Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:15):
The Farmer's
Greatest Asset Podcast.
We believe the Farm's GreatestAsset is the Farmer.
Their knowledge, experience,mind, and health.
SPEAKER_01 (00:37):
Well, welcome to the
podcast.
I'm Jesse.
SPEAKER_02 (00:40):
And I'm Dr.
Leah.
SPEAKER_01 (00:42):
Well, we are right
in the middle of harvest.
Um actually should finish upsoybeans this weekend.
Um, so that's going well.
And maybe even get theopportunity to go with you.
What have you got going on?
SPEAKER_02 (01:03):
I am going to go
speak at a farm to table dinner
on physician burnout and justburnout in general, and how
returning to nature is what willtruly heal someone physically,
mentally, emotionally, anddefinitely spiritually.
(01:27):
Um the title of my talk is Whenthe Dream Isn't Enough from
Striving to Thriving.
And it's basically about how allof my dreams came true, like
becoming a doctor and having afamily and a wonderful husband,
(01:53):
and yet it was so depleting.
And how to get out of that.
SPEAKER_01 (02:02):
Exciting stuff that
you're um yeah, gonna talk
about.
SPEAKER_02 (02:07):
Yeah, I think
there's definitely a need.
You know, physicians used to beum the leading group of of
mental health problems and andsuicide, and now it is farmers
that have taken over.
Um and so it's going to be atalk to a group of physicians,
(02:30):
but it really can be used byanyone.
SPEAKER_01 (02:36):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (02:39):
So if if you are out
there and struggling, reach out.
Um, it is not always an easytime of year.
Although the harvest is comingin and you're reaping the
rewards, um, sometimes the goalis not met.
And that too can be anxietyprovoking and worrisome, and
(03:01):
there can be a lot of strugglewith it as well.
So if you're having a hard time,reach out.
Reach out to someone.
SPEAKER_01 (03:09):
Anyone.
SPEAKER_02 (03:10):
Anyone, anyone who
will take you seriously and help
you.
And if you don't have someone,that could be us.
So reach out if you need us.
SPEAKER_01 (03:21):
Absolutely.
So we got that coming up.
I'm looking forward to hopefullygetting to go with you to see
you talk.
Um, so we are, like I said,gonna finish that bean harvest.
And a little update there.
We've been talking about a lotall year how we're trying to
(03:44):
keep basically the moisture inthe beans.
And I'm not gonna say it's beena total success, but it's been a
success, I believe.
SPEAKER_02 (03:56):
Um But if if they
were higher, wouldn't would we
be able to cut them?
You know, like what would whatwould success be?
SPEAKER_01 (04:10):
Anything better than
10% or less to me at this point.
That's kind of sad.
SPEAKER_02 (04:16):
But and that's it's
been successful, definitely a
total success in that realm.
SPEAKER_01 (04:21):
It has.
We have had good yields.
Um so I'm gonna say the firstsuggestion, we'll just do a
quick, quick little recap.
Um I think the first suggestionis your bean population doesn't
have to be as high as what youthink it needs to be.
Um, my best beans last year theaverage seeding rate was 92,000
(04:44):
or something like that.
This year, right now it's uh thefield we're in.
I know the average population is100,000.
Now it's variable rated, so it'slower in places as low as
70,000, and never gets over120,000.
So your bean population does notneed to be as high as you think
(05:08):
it does.
SPEAKER_02 (05:10):
No, I think that we
we may be able to push it more.
SPEAKER_01 (05:14):
Right.
So then the other thing issugar.
I think the sugar has done a lotfor us, as well as the foliar
feeding.
SPEAKER_02 (05:22):
The micros.
With the micros.
SPEAKER_01 (05:25):
So just three quick
things population, sugar, and
foliar feeding.
Those are huge yield drivers.
SPEAKER_02 (05:38):
So I know we had
talked on another episode about
um beans and bean population,and that it was like the
opposite of what you do withcorn.
Like, but then that to me didn'tmake sense.
But so how low do you think youthat we could push that?
SPEAKER_01 (06:04):
I don't know, we're
gonna try.
