a four-wheel-drive tractor.

They had put in only two days of beet harvest in early October before a 2.5-inch rain came. This year, the Prochnows for the third year raised some of their beets in South Dakota for the first time -- ranging from 30 to 80 acres.

"I think we may have the only sugar beets in South Dakota," he says, noting he has to establish three years of crops there before the beets can be covered by crop insurance. Those beets, south of New Effington, S.D., and about 10 miles south of his farm, hadn't been harvested yet, but he was estimating them to run about 25 tons an acre.

--Watertown, S.D.: Lyle Henricks and his son, Bret, and a grandson, John, raise a collection of crops, including corn, soybeans, spring wheat, winter wheat, flax and peas. The soybeans yields were running 35 to 40 bushels per acre this -- quite well, he says, considering the beans were so late in getting planted this year. They family was 75 percent harvested with beans.

This year's corn still was looking a little wet, at 22 percent to 28 percent moisture, he thinks, but still looks good.

"We won't dry it. We put up a lot of wet corn for the feedlot," Henricks says.

All of the bins on the farm have full floors, so they can handle wetter corn. They haven't started corn yet.

This year's spring wheat went well at 60 bushels per acre, and winter wheat, too, at 70 bushels per acre. The family also raises the peas for cattle feed in a cow-calf operation and feedlot. The family also has about 160 sows in a farrow-to-finish operation.

Henricks says the family has experienced good yields during a period of high prices, but "we're not going to do a heckuva lot better (financially) than in past years because of the rising cost of inputs."

--Estelline, S.D.: Allen Fugre farms 2 miles north and one mile west of Estelline, with family help from his son, Corey. Much of the farm is on nonirrigated land, but he has one pivot on the Oglala Aquifer that he doesn't use. He raises two crops: soybeans and wheat. The Fugres' soybean harvest started Sept. 30. After 3 inches of rain and pesky days of drizzle, fog and clouds, the Fugres had battled to being 85 percent complete with beans Oct. 18. He estimated it would take another three days to finish. The bean yields had been disappointing -- looking like they'll yield 50 to 60 bushels, but actually yielding 25 to 35 bushels.

"It's disappointing to see the stand and then that's all you get," Fugre says.

He says it is usually dry in July, but it rained in July and then shut off in August and September.

Meanwhile, the wheat averaged about 60 bushels per acre, with really good quality, except for the protein, which came in at 12.5 percent to 13 percent.

Fugre says this year he feels fortunate that his rotation doesn't include corn, which others were struggling to harvest. Fugre says he's heard the corn is extremely wet -- 30 percent to 35 percent moisture.

Most of the corn made maturity, however.

--Wentworth, S.D.: Nancy Tweet farms four miles northwest of Wentworth, S.D., with her husband, Steve, and with help from a son, Matthew, 17, who is the fifth generation in Nancy's family to live on the farm. The Tweets raise 350 acres each of corn and soybeans, each. Steve is a full-time agricultural engineer with Hi Roller Conveyors in Sioux Falls, S.D., and the family also raises show horses.

The Tweets were finished with soybean harvest in early October and averaged about 35 to 40 bushels per acre. They combine soybeans with a neighbor, but each combines their own corn. Since the harvest, Nancy worked to chisel plow the bean ground.

The Tweets put up a new large bin in 2008, but the bulk of the corn hasn't come off yet and probably won't for a while considering a 2-inch rain. Moisture content on the early stuff was 18 percent to 19 percent.

They heavy rain expected the week of Oct. 21 after getting 0.2 to 0.3 inches every several days for some time.

"It's going to be a real mess now," Nancy says, "because it's not going to warm up enough to dry things up too much."

--Freeman, S.D.: Darnell Tschetter is a grain and dairy farmer, just north of Freeman, S.D. He milks 120 cows for the AMPI Inc. plant in Freeman. Tschetter raises about 500 acres of corn, which as of Oct. 16 had run about 110 to 120 bushels per acre, but with a lackluster test weight of 52 to 54 pounds per bushel.

"What's killing us is no rain in August," he says.

The soybeans ran 29 to 37 bushels per acre, surprising Tschetter, considering the dry August. His 30-acre oat crop wasn't great, averaging in the 80-bushel range this year, compared with the 100-bushel crop he normally shoots for.

Tschetter says farmers in his area can't help but compare this crop to the 2007 bumper crop, when soybean yields ranged from 40 to 50 bushels and the corn ran 120 to 140 bushels.

"I have two wagons, and when I had filled them last year, I had 700 bushels. This year, the same wagons held only 630 to 640 bushels because of the low test weight. We were just short of water."

Newstex ID: KRTB-0012-29035171

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