After about a month of minimal rainfall across the state, some much welcomed rain fell over the weekend and on Monday, September 11. The couple of hot weeks and dry conditions in August really pushed crops along across the state, even causing some to reach maturity prematurely. Silage harvest is wrapping up in many areas, and farmers are starting to hit the fields to combine.
With harvest underway across the state, check out what ISU Extension and Outreach field agronomists are hearing regarding how harvest is going, how are the crops yielding, and what types of end-of-the season issues they are receiving questions on.
Safety should be a major concern for all farmers during harvest, but as the season goes on, it can be easy to miss details or neglect safe practices that can put you or others at risk. Here are six simple safety tips to maintain throughout the season to keep yourself and your crew out of harm’s way.
1. Keep your machine’s safety features, mirrors and windows clean both in and out of the field
As the growing season winds down, ISU Extension field agronomists share what they are seeing out in fields or are getting questions on. Some of the common observations include the drought stress resulting in crops shutting down early, tar spot becoming more prevalent in fields, sudden death syndrome in soybeans, and plenty of waterhemp escapes. Read on for more specifics across the state.
North Central Iowa
As corn has quickly reached maturity, the next hurdle of the 2021 growing season is harvest. Stalk quality will be a concern for fields across that state that experienced the stress of too much or not enough moisture. Alison Robertson recently wrote an article about stalk rots that is very good.
While the rains the end of August have helped to improve the dry conditions some across the state, the rains also brought along some strong winds and hail that caused some significant crop damage in parts of NE, EC, and SE Iowa by flattening cornfields and causing lodging in soybeans. Additionally, parts of NE Iowa also delt with some flooding. Common observations made in fields across the state include stalk rots and stalk integrity issues in corn and fall armyworms causing havoc in pastures and hayfields (and lawns).
Farmers in Iowa are faced with some new challenges this harvest season after the derecho swept through the state in early August. In this video, Ben Covington and Dr. Matt Darr with ISU Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering share their tips for harvesting downed corn this fall, including ways to stay safe as you harvest a difficult crop.
Links:
Iowa Concern Hotline - 1-800-447-1985
When heading into the field for harvest, it’s important to make sure your monitors, sensors and scales are getting accurate numbers. Taking the time to calibrate your combine yield monitor is the first step in making sure you are using high quality yield data to make decisions in your operation.
While drought is still widespread, rainfall blanketed most of the state last week, providing some welcome relief to pastures, hay fields, newly-seeded cover crops, and later maturing soybeans. The rainfall caused some standability concerns with corn. Other issues noted by field agronomists include the start of harvest, harvest safety, cover crop seeding, and improvement in the condition of hay and pasture. Read on for more specifics for what’s happening in different regions across the state.
Safety should be a major concern for all farmers during harvest, but as the season goes on, it can be easy to miss details or neglect safe practices that can put you or others at risk. Here are six simple safety tips to maintain throughout the season to keep yourself and your crew out of harm’s way.
1. Keep your machine’s safety features, mirrors and windows clean both in and out of the field
