(Lakefield, Mn.)– Area farmers are making good progress when it comes to the harvest. Jim Nesseth of Extended Ag Services in Lakefield says quite a few of the soybeans have already come out. He says moisture levels have been pretty favorable…
“A lot of the beans are in that 10 to 12 percent, but probably the biggest issue is that a lot of the stems are green and so you’re a little concerned about everything being ready and some of the low spots are kind of on the green side where we’ll get some green beans in, so you know, the consistency sometimes has been a challenge but overall I think the biggest, the beans as far as the moisture content are drying down really nicely and the challenge we’ll probably have there, Steve, is that everything is going to be ready at once. That’s kind of what’s happening. The dryer those soybeans are the more shatter loss, harvest loss you can have and you can lose some weight because of the moisture so that’s a concern for some of the producers.”
Nesseth says yields so far have been somewhat variable, but for the most part he says they’re pretty decent…
“But a lot of bean yields are coming in in that low 50’s to mid 50’s and some of the places where we had some hail damage of course it’s quite a bit lower and, but I’ve heard some yields reported to me over 60 bushels. So it’s going to be a wide range of yields, but overall I think everyone is just pleasantly surprised and without a doubt the subsoil moisture we’ve probably used that all up but that really carried this crop to being fairly respectable.”
Nesseth says some corn has also started coming out…
“Reports there are, you know, we’ve got some corn maybe getting into the low 20’s that is being taken out and there’s still a lot in the mid to upper 20’s. It just kind of depends on maturity and planting date, those types of things. But that looks like that’s going to be, you know, a pretty respectable crop too. We’re hearing some yields, you know, in that 180 to 200 bushels quite common and some considerably higher than that so. Again it depends on soil type and if you were lucky enough to catch a rain in August.”
Nesseth again reminds producers and motorists alike to use extra caution this time of the year and to be on the lookout for slow moving farm vehicles.
