Posted by JD Seller on December 22, 2019 at 10:38:26 from (208.126.198.213):
Well we finished harvest earlier this week. It was a tough fall to get crops in. The corn barely matured with the later planting. So it never got under 20% moisture in the field. The earlier harvested corn was in the mid 20s. So we had to dry all of the corn not made into livestock feed. Then the lovely propane supply problem made getting propane to dry with a challenge. Early wet weather made ground and crop conditions terrible. So the harvest window kept getting shorter.
So these factors added up to an expensive harvest season. We finally had two semis pulling propane out of Kansas to keep the dryer going. This added $.35-.40 a gallon to the price. Using 5000-6000 gallon a day made the added cost add up quick. Bought a second 16 row corn head for the other CIH 9240 combine. Then we needed another 1000 bushel grain cart. Then we had to hire some local semi trucks to keep up with hauling corn in and out of the bins. Even drying 24/7 we could over run the dryer. So we had to put over 150,000 bushels of 20% corn into bins. We have been drying that this week. This added handling the corn several more times. This increased the cost and damage.
Getting bedding baled was a major worry. When we did get frozen ground we where getting morning frosts. These where making the stalks wet just like a light rain. When the stalks would dry out in the afternoon the ground was slimy on top and you could not rake them without getting mud into the windrow. So we bought a Hiniker 20 foot shredder that has an auger in the back to windrow to one side. So up and back gets you a 40 foot windrow. We could shred on the thawed ground and not get very much dirt/mud into the windrow. The only problem is this is a slower process then normal. We got about 1500-2000 bales made this way over a 3-4 week period. This week with frozen ground and no thawing we got 2500 bales done since last Sunday. So we have just over 5000 bales made. This should be enough unless the spring is wet like last year.
The custom work was good and bad. The combining about drove my sons crazy keeping everyone settled down. Every time we got a sunny day, ten guys would call wanting harvested THAT DAY!!! Stalk baling was even worse. Guys would get small acres raked then want them bales. Tough to get much done when everyone has just 10-15 acres to bale. Moving around eats up time. We survived. Total bales down 30%.
Yields where all over the board. Some fellows had as good of crops as usual. Others had much lower yields. We ended up at 228 BPA on corn and 54 BPA on soybeans. We are happy with those for the season. Net profit was hurt with the additional drying cost on both. First year, in 30 I can remember having to run soybeans through the batch dryer.
We had a family business meeting last night. Kind of a fall harvest wrap up. We have decided to change somethings for the future. We will only expand grain acres if the ground "fits" our current operation. Meaning close to excising fields, with reasonable long term rental agreements. The grain acres do not generate a very good return on investment right now. Keep expanding the livestock operation. The hog barns have generated the best return on investment the last two years. We currently have two and just contracted to build four more in the next two years. Two each year with everything already under contract. Cattle on feed will follow the profitability of buying feeder cattle right and feed costs staying reasonable. Total number of head will not move up much.
The biggest change for me is I will be stepping back into a more active roll in certain areas of the farm. Three years ago I stepped back from the majority of the daily farm management. This did accomplice my goal of my kids/family learning how to manage the farm without me. Over that period they have learned what they are good/bad at and what they just do not enjoy doing. My sons do not like marketing and long term buying of inputs. They can do it but they do not like the paperwork and research that is required to do it. My daughter-in-law that does the books does enjoy this. So she and I will be working close together, with me showing her what I have learned over the years. My second oldest son will focus on making the custom business be more profitable while growing it so the next generation can come into the farm. My middle son is growing his repair business into more profitable areas that are less related to agriculture. My oldest son and youngest son will focus on the livestock operations. What this all means is I will be not only be working with the DIL but also back at helping manage how the different operations work together. The one surprise out of all of this is that my Oldest Grand daughter will be shadowing me when she can, on the operations management. Her military training in operation management and her current job of over seeing four departments of military contractors, translates well to managing how the different farm operations work together. She just got married this summer and is planning on getting a family started. She sees this as a way to slowly quit her city job and help on the farm while raising her kids. She is the first of her generation to be in a leadership position in the family operation. GREAT!!!!
Now a more personal view of what/how I am going to change some things in my life. The most visible one to YTers is that I will be spending very little time on this site in the future. Prior to this fall harvest I had been spending too much time on the computer/internet. Some of this was due to some health issues I have not talked about with the general public so to speak. Also spending less time on the farm. That is going to change now plus I will be spending more time with family. I seem to have helped my kids get going well. Even the older Grand kids are doing good. Now it is time for me to move on to the younger grand kids. I have the two grand sons that are 11 and 12. We are going to be doing shop work when they can. My Grand father's T0-30 tractor looks like it will be the first project we are going to do. They will be doing all the work they can learn to do on it. I am not looking for a museum quality restore. I want them to learn while making the tractor work again. So I do not care if it looks rough, it will be their success. I have a bunch of Grand kids that are under five. My daughter is having another set of twins in Feb. So she will have two boys and two girls. My middle son's younger kids are 4 and 5 years old. So my wife and I are going to be involved more with these youngsters. This will give their parents a break to enjoy doing other stuff. My wife and I have added twin beds and bunk beds to two of the upstairs bedrooms. So we are ready for more munchkins to visit more often/longer.
So guys I have always been a proactive person in general. The last few years I have been reacting instead. I am going to change this. I also do not want a sedentary lifestyle at this time. I want to be active in all the ways I still can. This harvest has been brutal at times. Long work hours in some tough conditions. It has revitalized me. I need to be working daily, to keep my mind and body fit. Retirement just does not "fit' me very well at this time. So I will skip around so my kids can spend more time with their kids. An example is Sunday mornings I will be doing half the total livestock chores. So my kids can spend that time with their kids. So my goal is to work around 40 hours each week. The Doctors have both shoulders and wrists feeling better than they have in years. They tell me to be as active as I can. So I am going to try to be that way.
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Today's Featured Article - Listening to Your Tractor - by Curtis Von Fange. Years ago there was a TV show about a talking car. Unless you are from another planet, physically or otherwise, I don’t think our internal combustion buddies will talk and tell us their problems. But, on the other hand, there is a secret language that our mechanical companions readily do speak. It is an interesting form of communication that involves all the senses of the listener. In this series we are going to investigate and learn the basic rudimentary skills of understanding this lingo.
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