Harvest Update - Tues., Sept. 27

Harvest Updates from Iowa Corn Leaders - Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Kevin Ross of Minden in Pottawattamie County was baling the last cut of hay on Tuesday and hoping to start harvesting soybeans by the end of this week. The weather is good in southwestern Iowa and there are a couple of soybean fields in the area that have been harvested. He expects even more combines to be rolling by the end of the week.

In northwestern Iowa, Roger Knoblock, of Lester in Lyon County, is done harvesting high-moisture earlage for cattle. (Earlage is ensiled corn grain, cobs and, in some cases, husks and a portion of the stalk. Earlage is higher in energy than corn silage with similar protein content.) Random sampling was taken across the fields and yields varied from 180 to 240 bushels per acre. Some test strips were left for harvest. Some early corn that was harvested on Monday, Sept. 26 was harvested from alfalfa sod and had yields over 200 bushels per acre. So, early yield reports on corn are good. He expects they will try to harvest some soybeans today (Tues., Sept. 27).

Jerry Main of Fairfield says his area received about four-tenths of an inch of rain on Monday, Sept. 26, so harvested has been halted temporarily. A lot of corn has been harvested in his area of southeastern Iowa. Yields have a large range from very poor to good. Moisture content on the corn has a wide range as well. Only a few soybean fields have been harvested so far.