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But
if you talked to Lincoln farmer Bill Sahs around noon on Friday,
things were not going well for him. The shaft bearing that runs the
gathering chain on one of the outside rows of his corn header had
broken. Sahs could have chosen to finish combining the field along
Nicholson Road just five rows at a time. But, since he wasn’t
pressed for time, he decided to swap corn headers with Schmidt-Marcotte
while they replaced the shaft bearing.
Breakdowns
during harvest are par for the course for all farmers. That keeps
local equipment companies on their toes.
Despite
his current frustration, Sahs remarked that he "really has
nothing to complain about this year. This year’s crop is better
than my 10-year average," said Sahs who has been harvesting
yields ranging from 170-190 bushels per acre.
"Normally
I wouldn’t have been shelling corn on Sept. 15, but this year I
have just a few fields of corn to go."
"And
the crop has been dry," Sahs added.
Much
of the corn coming out of the field has tested from 15.6 to 20
percent moisture. On one particularly hot day, Sahs’ corn
harvested in the afternoon was two points drier than that harvested
earlier in the day. Nature’s assistance in the drying process will
save farmers a lot of money this year, since elevators typically
charge 2.5 cents per bushel to dry down corn a point of moisture.
Corn must be no more than 14 percent moisture to store and 15
percent moisture to sell.
But
just as nature has given farmers some fringe benefits, it has also
taken away. The Logan County yield average has been running around
170-180 bushels per acre. This isn’t bad, but had there been more
rain in the latter part of the season, yields could have been 20-30
bushels better.
"At
one point in time we had a much higher yield potential, but disease
and drought has taken its toll," Sahs noted as he broke open an
ear of corn resting in the disabled header. Early planting and
timely rains helped the young corn plant build an ear with 18 rows
of kernels around on a relatively long cob. Unfortunately dry
weather after pollination limited the water intake by plants trying
to fill kernels. As a backup measure, the ear pulled nutrients from
the stalk. Those recent events left the kernels small and
lightweight, and the stalks brittle and susceptible to wind.
(To
top of second column in this article)
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After
four hours of downtime waiting for a different corn header, Sahs was
happy to be running again. He had been able to drive 5 mph with the
six-row corn header in the morning. But in the afternoon, he had to
drive a little slower with a larger corn head. He wasn’t
complaining about having to drive only 4 mph. Using an eight-row
corn header meant he would be able to harvest four more rows each
round.
Neighbor
Jack Schutz was waiting with a ton truck for Bill to unload the
combine hopper. After about three rounds, Sahs had harvested enough
corn to fill the truck, and Jack took off for the elevator.
"I’ve
had about a hundred different emotions today," said Sahs of all
the ups and downs of harvesting. "The length of time to get
going after the breakdown was very frustrating, but when I see the
progress I’m making in the fields, I can’t really
complain."
[Bill Sahs
waits out a lull in harvest caused by this broken bearing.]
Sahs
says he was elated when he received a call on his mobile phone
earlier in the day letting him know that he had been granted
additional farm ground for next year. "That will double the
acres I farm, and it sits right in the middle of my other ground. It’s
something I’ve been working on for a long time."
Picking
up more ground is any farmer’s dream come true, as it takes more
and more acres to justify production expenses in this farm economy.
With today’s turn of events, Sahs is well-positioned to survive
the ups and downs of a vicious farm economy.
[Marty
Ahrends]
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