HAT Chief Meteorologist Ryan Martin’s Indiana Farm Forecast calls for rain across much of the state this week. As rain moves in, Purdue Extension Soybean Specialist Shaun Casteel has a reminder for farmers regarding their equipment.
“Pay attention to your settings on the combine. The yield monitor is a big part of that, but I think also most everyone should be still adjusting field to field conditions. We’re in this kind of damp condition. The setting that we used two days ago when it was 20 mph winds probably is not going to be the best setting for now. Let’s make sure the combines are set to thresh appropriately.”
With the rain in the forecast, Casteel and Extension Corn Specialist Bob Nielsen both believe that many farmers will switch over to corn. Nielsen agrees that combine settings need to be front of mind.
“As this corn dries down, there’s going to be a need to change settings also to avoid shattering at the head or throwing it out the back. So, just make sure you’re paying attention to that and checking for loss behind the combine. Corn’s been a little slow to dry up until now, but we are finally getting more and more fields down into the teens and that’s the point where harvest loss does begin to pick up.”
You can hear much more from both Casteel and Nielsen, including yields from around the state, in the latest Purdue Crop Chat Podcast. It will be released soon at hoosieragtoday.com and iTunes.