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New London, Wisconsin | I need a break from worrying about my crops so who else has screwup stories that are worth a laugh?
My first time with 200 bu yields was a complete accident. In 1982 when I bought this place it was poorly drained in some spots and sandy knolls in others. I wanted high yields and was a young BTO with 600 acres, a bullet proof attitude, and a college degree in ag. In other words, I probably wasn't a very good listener. I took my 36 inch 8 row planter and decided to up my populations a bit, and got it wrong somehow. I did notice the seed drum on that 800 planter was going pretty fast, but I did set it for.... must be okay. It was a lot high, about 42,000. A kind older guy that used to love to stop by and visit was absolutely stunned and distraught over my error. " Jim, I hate to tell you this, but you won't get any cobs" Ahhh don't worry Walt It'll be fine... I hoped... Dang those plants looked like they were all touching stalk to stalk all the way down the field.
If that wasn't enough, I used the co-op 28% applicator for that year only, and had no idea how to set it. "Oh it's already set" they told me. So I roll the N on that same field and end up with half the nitrogen I'm supposed to have. Not being a complete idiot, but close, I correctly calculated the different and appropriate setting for the applicator, reset it at that time and reapplied the N to the field for what was to have been.... oops... half again as much N as I wanted.
Luckily it did rain that year. Walt came back and was quite impressed with the corn. Big cobs literally touching each other all the way down the field. I had a 1420 combine back then with a 4-36 head. I had to go slow.... as in barely moving or the elevators would jam. I finally learned that 1 mph was about right in 30% corn with that yield. I had to unload in the middle of the 1000' long field as I could not even hope to make a round. I measured that field as dry corn in the bin. Exactly 3000 bu from a 15 acre field. so an even 200 bu crop. Boy was I proud.
I spent the next 20 years trying to hit that yield again. I still laugh thinking about how ironic it is that my first high yielding crop was a complete accident. | |
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funny stories of crop screw ups? I need to laugh about something!
