Welcome to the Farmer Josh Blog… Written on April 8, 2009, by Josh.Baynes.

Thank you very much for checking out my blog!  Are you ready to learn all there is to know about corn?  I know I am.

The corn is planted and now my fingers are crossed.  I will continue to blog throughout the summer on various topics related to my field and corn as I await harvesting time.  Keep checking back…

Visit to Green Carpet Event Written on February 5, 2010, by Josh.Baynes.

GreenValley Ag & Turf showed off some new John Deere products Thursday evening, Feb. 4, including the new 8R Series tractors. If you are familiar with John Deere tractors, you have probably never noticed any letter associated with any tractors. John Deere decided to change that up and now when you see the letter “R”, that stands for row crop. The “8″ is the series and the other three numbers represent the horse power of the tractor. So, in the pictures, you will see a tractor labeled 8320R. That means it is an 8000 series row crop tractor with 320 horsepower. The other tractor you will see has a “T” in the model which stands for a track tractor. Track tractors are built for less compaction on a field.

The interior the new series is quite plush with more visibility for operators and condensed controls which are now on two computer screens. There is even a sub woofer now! You heard me right. Presenters mentioned they realize farmers work long hours in the field now so put a lof of design effort into comfort.

From a big combine to a small one Written on December 2, 2009, by Josh.Baynes.

Check me out on this little combine!  I recently visited GreenValley Ag & Turf in Mt. Vernon and saw this toy.  I just had to get a picture on it!   

Farmer Josh Profitability Written on November 25, 2009, by Josh.Baynes.

If you have wondered about the financials of my project, I have created a link with all the information you’ll need.  You can find it here:  http://images.bimedia.net/documents/Farmer+Josh+Profitability.pdf.  It was created by Jim Jensen who works for Iowa State University Extension.  Most of the figures you’ll see are estimates based on state averages, not necessarily for the equipment and land I used.

You will notice the corn sales are broken up which is not what I did with my “small” amount of corn.  I sold and delivered my corn all in one shot.  That is called a spot sale.  Typically farmers will sell their corn, which they have a lot more than I did, in increments ahead of time based on the going prices.  In a way, they are gambling because if they can’t deliver the corn for whatever reason, like a wind storm blows down their field, they have to pay the company they sold it to.  That is why most farmers get insurance.

Luckily for me, all of my expenses were donated.  All money received for the sale of the corn will be donated to charity.

Farmer Josh Collects Pledges Written on November 20, 2009, by Josh.Baynes.

Today I headed to the field to collect pledges and money for the sale of my corn which will all be donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. The amount collected today was $5,335.58!

Pictured above (from left to right): 

Rod Peyton, R & R Ag Services, $862.65

Kenver Scott, Linn Co-Op Oil Company, $500

Jim Lensch, Lensch Farms, $500

Meredith Stewart, JDRF Representative

Josh Baynes, sale of corn, $2,472.93

Stan Herr, Linn County Farm Bureau, $500

Brian Lensch, Lensch Farms

I also went to GreenValley Ag & Turf in Mt. Vernon, main sponsor of Farmer Josh, to collect a pledge of $500.

Pictured above (from left to right):

John Sindt, GreenValley Ag & Turf

Meredith Stewart, JDRF Representative

Josh Baynes, me again!

Mike Pickering, GreenValley Ag & Turf

Special thanks to all people and businesses involved!  If you would like to make a pledge, click here to find out how.

Farmer Josh visits Schulte and Swann Written on November 5, 2009, by Josh.Baynes.

This morning, I paid a visit to Schulte and Swann on Z102.9’s morning show after they graciously invited me in to talk about all that I’ve learned about farming.  Although early for me (7:00 a.m.), it was a blast!  Those two, along with Waterboy and Clare, are a hoot.  You can hear them weekday mornings from 5:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.

Check out the pictures from their studio…thanks for taking them Clare!

Farmers Harvesting Corn Cobs? Written on November 4, 2009, by Josh.Baynes.

