Harvest Is Approaching

This afternoon I was out to the farm getting the combine ready for harvest. I cleaned it up, changed the oil, greased it and oiled all the chains. Bill my John Deere technician from Kibble Equipment in Owatonna will stop by and do the preseason check on the combine too. A trained professional mechanic can notice a bad bearing or worn belt that I might not see. I would rather be proactive and fix it now rather than during the harvest season.

Looking at the forecast for this week it could not be any better for the corn and beans moving toward maturity. Mostly sunny skies with high temperatures around 80 degrees. I noticed many bean fields are beginning to show a hint of yellow leaves which is a normal sign beans approaching maturity. The corn is dented and at least in my fields the milk line on the kernel has moved down about 1/3 of the way toward the cob. When the corn is mature the milk line has moved down to the cob and a black layer is formed at the tip of the kernel. Lets hope the weather continues to cooperare.