“Hell, this is my building – I’m not going to
let anyone come in here and take a Game 7!” – Larry “Legend” Bird after Game 7
of the 1988 NBA Divisional Round of playoffs versus the Atlanta Hawks
https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/198805220BOS.html
Fortunately, both people and businesses alike have opportunities to change their image and reputation, and it starts with dedication to discipline to accomplish the task. If you are looking for some ideas, confide in a few trusted resources your objective and you’ll probably be surprised how others have encountered similar circumstances and you’ll be able to devise a game plan to alter the path you are currently travelling.
Weather and
Corn Development
A seasonally
warm week of weather will hit the far northern plains with high daily temperatures
in the 60’s to mid-70’sF. Warm temps
with low relative humidity will continue to take moisture out of the crops
quickly and I wouldn’t be surprised to see corn moistures fall into the 14-17%
range by the end of the week in our region.
With the above average week of temps, we’ll accumulate another 60-70
GDD’s over the next 7-day span.
To
highlight how fast the corn is drying down, lets utilize the GDD map to see how
many heat units we have accumulated since our killing frost on September 9th. With over 220 growing degree days accumulated
in most locations over this time frame, it’s not surprising to receive some reports
of corn grain in the 16% to 20% range currently.
As the corn crop
dries down, it will require more and more additional heat units per point of
moisture loss. However, heat units are
not the only factor in the equation as humidity, sunshine, and rainfall can all
influence the rate of grain dry-down as well.
A general rule of thumb
is that an average of 25-30 GDUs are required to lower the grain moisture each
point from 32% to 25%, while 40-45 GDUs per moisture point are required from
25% to 20%. With many local reports coming
in drier than expected, it’s a sign that we’ve had low relative humidity over
the past month along with our warmer than average temperatures. As the corn continues to dry and we get later
into the autumn, it will be more difficult to remove moisture as our air
temperatures drop and humidity is likely to increase.
Lastly, as the crop
naturally dries in the field, we will begin to see the internal integrity of
the stalk start to break-down as well.
The corn crop seems to be standing well currently, but we don’t expect
that to last much longer – especially as we see grain moistures drop below
15-16%.
The rainfall map for our region
over the last month and a half continues to reveal that many locations are
currently below average for soil moisture – especially in the northern half of
North Dakota. I think most farms would
enjoy a good inch or two of precipitation before winter sets in completely to
insure a good start to next season’s crops.
I’ll count on your weather app
for the best guidance through the 7-8 day forecast, but looking beyond that,
I’ve found this site from NOAA to be fairly reliable for a general 8-14 day
outlook (next week). https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/814day/index.php
For the mid-October timeframe,
the forecast is to have greater chances of above average temperatures and equal
chances of both above and below average precipitation (neutral for
precipitation).
The NOAA group
also provides three month outlooks. If
we would like to get a general forecast for the winter months, Dec-Jan-Feb, it can
be seen here: https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/.../long_range/seasonal.php?lead=3
This forecast
currently predicts below average temperatures, while also calling for greater
chances of above average precipitation as well. Hopefully, harvest pace remains strong and
field work can be completed by early to mid-November to button things-up.
Regional Soil Temperatures
Speaking of field work, here is a nice snap
shot of current soil temperatures. Just
to be on the safe side, maybe we should wait another week to see most all
locations obtain under a 50F temperature reading before fall nitrogen
applications start. Many operations
focus on P & K fertility in the fall and these applications are not
temperature dependent.
With the corn harvest 1/4th of the
way completed for the year across the US, and the soybean harvest recorded at
38% completed across the nation, it’s interesting to see the crop condition
reports take a tick upwards.
The USDA reports the corn crop condition at
62% of acreage in the good to excellent category across the US (last week –
61%), and the North Dakota crop ratings moved to 58% of the acreage in the good
to excellent category. Mature corn is
estimated at 87% of the US acreage (78% for North Dakota). The prior 5-year average for corn maturity
across the US is 78% (66% for ND).
