Harvest is around the corner for Indiana farmer David Virgin in Montgomery County and now that some significant rains have moved in to rescue his soybeans, he is optimistic about one part of the grain operation. Corn is an entirely different issue as it is for so many in the Midwest.
In a HAT field update Virgin said the rains totaled about 6 inches in the last 3 weeks.
“It was a little too late for the corn but it will help out on the test weight. It is going to save some beans. We had beans in the pods looking pretty sickly and the rains brought them on, so we could generate a little bit of a bean crop now.”
And just how close is harvest?
“Our intentions right now are to next week get the combine heads out. Probably the day after Labor Day we’re going to get into some clay knobs. That corn is pretty well dead and starting to fall over, so it’s going to be a fiddle mode for a week or two. We’ve got some beans turning and we’re probably 2 weeks out on our first beans yet.”
Virgin said, as we heard on the Pro Farmer Crop Tour, corn stalks aren’t in good shape.
“It’s deteriorating rapidly. We’ve also noticed we’ve got mold and stuff going on in some of the ears. So everything in our opinion is going to have to go through the grain dryer this fall and if it’s 25% or less we’re going to start going after it.”[audio:https://www.hoosieragtoday.com//wp-content/uploads//2012/08/David-Virgin-August-update.mp3|titles=David Virgin August update]
The good news this year for Virgin is there hasn’t been too much in the way of pests.
Hear the HAT Field Update at the Agronomy page, sponsored by Advanced Ag Solutions.