View From the Cab

DECATUR, Ill. (DTN) -- Harvest may be rolling toward a close in northern Alabama, but there's always work to do. This week, gentle, soaking rain showers provided a soothing backdrop as Stuart Sanderson, began to meet with landlords to settle current business and discuss plans for the coming year.

The crop rotations on Henderson Farms are expected to change in 2026. Wheat and soybean acres will be trimmed back slightly in favor of more corn and winter canola, a newcomer to the farm.

"We're still running numbers, and it is possible wheat could get a second wind, I suppose. But right now, that's the crop we expect to trim back on most," said Sanderson. Hard red winter wheat in this region can yield well, but it is also input intensive, he noted.

In central Nebraska, Ethan Zoerb is more than a little frustrated that combines have yet to roll on his family farm near Litchfield. It's an issue of dry down. Field checks revealed only one field of corn to be black layered this week. While he's all for extended grain fill, the threat of frost is closer every day.

Zoerb and Sanderson have been reporting in this growing season as part of DTN's View From the Cab series. The farmers volunteer their time and comments to give a close-up look at daily life on the farm and other rural issues.

Both farms received rain this week and are feeling good about soil moisture going into fall. DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick said both areas should dry out during the coming week.

"There is a slight chance for showers in Litchfield mid to late next week, but those are spotty chances at best. Temperatures should be warm there for the entire week, though warm is a changing term as our average temperatures continue to slide through the end of the year," Baranick noted.

"In Madison, they're also forecast to be dry, but we'll have to watch out to see if there is any impact from what is likely to become Tropical Storm Imelda early in the week. Forecasts are all over the board at the end of this week, but I suppose a few bands of showers may be possible depending on how it tracks. The big problems are more likely for Georgia and the Carolinas, though," he added.

Read on to learn more about why service trucks are an important tool to get the job done on both farms. Driving them could be a challenge this week for Zoerb as thousands of treasure hunters wend their way to his farm. For Sanderson, attentions turn toward getting small grains seeded as soon as fields are fit.

ETHAN ZOERB: LITCHFIELD, NEBRASKA

Talk about traffic jams. This weekend Zoerb's farm operations sit smack in the middle of the largest garage sale in the state. On the last full weekend in September, thousands of treasure hunters head to the backroads of central Nebraska for this 500-mile shopping spree called Junk Jaunt.

Zoerb Farms opens two machine sheds up for the event each year. Sales proceeds from their stop goes to Homeward Trail Bible Camp. In addition to the abundance of "stuff" to purchase, they serve lunch and fresh kolaches. Small towns positioned along the route also join in the fun.

The good will and community support from the event takes the sting out of losing the machine shop work area for a few days. But the traffic generated does require Zoerb to think about how and when he might move machinery safely during this three-day event.

"We have thousands of people parking at the farm each day. And a lot of people who attend are from outside the area and not accustomed to driving around farm machinery. I try to think about this event when we're planting and lining up crop maturities. It's best to not try to avoid moving anything along our highway during this weekend," Zoerb said.

Last spring Zoerb would never have predicted the harvest scenario he's facing now, though. The crop is maturing so slowly that he's beginning to wonder if frost will come first. The year started dry and with serious worries of long-term drought. But rains eventually came in enough volume to fill the soil profile and keep the crop growing.

This week he and his seed consultant pulled grain samples and found only one field that had black layered. "It was the very first field planted this season, a 108-day hybrid on April 15. That field tested 27.5% moisture on Wednesday (Sept. 24). We will likely open it up this week.

"The same hybrid planted one day later with the same planter was only 70% starch -- not even close to black layer. We like to see good plant health and some green tissue is healthy, but the dry down rate for our crop this year is just weird," he noted.

"We have numbers that were planted May 5 that won't be black layered if we get a frost the first week of October," Zoerb added.

His corn crop was treated aggressively for southern rust. In fact, there were a few fields that he did not treat a second time and he wondered if that was a mistake because the disease kept coming this year. Generally, southern rust is noted for zapping the photosynthetic ability of the leaf and causing premature crop death when severe.

"It's crazy how green our crop still is," he added. "Those fields I didn't retreat might have lost a few bushels, but the disease sure didn't kill them."

These kinds of observations go into written notes to be considered when selecting next year's planting lineup.

Zoerb spends countless hours scouting and analyzing the crop during the season. It goes beyond looking for potential pest or plant health issues that need to be addressed. He also wants to get to know and understand the characteristics of each hybrid and variety. He credits his father, Dale, with instilling the habit of watching and reading the crop.

"A hybrid might yield like crazy but exhibit some strange agronomic quirk that makes it enough of a troublemaker to take it completely out of our lineup," Zoerb said. "Yield is important, but it is not the only thing we consider when making seed selections. That's one of the reasons I like having on-farm trials. It gives me a chance to really compare and contrast how different genetics behave."

