Beyond Agronomy News: September 2nd, 2008

Agronomy

Consider swathing your Conlon barley

Growers who planted Conlon barley may want to look at swathing this year. I find this variety is sensitive to weathering and heads begin to break off sooner than other varieties. It is usually grown for feed so swathing is not the end of the world. It may cost you $10 an acre to swath, but in my experience, you could easily lose $20 an acre in shelled barley. What's unfortunate is that you don't really notice until next spring when you're pulling your hair out trying to get all that volunteer barley out of your Liberty Link canola. SL

5 tips for straight cutting canola

1. Straight cut at night. Higher humidity levels allow the plant to be more pliable and cause less pods to burst open and lose seed.
2. Adjust reel speed to coincide with the travel speed of the combine. This allows less bunching of plant material to accumulate on the dividers of the straight cut header and allows for even flow toward the feeder housing.
3. Cut higher than when you swath. This practice will depend on the overall height of the crop canopy. Less material reduces overloading the sieves and allows better separation of seed and plant residue.
4. Use crop lifters in lodged crops. Lifters assist in an even flow into the throat of the header and help to maintain travel speed.
5. Watch moisture content of seed. Depending on daylight temperatures, canola seed will stay dry long after the plant material has become tough.

Source

Options for harvesting lodged cereals

Knife Adjustment -On floating cutter bars, leave the knife tilted down and run the header in the float position. Take care not to feed rocks into the combine if choosing this option.

Grain Lifters - Setting up a combine for lodged wheat takes extra time and care while in the field. Consider using grain lifters, which lift the crop above the cutter bar. This is an inexpensive way to maximize yields.

Reel Adjustment - Adjust the reel on the combine. Set the reel forward and adjust the tine angle to be more aggressive, allowing the reel to physically lift the crop up off the ground and above the knife. Check the operator's manual for suggested settings and fine tune from there.

Harvesting Direction - The last option, an unfortunate reality in some years, is to harvest the grain in one direction.

Source

Is it worth delivering tough grain to the elevator?

If harvest is wetter than normal or if you want to start harvest early, at what point does it make sense to take the grain off a little tough and suffer the discount at the elevator? Let's work through the numbers to see whether we lose or not. We'll assume no increased storage risks because in these examples we intend to deliver off-combine.

Example 1: We deliver canola at 10% moisture. CGC standard for dry canola is 10% moisture. Note: A 1% moisture gain in one tonne of grain (wheat, barley, canola, peas) is equal to 24.25 lbs of grain per tonne. Moving from 6% moisture to 10% moisture in canola is equal to a 4 point gain × 24.25 lbs per tonne = 97 lbs per tonne
- 97 lbs per tonne ÷ 50 lbs per bushel = 1.94 bushels per tonne
- 1.94 bushels per tonne × $12.50 per bushel = $24.25 per tonne

So, on one truckload of canola at 44 tonnes you have gained $24.25 per tonne x 44 tonnes = $1,067.00.

Example 2: We deliver wheat at 17% moisture. CGC standard for dry wheat is 14.5% moisture.
- 17% - 14.5% = 2.5 point gain
- 2.5 x 24.25 = 61 lbs per tonne
- 61 lbs per tonne ÷ 60 lbs per bushel = 1 bushel per tonne gained
- 1 bushel per tonne x $8.40 per bushel = $8.40 per tonne

In the first example, we gained $24.25 per tonne by delivering canola at 10% versus 6%. I know that elevators don't like to take canola at 10% but if the elevator has dry canola on hand, you may be able to negotiate a deal for drier grain later. In Example 2, we grossed $8.40 a tonne by delivering wheat at 17%, however, the discount is usually around $8.00 a tonne, leaving a 40 cent per tonne advantage. Both examples provide a positive net return but the biggest benefits come from an earlier harvest, producing better quality and extending your harvest season. SL

For the moisture calculating tool click here.

Market News

International Crop Weather News

• United States: On the Plains, hot, dry weather prevails, aside from isolated thundershowers across central portions of the region. The hot, dry conditions favor summer crop maturation and fieldwork, including spring wheat harvesting (on the northern Plains) and winter wheat planting preparations. In the Corn Belt, a weak cold front is producing scattered showers and thunderstorms from Michigan southwestward into the middle Mississippi Valley. Despite recent showers, short-term dryness continues to adversely affect some Midwestern corn and soybeans. In the South, dry weather in most areas favors crop maturation and fieldwork, including corn, sorghum and rice harvesting.
• Europe: Heavy showers from England into northern portions of France into Poland slow small grain harvesting and raise quality concerns for un-harvested crops. Dry, hot weather in the Balkans reduces yield prospects for filling corn and sunflowers.
• Former Soviet Union: In Ukraine and southern Russia, hot, dry weather continues to stress filling corn and sunflowers. Mostly dry weather in the Central and Volga Districts in Russia aids small grain harvesting, while cool, showery weather in the Urals and Siberia Districts favors immature spring grains. In Kazakhstan, unseasonably warm, dry weather favors spring grain maturation and early harvesting.
• East Asia: Showers continue to favor immature corn and soybeans in Manchuria and on the North China Plain.
• Southeast Asia: Tropical Cyclone Nuri brushes the northern Philippines, bringing flooding rains to rice and corn areas in Luzon.
• South Asia: Dry weather returns to south-central India, reducing topsoil moisture for cotton and groundnuts. Heavy rain in northern and eastern India boosts soil moisture for rice and sugarcane but causes flooding.
• Australia: In Western Australia, three weeks of mostly dry weather slowly reduces soil moisture for winter crops. In southeastern Australia, light showers maintain local moisture supplies for vegetative winter grains. More rain is needed in east-central Australia, where winter wheat is approaching reproduction.
• South America: In Brazil, warm, dry weather brings relief to maturing winter grains in Parana, following several weeks of unusually wet weather. Meanwhile, showers favor winter wheat development in Rio Grande Do Sul. In Argentina, drought hampers winter wheat emergence and establishment in Cordoba and Santa Fe, while conditions remain favorable for crop development in Buenos Aires.
• Canada: Above-normal temperatures in Eastern Prairies speed maturation of spring grains and oilseeds that are still at risk of damage from an early autumn freeze.
• Mexico: Showers benefit corn and other rain-fed summer crops throughout central and southern Mexico. Tropical Storm Julio is bringing locally heavy rain to farming areas and watersheds of the northwest.