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Post by SWMan on Aug 3, 2022 8:30:47 GMT -6
My hay laid on the ground for longer than preferred, and we had to rake some of it twice to detach it from the re-growing alfalfa. I do wonder if one of those rotary rakes that is pto driven would have allowed us to slow down and get it in one pass. I've never used one though and they are pricey!
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Post by Beerwiser on Aug 3, 2022 12:31:53 GMT -6
Yeah thise rotary rakes will pick it up. I only known one guy to have one and he really likes it, but he puts up a lot of hay and has a bunch of small tight fields that a v rake makes more of a mess on. I think the beat bet is smaller swaths when dealing with alfalfa or spread it out more, but that only works is you have a self propelled unit. I tried one year to spread it out to almost 8' and the stuff that didn't get driven on dried quick. The stuff that had tire marks on it was screwed, always in contact with the ground and made a excellent moisture trap for second growth to come through. Good thing it was only a few rounds.
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Post by victory on Aug 3, 2022 19:49:47 GMT -6
First seeded canola pretty well finished flowering here. Just wondering how close the Manitoba stuff is to catching up. We usually figure on about a month after the end of flowering before swathing time here. I didn't grow pod shatter resistant stuff this year.
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Post by kevlar on Aug 3, 2022 20:57:28 GMT -6
It’s going to be very tough for much of the crop in my area to make it before a normal frost, hopefully it’s a late frost. All canola is still full bloom, it looks like the odd field is losing its flower but they were the ones that were full of volunteer canola so I think it’s just the volunteer stuff dropping it’s flowers. A couple fields of wheat just headed out. The ironic thing is, even though it’s been so wet, a fair bit of the lighter ground in the area is beginning to burn up. It wouldn’t surprise me if the heavier land doesn’t begin to burn up in another week of hotter weather, nothing has roots. I’ve seen that happen before. We’ve got about 4 weeks until our average first frost.
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Post by Oatking on Aug 3, 2022 21:32:45 GMT -6
My canola is 5 weeks till swathing. I sure notice a difference in maturity between the 233p and the l252 varieties of canola. I have one field with those side by side. Oats should be 4 weeks away. I grew early maturing soybeans so I am thinking beginning of October on those. Its a fairly new variety by northstar called Holland. Looks good for a late seeding date. Get your propane or gas lined up early! Looks like some major drying is on the horizon! Think I mentioned it before but this month of August is on que to feel like a regular july year. I hope the month lag on the calendar holds true for September and October. Maybe because I was flooded this year my season does not feel too late. The guys around me that were not in the flooded zone seem to feel more concerned with the lateness. There is some canola in the valley here seeded at the end of June perhaps the odd july field even that is in full flower right now! Even fields seeded in May are still flowering but that was only because the plants endured so many stresses early on and growth is so uneven. Crazy year.
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Post by SWMan on Aug 3, 2022 22:06:27 GMT -6
Some canola here coming out of flower, but much of it still in full bloom. Corn is tasseling now, a good week behind other years when it froze before it was at black layer. An early frost would decimate the Manitoba crop. Even the wheat still has a ways to go.
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Post by Oatking on Aug 4, 2022 6:16:17 GMT -6
Some canola here coming out of flower, but much of it still in full bloom. Corn is tasseling now, a good week behind other years when it froze before it was at black layer. An early frost would decimate the Manitoba crop. Even the wheat still has a ways to go. Scary to think of an early frost now! We are due for one I think. Last one I experienced was August 19-20 2004. That year we even had some snow flakes in June. That year was different than this year because we were harvesting oats , canola and flax at that time. Crops were early seeded. My soybeans , which was only one quarter was written off. Looked like a forty bushel per acre crop before the frost. Sunflowers and corn were worked down that year. I hope we dont go down that path. I have only heard of the odd grass field harvested so far. Even early seeded wheat is still green. Rye is soon ready but most fields I have seen are so weedy I dont think it will be a fun job to harvest. Those fields must be for seed production, however when you have so much kochia in your field it is a big headache. Even when you swath kochia it can be a pita to dry out. I noticed a lot of purple loosestrife in many ditches this year. Its strange how that weed has appeared and grown in so thick this year.
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Post by OptimallyDismal on Aug 4, 2022 6:25:58 GMT -6
This year the weed that is most noticeable around here is foxtail barley, it is everywhere, I only got it killed in the roundup canola, not sure what to do with the rest of it. As usual the kochia is also bad, and I am sure by harvest it will be a big mess as well.
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Post by kenmb on Aug 4, 2022 7:23:30 GMT -6
Wheat is turning, barley starting to die off at base of plant so the coming week will make a noticeable change in color. The later seeded crops are looking better here, I mean July 5 vs June 28th. My barley has a 7 day difference between first and last and the last stuff looks noticeabley better even though it is all on pea stubble and other side of a dirt road. Neighbours wheat is same thing, stuff seeded early July looks noticeabley better than other. My brown flax right now is looking to be the top tier of my crops. Nice stand, no weeds, some flowering starting to shut down. That grass i sprayed in the ditch with burnoff is still dead, find that very unusual. And i got lots of wild oats in half my barley. Didn't spray for grassy weeds and the few gaps in seeding passes which were bare dirt when doing in-crop spray are now a hedge row of wild oats, as well as elsewhere in field. Every wild oat seed from last 10 years seems to have germinated this year.
