Mid-afternoon Thursday Shawn Geffert looked over 80 acres of corn, some harvested but most still standing. He wrenched the husk from an ear, broke it in two, plucked a kernel and plopped it in his mouth.
A few chews later he declared the corn still a bit too moist to cut.
Geffert then grinned. Of course, munching a few kernels of corn wasnt exactly scientific, but if its a little soft I know its probably a little too moist, he said.
Truth be known, Geffert already was aware of its moisture level, having cut a couple of rounds. His combine, a high-tech marvel, measures such things. He also has view of yield estimates 100 bushels per acre in some spots, 135 in others and occasionally as high as 200 in isolated parcels. Bottom-line yield is all that matters, though.
Moisture level at harvest is important. Thursday it was 16.5 to 17 percent, for which an elevator would dock Geffert. Ideal moisture content for corn is 15.5 percent.
Thursdays cloudy skies kept moisture a bit too high. That changed Friday with sunny and warm weather. Todays forecast is similar and into the coming week, good for cutting corn.
The secondary concern is muddy fields. However, with yard-wide tires, combines can churn through anything other than a swamp and cut ruts only a few inches deep.
Thats more a concern for farmers who subscribe to no-till, not so much for the brotherhood of those who work ground before each planting.
THE CORN harvest started in late July, and then was shut down several days by a spat of heavy showers. Geffert figures he is a little ahead, the eagerness of a 35-year-old born and bred to farm showing through. Farming, he pointed out, isnt an 8-to-5 job.
He likes to get after whatever the season dictates, planting, spraying chemicals and harvesting. A recently completed storage bin will add to his flexibility to store grain to await optimum prices without having to fork over a monthly storage fee to an elevator. Geffert also contracts some grain for delivery at harvest, or, as he did recently on a shorter leash, to avoid negative price fluctuations. During harvest of any crop it is predictable prices will fall, unless widespread disaster intervenes and crops do poorly.
A few days ago corn was fetching $3.50 a bushel, then took a few hits. Locally, it was $3.35 Thursday.
Farmers, Geffert included, are reluctant to disclose what their grain is yielding in bushels per acre for any number reasons. Consequently, he allowed only that his corn was doing better than average, with the assumption average would be a bit higher than meeting cost of input, often placed at better than $300 an acre for seed, fertilizer, et al. That doesnt include labor he hires a handful to help as needed with the ultimate consideration being whether bottom line at the end of the year is a positive number.
Geffert has three highway transports to carry his grain wherever he chooses, usually a nearby elevator. Local farmers do have the option to sell corn directly to chicken or livestock operations for feed, or the ethanol plant at Garnett, but most leave the decision to elevator managers and absorb the cents per bushel included in spot price for handling and transportation.
Selecting a market is more than a guessing game and Geffert defers to a broker situated in Salina.
He figures it will take a few weeks to finish the corn harvest, which by then will be about time to look to soybeans. Some are starting to turn, Geffert said, meaning in laymans terms the leaves are changing from deep green to yellow, an indication maturity is near.