For soybeans, USDA estimates 64% of acres will rate in the good to excellent category for crop condition (prior week of 64%). However, North Dakota’s soybeans rate at only 48% good to excellent.
The early September 8-9th frost across much of North Dakota is obviously playing with these USDA numbers. I’d say yes, we lost some yield to the early frost, but yields were only affected by a couple bushel on fields where average to conservative maturity varieties were planted before – let’s say – May 20-22nd. In fields where we had full season maturity soybeans planted on a date during the latter half of the planting window, yield was affected more dramatically.
https://usda.library.cornell.edu/concern/publications/8336h188j?locale=en
I
was fortunate enough to witness one of our local farm managers repeating safety
instructions three times to one of his employees. The farm manager had a crew working on the grain
bin site, but the farm was starting to harvest corn for the day as well. The obvious concern for safety was addressed and
the clear instructions were repeated to insure everyone was on the same
page.
October
usually is a busy month on the farm and this year it will be even a faster pace
due to the warm and dry conditions allowing for many things to potentially be
accomplished before winter arrives. I
can list a bunch of tips, but the main things are to allow time for everyone to
obtain enough rest (sleep), take mental breaks during working hours, conduct
some light stretching exercises a few times each day, and consume healthier
than average nutrition to maintain clear thinking and high activity levels.
Dicamba
Outlook Update
Well,
a bit more insight is coming into the picture on the future of dicamba in RR2Xtend®
and XtendFlex® soybean production. The hearsay
in the industry is that the EPA will make a ruling at some point in the current
month of October. The speculators also
predict that the dicamba label moving forward will be more restrictive than it
has been in the past from a federal standpoint.
If I’m reading the tea leaves correctly, that probably means that
dicamba will be approved for only pre-emerge use only (application to occur after
soybean planting, but before the seedlings emerge from the soil) in dicamba
tolerant varieties.
XtendFlex® Granted
European Union Approval
Also
to note on the Bayer® front, is the EU approval of importing soybeans with the
XtendFlex® trait package. As you may
recall, this will be Bayer’s® newest soybean herbicide trait package with the
addition of glufosinate (LIberty™) into their already stacked trait package of
Xtend® (glyphosate plus dicamba). So
now, with the three-way stack of glyphosate, glufosinate, and dicamba, Bayer®
will bring a soybean offering to the table to compete straight-up with Corteva®
and MS Tech’s® Enlist-3® (glyphosate, glufosinate, and 2,4-D choline). The earliest XtendFlex® variety offering for
our region will be on 07 maturity designation.
A
couple things to remember… 1) until the EPA rules on dicamba the XtendFlex® is
basically relegated to a RR/LL stacked soybean variety; 2) dicamba and
glufosinate cannot be tank-mixed together as the glufosinate needs NIS additive
(conversely NIS causes dicamba to become hyper-volatile); 3) 2,4-D choline has
no state label restrictions and is labelled through R2 (full flower) growth
stage with a tank-mix partner of glyphosate and up to R1 (first flower) with
glufosinate 4) yield performance of the technology – the newest technology
soybeans never are the best yielders.
Enlist-3®
Soybean Variety Demand and Performance
Many
seed companies have forecasted the demand for Enlist® soybean seed for the 2021
season to double versus the planted acres seen in spring of 2020. If this forecast is true, there will not be
enough Enlist-3® seed to meet demand – plain and simple.
