A closer look: Rain loosens soil for Carroll County fieldwork but dry conditions took toll on machinery

MOUNT CARROLL, Ill. — A warm, dry fall gave the Rahn family the opportunity to finish harvest early and rain showers over several weeks improved the conditions for fall work.

“The wheat looks a lot better than it did three weeks ago when we didn’t know if we’d get enough moisture for it to grow,” said Elmer Rahn, who farms with his wife, Annette, and their sons, Correy and Mitchel, and their families.

The family members completed their harvest Oct. 29.

“We probably could have finished a little earlier, but we stopped harvesting for three or four days to haul corn,” Mitchel said.

“A lot of people were in that boat because at the end, guys were delivering beans so they could fill their corn bins,” Correy said. “A lot of corn was harvested in October that usually stretches into November.”

With the dry conditions during harvest, the farmers were careful to use an air compressor to blow as much debris off the combine as possible every day.

“We drag a chain on the back of the combine to ground it,” Correy said.

“We’ve done that ever since I was in high school, when we had the fire department out three times in one day,” he recalled. “The fire department said the cause was static electricity.”

“The worst thing we had this year is one day the combine wouldn’t start,” Mitchel said. “The key module went out, so that took us down to almost noon that day.”

The northern Illinois farm received from 3.5 to 5 inches of rain during November.

“That loosened the soil up and the chisel plows pulled 1 to 1.5 miles faster and the tractors used 3 to 5 gallons less fuel consumption an hour,” Correy said. “And we’re doing a better job of getting the residue incorporated.”

Prior to the rain events, the hard ground was causing problems with the machinery.

“We were breaking a bolt a day somewhere on the machine between the two chisel plows,” Correy said. “Fortunately, we stayed in front of it, so it was just a bolt and it didn’t turn into a catastrophe like stress fracture cracks.”

“We’re down to the last 100 acres of fertilizer to spread and the last couple days of chisel plowing,” he said on Nov. 18.

“We started with anhydrous and had a couple good days and some days that have been marginal,” he said. “We have not gotten a lot of rain, but it is amazing how a quarter inch of rain makes it really sticky on top.”

Mitchel made about 2,000 cornstalk bales this fall and has 300 left to move in from the field.

“You couldn’t ask for better weather to make cornstalk bales,” he said. “It was nice to get done baling them in October when we’ve got long days.”

With the completion of harvest, farmers now have time to start examining their data.

“Most guys are very happy with their corn yields, but bean yields were more variable,” said Kellie, Correy’s wife and a Pioneer sales representative.

“If they had a 50/50 corn and soybean rotation, the bean yields seemed to be down a little bit,” she reported. “Where they had four or five years of corn on corn and then beans, the bean yields were a little higher.”

A lot of Kellie’s customers were pleased with plant health this year and how well the corn was standing at harvest.

“There was some tar spot, but it was later in the season,” she said. “We had so much solar radiation and a minimal amount of cloudy days, especially during grain fill, so that helped to prevent disease from coming in.”

“Generally, tar spot is a higher humidity and wetter fall problem,” Elmer agreed. “The atmosphere was not the sweet spot for tar spot to grow this year.”

When tar spot came in during the 2018 growing season, Kellie said, it was on top of gray leaf spot.

“Then, half of August was cloudy and wet so the corn went from green to brown in 10 days,” she said. “We haven’t seen tar spot that severe since then, but we know it is here.”

Kellie has begun to analyze data from this year’s test plots.

“There’s a 50- to 70-bushel swing from 110-day corn to 117-day corn,” she said. “That shows you the nature of the year we had.”

“The fuller season corn was better yielding because we had the heat units to do it,” Correy said.

“In a normal year, you might see a 20- to 30-bushel swing from maturities,” Kellie said.

Although the high yielding plots are fun to look at, Correy said, he is interested in examining the stress areas that had limited rainfall or other issues.

“I will look at how hybrids responded to stress to try to make a sound agronomic decision,” he said.

“I was listening to a podcast and they were talking about doing yield analysis by soil test analysis and we haven’t done that before,” Kellie said. “So, when we get our soil tests back, we’re going to lay them over the top of our yield maps.”

Adkins Energy, an ethanol plant near Lena, is looking at options for the next generation of products, said Elmer, who is a member of the board.

“Adkins Energy was built to produce ethanol, but if you want to stay relative to the market, you’re not only selling ethanol — you’re also making biofuels,” he said.

The company is looking at methanol and sustainable aviation fuel.

“These next generation of products come with a lot of investment and we’re not sure about government credits,” Elmer said.

Part of the process includes the development of a carbon score for corn which will vary from farm to farm.

“There are things farmers can do like no-till, minimum-till, strip-till, or planting cover crops,” Elmer said.

The age of farm equipment may also impact the carbon score. Newer equipment with less emissions compared to older equipment, Elmer said, could change the score.

“Once those credits get established, then we have to determine the value for Atkins,” he said.

“One of the frustrating things is California allows sugar cane ethanol from South America which has a lower carbon score than ethanol from Illinois,” Elmer lamented.

“The carbon score the rest of the world bases ethanol on and the carbon score the U.S. puts on ethanol are two completely different systems,” he said. “It’s unfortunate we’re competing at a disadvantage.”