A new ethanol plant is expected to be built in the northwest Iowa town of Emmetsburg that will turn corn cobs into ethanol.  Typically, corn cobs are left on the ground after a combine harvests corn, but now farmers may have reason not to leave them because it could mean cash in their pockets.  Farmers recently gathered in Emmetsburg to watch demonstrations of cobs being harvested with new equipment from Case IH and John Deere.  To read more on that story, go here:  http://tinyurl.com/ygzbbsv.

From what I have gathered from my farming mentors, the biomass (stalks and corn cobs) left on the ground after harvesting leaves behind nutrients that future crops use to grow.  This brings up the question of whether or not taking corn cobs off the field will bring down yields?

What are your thoughts?

Farmer Josh Tests Corn Moisture Written on October 15, 2009, by Josh.Baynes.

My corn is mature, but it is still pretty wet.  On Thursday, Oct. 15, we checked the moisture content of the corn by pulling six ears of corn from my field.  As you’ll see in the pictures below, the corn has 29.4% moisture.  Ideally, you want the corn to be about 15% or less in order to take it to market.  Can the corn be combined at 29.4% moisture?  Yes, but it has to be dried in a drying bin.  Drying bins will get the moisture down to exactly where you want it.  It is nice if your corn is wet like mine, but there is more cost involved, meaning the natural gas used to dry it.

We plan to combine the corn as soon as we can and it will likely need drying out.  Ideally, you want stalks to be dry, but if need be, corn can be combined with a little moisture on the stalks.  Stay tuned!

Farmer Josh Harvesting Soon? Written on October 15, 2009, by Josh.Baynes.

There is a chance that we will be harvesting my 3 acres of corn tomorrow (Friday, Oct. 16)!  I’m told that we can harvest if the corn field is a little wet, but not too much.  No heavy rain is expected the rest of the day, so the ground will likely be okay.  The real question is the moisture content of the corn itself.  My mentor will be heading to the field today to check on the moisture content by hand shucking the corn and then testing it’s moisture.  He said if it is 30% or less, we can go ahead and pick it.  If it is up around 35%, then will need to continue to sit.

At whatever point we pick the corn, it will likely need to taken to a storage bin to be dried.  To take it to market, I’m told the corn needs to be dried down to at least 15%.  Once it is dry, we will then take it to market.

Stay tuned - I will keep you posted!

Farmer Josh Practices Harvesting Written on September 24, 2009, by Josh.Baynes.

Well, I can now add combining corn to the list of things I’ve done in my life! The farmer who is mentoring me began harvesting this past week and I was able to go out for a day and learn how to operate the combine so I am ready for when it comes time to harvest my corn. It was very exciting to operate and easier than I thought it would be. I was able to figure it out pretty quickly with a good coach.

This combine can be operated without the use of your feet (there is a left and right brake if you want for tighter turns). There is no clutch to worry about because the combine is hydrostatic and all the controls are right on the throttle/joystick to lower and raise the combine head and turn the head off and on. You can also turn the auger on and off  from the throttle/joystick. The auger is the big, long arm that swings out away from the combine and you can dump corn right into a wagon simultaneously as you combine. Once the wagon is full, the corn is put into a hopper and then it is hauled off by semi. The combine does have its own storage for corn, but if you are combining many acres of corn, using a wagon and semi will speed up harvest time.

Check out the pictures!

Chopping Corn Written on September 10, 2009, by Josh.Baynes.

Perhaps you have seen corn fields this early September that appear to have been combined. Actually, they have not been combined, they have been chopped. Below are some pictures of corn being chopped for silage. Silage is used to feed livestock. Essentially the machine you see in the pictures below, called a chopper, is mowing down the entire stalk of corn into tiny pieces and throwing it into a truck. That truck then takes it to a bunker where it is compacted (by a large tractor in this case) to remove as much air as possible to prevent spoilage.

Farmers that need silage will chop corn before it is actually mature so there is enough water left in the corn for fermentation to preserve the silage. If you want more information on silage and how it ferments, click here.