While
it is true that all seed companies do not have proprietary Enlist-3® genetics
at this time, there are still many reasons to purchase your 2,4-D Enlist®
soybeans from our Pioneer® company. I
can think of three-four main points off the top of my head:
·
Pioneer’s R&D program has
accurately characterized these soybean varieties with sound agronomic scores
for IDC, phytopthera, white mold, SCN (soybean cyst nematode), and maturity. For example, some seed companies are stating
that a certain Enlist® variety contains SCN protection while our research team
clearly identifies the same variety without cyst protection. These mis-characterizations can lead to some
poor field placement recommendations and easily 10-15 bu/ac yield discrepancies
·
Second, Pioneer® LumiGEN® soybean seed
treatment with Lumisena™ fungicide is a clear differentiator with Enlist®
genetics. It is known within the seed
industry that the Enlist® varieties in general are not carrying as strong of
IDC and phytopthera tolerances as the leading Xtend® varieties. The addition of the Lumisena™ seed treatment was
a clear winner in many locations this summer that received too much rain and
subsequently fought root-rot pathogens
·
Third, Pioneer® sales agencies
commitment to service. Whether it’s
handling a specific field agronomic issue or delivering your Pioneer® soybean
seed directly to the farm or field, our professional seed agencies strive to
deliver best in class service to support your farm business needs
·
Lastly, the Pioneer® brand will have the
largest volume of Enlist® genetics available for 2021 sales to support our customers. Our reputation of being viewed as a consistent
and reliable supplier is important to us.
To
highlight a couple of these bulletpoints, there was an excellent social media
post by one of our Pioneer Territory Managers that revealed some of the wide
discrepancy in soybean yields that we are seeing within the Enlist-3®
platform. As you can clearly see, there
are some very weak performing Enlist varieties currently being offered. If you are considering alternative brands for
your farm’s soybean varieties next year, make sure your salesman has a
portfolio of yield data to support his/her product recommendations from the local
area.
Typically, across a soybean plot, we see only a 7-10 bu/ac range and most of that can be attributed to maturity differences. Seeing differences of 10-15 bu/ac plus is a sign that the genetics are below par – yield and agronomics – or, this season’s early September frost impacted the plot more than realized and the maturity designation on the specified variety is not even close to accurate (I’ve witnessed this as well).
Pioneer
has Enlist® variety options in most all maturity zones (unfortunately nothing
in the Group 00 maturity) and we’ll have the yield data and research to prove
that our proposed varieties will perform as stated. If your farm will be planting Enlist-3®
soybean varieties in 2021, there are many reasons why they should all be
Pioneer®!
Harvest
Weed Seed Control Data
I’ve
often referenced Redekop’s® (https://redekopmfg.com/...HWSC/ ) harvest weed seed control device
mounted on the combine and now Missouri University has some field research data
to continue to build interest in the weed management tool. The MU research is
on a different branded device (Seed Terminator - https://www.seedterminator.com.au/ ), but I would think the data would be
very similar (regardless of manufacturer).
To
review the research in a nutshell, two Missouri locations in 2019 had waterhemp
infested soybeans which were harvested with the IWM tool. Of the waterhemp seeds entering the combine,
the mounted cage-mill device was able to damage between 98-99% of the seeds to
a level where they could not germinate.
The
question now becomes how well does waterhemp retain its seeds late into the
fall for capture with the combine during soybean harvest? Well, a group of scientist have looked into
it (https://www.cambridge.org/...waterhemp/palmer-soybean-maurity.pdf), and they found that both Palmer
Amaranth and Waterhemp have consistently high seed retention (95-100%) with data
coming from various US states and across multiple years (2013 and ’14). Of course, there will probably be some header
loss of weed seeds and some combine efficiency loss, but at least it looks to
be a tool highly worth considering.
https://www.farmprogress.com/weeds/combine...harvest
Product Spotlight – P03A26X
Are there any soybean varieties moving to the top of Pioneer’s offerings during the 2020 soybean harvest? Well, in the 01-04 maturity zone, our P03A26X (dicamba) soybean variety is performing very well. The P03A26X variety has strong field emergence, along with good white mold, IDC, and phytopthera root-rot tolerances. One limit is the lack of soybean cyst genetic protection (SCN(, but we’ll still be able to place this particular variety across many acres in the region. It seems to be a fit on many different soil types from heavy clay soils in the heart of the valley to the lighter rolling soils outside the valley due to its ability to fight and perform through challenging conditions. If you will be planting Xtend® soybean varieties next year, please ask your Pioneer sales person about P03A26X!
