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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2007-10-03, Page 18Page 18 The Huron Expositor • October 3, 2007 News Safety a concern as farmers face hectic harvest Many crops ready to come off the field at once, says local crop specialist Aaron Jack 1 i n It's a hectic harvest season for growers this year because so many crops are ready to come off the fields at once, according to OMAFRA crop specialist Peter Johnson. "There are growers who are com- bining soybeans all day, combining corn all night and trying to plant wheat in between there as well," he said. "Harvest is going full steam ahead, no question about that," said Johnson. With so many crops ready to come off the fields at once, Johnson said this is the time to be careful. "Guys are getting tired. They're pushing hard. They really need to stop, take a breath and be safe," he said. He noted that these are the condi- tions that make accidents more like- ly. Especially when there's rain in the forecast and the tendency is to push to get more acreage in before it comes. "They really need to remem- ber that safety comes first," he said. "It's not with- out its chal- lenges," he said. "The soybean crop has had a lot of second growth, a lot of plants staying extremely green. The beans are dry. In fact, the beans are over - dry with lots of beans coming out of the field with nine, 10 or 11 per cent moisture." Thirteen per cent is consid- ered dry. "Even though the beans are over -dry, which causes its own challenges, the plants are still green. So in sokne cases growers are basically refer- ring to it as com- bining a hay field. That's how green it seems, and yet the beans are dry. Unfortunately, thesample is not that good." He said that a good portion of the soybean crop has come off the fields already. "We've been hard at harvest for about two weeks now," he said. 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NO PAYMENTS or INTEREST DUE UNTIL MAY, 2008 on any repairs over $750. Provided by New Holland Credit • Book your unit in by October 31 for maximum savings! Call Jeff or Chris for more details... McGavin Farm Supply Ltd. 519-527-0245 Walton 519-887-6365 1-877-887-6365 Email: mcgavin@ezlink.ca Web Page: http://www.mcgavinegnip.com memo Fax: 819-887-8581 ordinarily would. "We're short enough on soy beans that a lot of places are grading on the easy side," he said. He said the soybean yields are all over the map, "anywhere from five to 65 bushels per acre." According to Johnson, all comes down to rain fall, soil quality and soil managment. "Any sins that you have committed in the last year or two are showing up drastically this year, especially in the dry areas," he said, noting that not control- ling soybean aphids at the appropriate time is costing, in some cases, as much as 30 bushels per acre. "There are some growers who decided not to control the soy- bean aphids at all and their yield is almost zero," he said. "I don't even know if they'll bother combining the soybeans. That's how significant the soybean aphids were this year." Johnson said a good portion of the edible beans are off the fields. "The harvest there is starting to wind down," he said. The edible beans, in some cases, are over -dry too. "That's causing a lot of harvest problems," he said. "When edible beans are over -dry, you get a lot of cracked seed coats, which is a real quality issue." A lot of growers have had to stop combining to wait for rain because the beans are too dry. "It's not where we would like to be," he said. Johnson said there is a lot of hay coming off of fields. "(Hay) is coming off in excellent quality with this weather. The quali- ty is awesome. The yields are pretty small, for the most part," he said. He went on to note the small yields aren't unusual, given the dry weath- er and the fact that late crops tend to have small yields anyway. Johnson said the downside is this is the middle of the "critical harvest period" and next year's yields may suffer. "Taking this last cut during the critical harvest period often means you'll just have a little bit less first cut next year," he said. He said that while this is a "fairly common occurrence," it isn't inevitable. "Wheat acres are going in fast and furious," he said. "We are going to have a big wheat crop. I don't know how big at this point, but unless it things change dramatically in the next week or two we will have a new record in acreage for wheat." Johnson said the earliest wheat is already up and probably "at the four leaf stage" now. "We're scratching our heads," he said, noting they're not sure if it was too early or not. "We may have to do something about snow mould toward the end of October, first couple of weeks of November," he said. Snow mould is a fun- gus that infects wheat during the winter and spreads from plant to plant or leaf to leaf According to Johnson, the chances of develop- ing snow mould increase when a field has a lot of top growth and when snow is around for a long time. He also said this area generally has enough snow to cause a problem. "The earlier you plant your wheat, the higher risk you are going to be at for snow mould," he said. "We plant- ed wheat extremely early this year and guys are not stopping, nor should they." He said the warm weather is facili- tating a lot of growth. The high -moisture corn harvest has started already. "Growers really need to watch the moisture on their corn, where they're putting it up for high -moisture corn," he said. He's heard reports of corn dropping three quarters of a point in moisture per day, where normally they would expect a drop of a third of a point of moisture per day. "In some cases, moisture is just dropping like a stone," he said. "Guys really need to pay attention and watch that or the corn's going to get too dry to put in the silo for high - moisture." He said this is a good thing for the cash crop corn growers who just take it to the dryer anyway. "Last but not least for corn, there is a fair amount of 'cob drop' in corn fields," he said, explaining that means the cobs are just dropping off the plants. "If it rains, they need to check fields. It's quite variety specific, and so they should be watching their fields," he said. Johnson said if growers find a field that is dropping cobs badly, they should try to harvest those fields sooner rather than later. He realizes that's easier said than done. `There are growers who are combining soybeans all day, combining corn all night and trying to plant wheat in between there as well,'— °MAFRA crop specialist Peter Johnson