While the younger Zoerb likes the latest technology advances, written records remain an important part of their farming system. A notebook stays with each combine for jotting down thoughts and assessments. Eventually, he transfers the information to a spread sheet, but having those written records helps to avoid losing thoughts that otherwise might not get communicated.

Soybeans have also been slow to turn and drop leaves this year. Zoerb said it isn't unusual for soybean stems to stay green at times, but he worries that they could be exceptionally "chewy" this year.

"It will require that we drive slower during harvest. Green stems take more horsepower and more fuel," he noted. Harvesting tough-to-cut beans can sometimes be improved by driving on an angle, Zoerb said.

"Dad says a 5-degree angle is enough and I like a 10-degree angle. We agree we have less harvest losses when we avoid cutting with the row," he added.

There's very little negotiation about who drives a service truck on this farm. Every work truck on the farm is outfitted with tools and air compressors. Zoerb said a Honda motor on each of those air compressors is a necessity. Upgraded toolboxes with a better organization system on one truck has led to wishing for it on others. A vice is one thing he's considered adding to the work truck.

"Our work trucks take a beating as they travel a lot of gravel roads and are generally trailering a side-by-side or a four-wheeler most of the summer," Zoerb said. "Accessing pivot roads can be a muddy mess and these smaller vehicles work nicely for that."

STUART SANDERSON: MADISON, ALABAMA

Corn harvest was nearly complete on Sept. 26 with only 70 acres left to bin, said Sanderson. That leaves about 1,500 acres of double-crop soybeans in the field.

August was extremely dry for this portion of north central Alabama, but about 80% of the farm's double-crop soybeans are irrigated. Leaves have yellowed and are beginning to drop, and pods are drying down, Sanderson reported. A desiccant will be used as a harvest aid to help dry down.

"We're fortunate we had the ability to irrigate most of these double-crop beans, and they look exceptional. We could be jumping into those in another three weeks," he said. "Four combines with 40-foot heads can harvest 300 acres per day, so the harvest will go quick once we get started."

Most of the Henderson Farms landlords live locally and Sanderson uses the proximity to bring them to the farm. The farm has some share leases, so it's particularly important to go over cost of production and yields. On some farms, there are irrigation and tile projects to ponder, as well.

"Next year we are going to change up some of our rotations and go with corn-on-corn in a few places," he said. "So, we are discussing why that is economically better right now."

The cut off for wheat planting is around the first week in November in this area. So, there's still time to decide if wheat fits some of those acres best, he said.

"The real problem with wheat here is cost of production. It requires seven to eight trips across the field with a spray rig between herbicide, nitrogen and fungicide applications," Sanderson noted.

"We used to have three delivery points for wheat and we're down to one main buyer. There is a local co-op, but basis differences typically amount to about 75 cents difference in price, and the facilities are only a half mile apart in distance.

"The problem is that mill offering better prices can only take so much wheat. That's why I'm sitting on all my crop again -- there were opportunities to lock in good profits for late October and into November if I'd hold it. However, the current wheat market isn't getting me excited," he said.

The farm usually seeds about 2,500 acres of wheat. That's about what the harvest window allows. "We'll likely have about 1,200 acres of wheat total and replace most of the rest with winter canola. We'll still have about 2,000 acres of small grains. It just won't be all wheat," Sanderson said.

Service trucks are critical to keeping machines and crews running efficiently. Sanderson said that starts with a toolbox with drawers where each tool has an appointed place and fits on a peg. Trucks carry standard and metric sockets, wrenches and drivers.

A heavy-duty air compressor is a must on his list, as well. One of the farm's more complete service trucks carries battery powered impact wrenches. Most trucks have a small fuel tank. They depend on 3500 series one-ton 4WD trucks for service vehicles.

It may be tempting to trick out trucks, but Sanderson said they concentrate on stocking service trucks with tools that are needed routinely. "We have a separate trailer with a welder, generator and lights if we need to do a big service job in the field. But those are high-dollar items that we don't put on every truck or subject to the weather," he said.

However, there's room for a five-gallon tank of water and some hand soap, he insisted. "I like to have those tools clean when putting them back into the tool chest and a place to wash my hands," he said.

Combines carry their own window cleaner and light housekeeping tools. Cabs are cleaned each day before heading to the field.

"We eat in the field quite a bit. Everyone knows to clean any food out of the cab before they leave each night," he said.

A whiteboard in the farm shop collects notes about implements or tools needing attention. "Everyone knows not to bring something into the shop and just throw it down. Write down why is it here and what does it need?

"In the shop, if we're changing out planter parts, for example, we wrap them up, label and put them in the proper place. I'm a stickler about organization and we try to make it part of how we work," he said. "It takes less time than to be searching for things all the time."

Pamela Smith can be reached at pamela.smith@dtn.com

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