Combine
Harvesting Solutions – John Aubin
Last
week, Pioneer sponsored a visiting ag consultant to the area in John
Aubin. Mr. Aubin has been running his
business of “Combine Harvesting Solutions” since 2010 and relishes in
opportunities to engage with farms while assisting with dialing-in the combine
for maximizing efficiency in the field.
Pioneer
Strategic Account Managers had stops with Mr. Aubin at numerous farm operations
and everyone was impressed with his knowledge of all brands and models of
combines as well as diagnosing and solving issues as they arose in the field.
A
couple of key harvesting tips from Mr. Aubin include:
· * Closely monitor the consistency of crop
flow across the header and into the feeder housing. The more consistent this flow is, the better
the crop will thrash internally as the grain will naturally begin to separate
as it rubs against itself (material on material thrashing) and therefore the
less work the machine has to accomplish and the more efficient (greater speed/less
grain loss) an operator will be able to obtain
· * Insure the cross-auger in the header
(if so equipped) is square from left to right in its height above the platform
as well as in its depth from the back of the header – obviously a square header
auger is essential to create consistent crop flow.
· * An improperly set header reel can be
another cause of inconsistent grain flow
· * For corn, measure the diameter of a thrashed cob (millimeters) and then set the combine rotor clearance to that exact measurement as a starting point. In this example (pic), the measurement is about 23 mm
· * It’s a good practice to double check
and potentially re-calibrate electronic measurement displays in the cab regarding
combine settings. Mr. Aubin stated to
more than one operator that an electronic display can easily be off by a
significant percentage and therefore could be the actual cause of excess grain
loss despite the operator thinking the particular setting is spot-on or should
not be adjusted any further
· * Also for corn, make sure the deck
plates are slightly wider apart at the rear (top) of the deck plates versus the
bottom. This will insure the rollers
will more efficiently pull the stalk through and therefore more effectively managing
the residue with potentially less stalk material having to move through the
combine.
If
you have a machine or two that isn’t gathering or thrashing grain as
effectively as you’d like, or is having issues with excess grain loss or a
dirty grain tank sample, I’d recommend giving Mr. Aubin a call. He is excellent at walking through concerns
over the phone or in the field and assisting growers in solving problems. He is an independent consultant so he will
charge for his time, but these charges are minimal when we are looking at the
value of today’s commodity output and the number of acres a machine will
harvest in a crop. Plus, you are
probably more economical and timely than a local equipment manufacturer sending
out their technician. John Aubin’s
contact info is within his website:
http://www.combineharvestingsolutions.com/about-us/
Random
Agricultural Facts – SHEEP
When
you get a chance, ask your local butcher for a package or two of lamb chops and
treat your next family gathering to a fantastic delicacy!
·
Domesticated sheep’s wool continuously
grows. Different breeds of sheep produce
different quantities and qualities of wool.
The “Merino” breed is known for high quality wool, while the black face
“Suffix” breed is known for meat production and poor-quality wool. Below picture of a Merino ewe with approximately
6-years of wool growth before being sheared.
· * Sheep have rectangular pupils and therefore have near 360o vision
· *
· * US President Woodrow Wilson kept a small sheep
herd on the White House lawn during WWI to minimize lawn-care costs while
showing support for the war
· * USDA estimates about 153 mil lbs of combined lamb
and mutton production in 2019. Assuming
minimal exports and imports and a US population of 330 million people, it equates
to slightly less than ½ lb per person for the year for each American citizen. I wonder how this number compares to the
amount of pork (chops and bacon) consumed per US citizen each year?
https://modernfarmer.com/2017/12/6-facts-sheep-might-not-know/
https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_Subject/...LAMB&MUTTON...
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