As harvest time nears, now’s the perfect time to get in the field and take final notes before you start up the combine. Don’t rely solely on your yield monitor because though it may show you numbers, it won’t help you determine why things are looking the way they are. And you need to answer that question before you can make informed decisions for next year.
So take a walk into your fields with these checklists:
Corn Harvest Checklist
- Stand count
- Number of viable ears per acre
- Size of ears
- Tip back
- Disease/mold pressure
- Late season plant health
- Drydown
- Stalk quality
- Weed pressure
Soybean Harvest Checklist
- Stand count
- Pod set
- Pod location
- Branching
- Size of bean
- Disease pressure plant and pods
- Take note of any odd spots in the field
- Weed pressure
Take diligent notes on each of these factors. For example, by looking at stalk quality, we can take harvestability into consideration. You may want to harvest plants with potential stalk issues first. By noting exactly what weed pressure is out there, we can determine any resulting drop in yield and consider what herbicides we might need to add to the mix to help control the issue next year. All of these things will help you tie your data together and ensure you reach your maximum yield potential. So remember, yield monitors are good, but they’re only as good as the notes you take to complement them.
If you’d like me or your regional sales agronomist to walk fields with you, just give us a shout, and we can help analyze the state of your field in time for harvest.