SPEAKER_02 (06:06):
Right, because you
know, in this day and age with
commodity prices where they'reat, we want to get the highest
possible yield we can at themost at the least amount of
cost.
So um so like we don't want toaffect our yield by going too
low, but what if going lowerimproves your yield because the
(06:30):
plants aren't fighting eachother for the nutrients and they
have more room to grow?
SPEAKER_01 (06:37):
Well, and so
soybeans have always just kind
of been the redheaded stepchild,right?
They're just the companion cropfor corn.
We're just gonna throw them outthere because they're cheap to
put out there, we don'tfertilize them.
But the thing is, is the priceof beans, I don't even know what
(06:58):
local cash bid today would be,but it's less than$10.
Well, that don't make you anymoney because a bag of beans,
seed beans is not cheap anymore,and if you want to make money on
them, you have to push them.
So save a little money bybacking off your population,
(07:19):
first of all, but you have tomanage your beans now to get the
bushels out of them, and it canbe done and have a good ROI um
by using foliar feeding, really.
Um, and it's pretty easy to do.
SPEAKER_02 (07:37):
Yeah, because the
rent prices don't go down on a
bean year, right?
And all of the other costs thatyou have included, taxes, all of
those things, they don't go downon a bean year.
So we gotta maximize the ROIs.
SPEAKER_01 (07:56):
Right.
We have also done less beanacres this year just because
last year we got to the end ofthe beans and it was eight
percent because we just couldn'tget through the acres fast
enough.
Um so at the moment we are stillcutting 10 and a half percent,
(08:16):
sorry, 12.5% beans.
So I think we have beensuccessful in trying to keep
them uh wet essentially.
SPEAKER_02 (08:29):
So not dry, not dry.
unknown (08:33):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (08:35):
And we also started
something new yesterday.
We have been using the bagger,but now we are unloading into
the bagger out in the field.
How is that going?
SPEAKER_01 (08:47):
Put the beans right
in the bag, right out in the
field.
It's actually working reallywell.
SPEAKER_02 (08:52):
So do you feel like
it's improving your efficiency?
SPEAKER_01 (08:57):
I know it will on
corn, uh, because we will bag
some corn here after we're donewith beans, straighten into the
bag out of the field.
Uh so on beans, one, I'm havingto go so slow because first of
all, they're good.
Second of all, they're hard tocut because they're down and
leaning, and so the combining isslow, and we generally don't
(09:22):
have to wait on trucks on beans,but now we don't have trucks
running at all.
So yeah, no, the grain cart getsthere, dumps, and is back.
So and on corn, I am I guess alittle excited to see how it
goes because you won't have towait on trucks at all.
SPEAKER_02 (09:41):
So we have used the
bagger, but we were we were
drying the corn, so we took thecorn out of the bin and then
used the grain cart to put it ininto the bag at the home farm.
So we have been using it forthat.
Um, but that's not how it wastechnically intended to be used.
SPEAKER_01 (10:04):
Right.
The intention is to just do itright there in the field that
you are harvesting.
So and a lot of people are doingit now.
So as soon as we did it, peoplestart talking, start calling,
which is good.
I mean, it's a good storagealternative.
SPEAKER_02 (10:25):
So so, but you have
to have you have to pick a right
site for it as well.
Like you can't, you gotta makesure it doesn't have water
pooling around it and it's on,you know, it there are definite
pluses and minuses to thebagging experience.
But um, but yeah, we think thiswill be a a good alternative, a
(10:48):
great alternative to um havingto put up another bin or having
to pay such high storage rates.
SPEAKER_01 (10:58):
So bins have always
been um, if not the top, like
one of the top um investmentsand money-making things you can
do because if you have to takeit straight to town out of the
field, you take harvest price oryou have to pay storage.
So there's especially now fullcarry on the market, so we can
(11:23):
hold on to our beans and deliverthem or market them at a later
date.
So um, and this is a verycost-effective storage solution.
Because putting up a bin anymoreis not cheap.
And they literally it's atminimum two dollars a bushel to
(11:46):
put up a bin.
