[AT] junk

Ron Cook ron at lakeport-1.com
Sat Jul 20 10:19:36 PDT 2013


Charlie,
     No, actually we try to plant corn in mid to late April nowadays.  
It used to be early May 30 years ago.  Now we follow immediately with 
the soybeans and try to be done with them by mid May.  Soybean planting 
used to start the first of June.  New hybrids, chemicals, and modern 
farm equipment have changed everything.  We can have the first frost as 
early as 15 Sept. with a killing frost ending the growing season around 
the 10th of Oct.  Our soybean harvest is Oct and Nov with the corn at 
the same time.  The new hybrids dry down in the field and harvest can 
sometimes start in the corn ahead of soybean harvest.  Then when the 
soybeans are ready, we just switch to them and go back to the corn later.
     I always refused to seed soybeans with the airplane.  The results 
were usually dismal, and it was done in desperation.  It seemed to me to 
be ripe for non-payment of my services.  The farmer always survives with 
some sort of government program if he plays it right.  The fellow making 
things happen for the farmer is just SOL!
     There is seeding cover crops in the fall by air and it is getting 
more common.  Rye is usually the crop of choice for its weed control 
ability.  I am not in a wheat growing area, but it can be successfully 
sown by air.

Ron Cook
Salix, IA
On 7/20/2013 11:45 AM, charlie hill wrote:
> Ron we are about a month late for planting soybeans here now.  Generally the
> cut off
> planting date for Crop Insurance coverage is about June 20.   I wouldn't try
> it now particularly
> this year because it feels to me like we are going to have an early fall.
> The air here feels
> like mid August already.  Soybean seed are so comparatively large that I
> can't imagine air seeding
> being very cost effective.  I've heard of it being done here but all I've
> actually seen done is
> broadcast seeding by driving through the wheat.
>
> The funny difference between the Southeast and your area is that we plant
> corn early in the spring.
> Sometimes as early as mid March and they will be picking corn here in
> probably 3 weeks or so.
> Soybeans are always planted later, in May or early June.  I believe you guys
> do the opposite don't you?
> Sometimes we are picking Soybeans in late October and all through November.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ron Cook
> Sent: Saturday, July 20, 2013 10:57 AM
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
> Subject: Re: [AT] junk
>
> Rye and wheat work well by air.  Helicopter might be cost prohibitive.
> Soybeans should work if the ground is damp long enough and the beans are
> in shade.  In order to make soybean planting by air work here in western
> Iowa you have to get them covered with a little soil somehow.  This is
> spring planting soybeans.  We can't do that double crop thing.
> Ron Cook
> Salix, IA
> On 7/20/2013 6:43 AM, jtchall at nc.rr.com wrote:
>> Sounds like you guys are having a tough time with the rain. I talked to a
>> guy who's brother works for a Deere dealer near the NC/SC border. One of
>> their customers is a real big farm. They are still trying to get wheat out
>> due to the rain. Running 2 combines with duals and still getting stuck.
>> It's
>> so bad they keep a big tractor on hand just to pull them out. The wheat is
>> too good to abandon and accept an insurance payment. It's going to take a
>> lot of tillage to get the ruts out of the field.
>>
>> How did the seeding by airplane work? I wouldn't think a soybean could
>> sprout and survive like that. Dad has told me before about a neighbor who
>> used a helicopter once to seed some wheat in standing corn. Must not have
>> worked to well as I don't think he did it but once.
>>
>> John
>>
>




More information about the AT mailing list