The rain and snow of the last two days have really made things interesting again. Puddles are again in evidence in the fields which makes taking trucks into the field really chancy. The snow was really not a big deal, it was only to be found in the shadowed areas of the field. I thought that when the sun came out today we would be back in the field with no problems for the combine. WRONG!
When we took the combine out into the field it seemed as if everything would work just fine. There was some snow hanging on the ears but that was cold enough that it just went through the combine. The problem came as wet corn husks started building up inside the machine.
You have to understand the machine. When ears of corn are taken into the combine they are taken to the rotor and concave. The ears are rolled between these two by the action of the rotor. When the corn husks are wet, they do not blow through the machine, they hang up. This fills up the holes in the concave and kernels of corn cannot fall through to be sifted out of the chaff. The corn kernels just goes out the back with the cobs.
Corn harvest was brought up short for today. We either need colder temperatures or a dry wind. Either one will bring conditions back so we can continue harvest.
Interestingly tillage went well for a while today. The cold of the night made traction easy to find. Until things warmed up, everything flowed through easily. As the sun warmed up the ground, and melted the snow, things got a little smeary. We need the big tractor for the grain cart for a while now. Tillage will wait.
Michael