Mustard still pretty much full bloom, maybe seeing a few places starting to shut down with no bloom at top of plant. Hail adjuster gave me 55 to 87% damage except one corner of 27ac at 5%. Vast majority of plants are j-hooks just hanging on by a few threads in the stem but making pods. Swathing will be out of the question as I will be cutting with header on the ground. South end of field got hit worst and lots of plants still have no pods so that is a concern.
It's been a cool and damp summer here. Fog, over cast, heavy dew, half days of sun, cement wetting sprinkles over night. Definitely not the usual Saskatchewan summer. I would bet the thermometer hasnt gone over 30c for more than 7 days all year.
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Post by Oatking on Aug 5, 2022 6:59:24 GMT -6
Kenmb , how does mustard pencil out compared to canola? I heard there was a shortage of mustard seed early this year. Is it suited to drier conditions than canola. Nobody grows it here. I would be surprised if anybody in MB grows that crop. What type of herbicides can you spray on mustard. Can you still get muster?
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Post by Oatking on Aug 5, 2022 7:20:02 GMT -6
Some combining just south across the US border must be going on! Maybe even some rye outside the flooded zone. Last night the south winds had that harvest smell blowing in the air. How are the spring or winter wheat yields as of late in Minnesota and or the Dakotas? How is the scab and protein? Usually that is a good sign of our quality. One farmer in my area thought his oats were not filling properly and were empty.
One thing that bugged me , as the Oats have dropped in price to 4.75 a bushel locally, If a guy sold too much or had a hail storm that shorted his or her production, it would have to be bought out at a price determined by the elevator. That price was still north of 6 bucks lately! Seems even though the price has come down the non existent carry over from last year and the current crop is not in the bin yet gives the elevator the upper hand. I have not seen that problem before. Usually a spade is a spade.
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Post by shmiffy on Aug 5, 2022 8:10:54 GMT -6
Looks like lots of leaf disease in wheat around here. Lots of empty spots in durum heads.
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Post by OptimallyDismal on Aug 5, 2022 9:59:02 GMT -6
Walked through some of my wheat yesterday and noticed a lot of rusty looking leaves as well, I have fungicide, copper, and foliar fertilizer on it so was kind of surprised to see that, the heads are not huge but they look good and are filling well.
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Post by slipclutch on Aug 5, 2022 11:39:18 GMT -6
I’m down in Minneapolis going to some blue jays games. The crops looks hit an mists. Looks like the crops need a good rain. The fields that are irrigated look good. I would say the wheat crops would be harvested in the next 7-14 days.
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Post by kenmb on Aug 6, 2022 7:59:06 GMT -6
I can't really say how one crop pencils out vs another. Its not one of my decision making mechanisms. What I mean is that if I got out the calculator I would have seeded more acres of mustard than barley, instead I have a rotation in mind and tend to stick to that. But some rough numbers on yellow mustard: Bin run seed at $1/lb with about $1.50 bu cleaning cost (can't remember cleaning charge exactly) at 10 lbs/ac = not much, maybe $11/ac Edge herbicide at $25/ac Same fertilizer package as my wheat so $150/ac
Can do clethodim in crop or other grassy weed but Edge worked well this year, a few wild Oat and wheat volunteers at 5 or six leaf stage I saw this week under the crop canopy. Muster not approved for yellow mustard so no incrop broadleaf option. That is why Edge herbicide is the key element for growing yellow mustard.
So let's say $200/ac input because of extra work putting on Edge and maybe a guy does a clethodim pass which I do maybe one out of 4 mustard crops, rest of costs same as other crop options.
Contracted some yellow at $1/lb so $50/bu. Average year I hope to get 15/bu ac. That is not my high end, that is just what I consider a nice average. When we seed 3 quarters of land so about 440 ac we hope to fill bins with 7000 bu. This year might have made 20/bu ac without hail. I can't guess expected yield on any crop, I need to have crop in bin, I am just going by weather conditions this year in thinking mustard should do very well.
I would therefore hope to get $750/ac on mustard this year. But usually 40c/lb is high end pricing so more like $350/ac revenue is long term average. My peas and malt barley tend to get me $250 to $300/ac revenue. With similar input costs. In a normal year.
Brown flax however this year could be the better one financially. It may make 30 bu/ac. Have some contracted at $29/bu so near $900/ac. Less fertilizer than mustard, buctril m and clethodim incrop so lower chemical bill.
Malt barley with some contracted at $9.50 and $8.60 (I should have signed up more) at maybe 55/bu ac may get me around $500/ac.
A guy shouldn't be using 2021 or 2022 pricing but if I go through all crops than a comparison can be made.
Yellow mustard doesn't take the heat like canola. Hot and windy at flowering and the plant will shut down by the 3rd or 4th day and so yield stops there. It is why I don't bother pushing fertilizer into it. A cool summer like this one would have been good for higher fertility. But we normally get a few hot spells and the timing of them is typically what sets the yield in my mind.
Can't do canola comparisons as we haven't grown it for decades. I would say shooting for 35 to 40 bu/ac on my farm would likely fit my style of not trying to push max yield or high input farming.
Clay hills, sandy spots, sloughs in spring or drowned out low spots in summer, hot windy spells or cool summer rains are all variables to favor one crop or another. Wife was just asking yesterday whether I can plan my crops based on finishing harvest by a certain time. I said tell me what the weather will do that year and I may plan my crops accordingly. I haven't figured out how get the weather I need for a given crop so I don't actually pencil out returns to make any decisions. And doing reutrn calculations after the fact doesn't do much because next year will be different again, the crop that was a money maker one year can be the dog the next year.
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