That's probably pretty cheap,but that's not including
electrical, any of that stuffeither, so or the equipment to
load it.
So the ownership of a bagger ischeap.
So yeah, we got that going forus.
(12:06):
It's going good.
SPEAKER_02 (12:08):
So new exciting
stuff.
SPEAKER_01 (12:12):
It has been a dry
fall here.
SPEAKER_02 (12:16):
Very dry.
SPEAKER_01 (12:17):
Very dry.
Um you hear a lot of reports ofcombine fires and field fires
and stuff.
So I guess I just want to say besafe out there, do what you can
to mitigate.
Mitigate those things.
Um, one thing you can do is umyou can hang a chain off of your
(12:38):
combine attached to the frame orthe axle, and that just helps
transfer the static electricitydown and away.
Um pick it up when you leave thefield.
Yeah.
Don't drag it and sparks flydown the road.
Um we we have done that in thepast, hung a chain.
(13:00):
I do have a leaf blower in theservice truck with me all the
time.
Just blowing the dust off,especially out of the engine
compartment.
Kind of keep that stuff away.
Um, grease your bearings, makesure your bearings are all
greased, and obviously a fireextinguisher.
SPEAKER_02 (13:18):
So yeah, stay safe
out there.
Um, conditions are super dry.
SPEAKER_01 (13:27):
I think they're dry
everywhere, yeah.
Not just in southeast Iowa.
SPEAKER_02 (13:32):
So it you know, we
had just a little bit of rain
the other day, and it seemed tojust be gone right away.
Just evaporate.
SPEAKER_01 (13:41):
Just slow us down a
bit.
So I don't even think the beanspicked up much moisture from it,
honestly.
SPEAKER_02 (13:48):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (13:49):
So anyway, that's my
big message right now.
Be safe.
SPEAKER_02 (13:56):
Also, you know, when
you're moving from field to
field, make sure that um youhave the help that you need.
And if you can't at all preventit, try not to do it at dusk.
It's harder for people to seewith the sun shining in their
eyes.
And um, you know, we want to tryto decrease those accidents with
(14:22):
equipment.
SPEAKER_01 (14:23):
Yesterday we were
driving the bagger out to the
field, and it's on a smallloader tractor, a hundred-horse
tractor, but that bagger ispretty wide, like every bit of
ten feet wide or whatever, soyou really can't see behind you.
And naturally, what do you thinkhappened?
We have to get onto the highwayfor half a mile or so to get to
(14:46):
the farm entrance.
Turning left into the farm, somecar tries to pass as he's
turning left into the farm.
Um, and I don't know how youmitigate that other than just be
aware.
And he, Caleb saw it, you know,nothing happened.
(15:10):
Uh, but we as farmers need tomake the right decision um and
be aware of what's going on andnot put ourselves or other
people in harm's way, really.
Um and we like to think, well,we're bigger, they better see
us, how can they not see us?
We have lights, all that.
(15:32):
Apparently, everybody else'stime is more important than
ours.
So they felt the need to pass atthat moment, and that's how
things happen quickly.
SPEAKER_02 (15:42):
I just don't think
that they think about it like
about the danger.
SPEAKER_01 (15:50):
Right.
So that's why I'm saying just besuper aware of what you're doing
and know that other people areso far removed from it, they
just don't get it.
So just know that you have to dothe best you can and you can't
change them.
So try to just be aware andavoid it at all costs.
SPEAKER_02 (16:12):
And watch for all
the passing cars because they
will.
And I I was going to town in mycar and was meeting a tractor on
the road on the highway, and itwas a no-passing zone, and the
car was going around the tractoron a curve.
(16:33):
And again, if if you know, yoube aware of those as a farmer,
but if there arenon-agricultural people out
there, like it's going to slowyou down not even a minute, but
could be a devastating thing foryour family if you get in an
accident because you're passinga slow-moving vehicle.
(16:56):
So just take a breath.
It doesn't matter.
Those two minutes are not goingto change much, or they could
change everything.
Right.
So everybody just the my messagewould be just slow down, take a
breath, just give it a littletime.
(17:16):
Like the farmer is moving asfast as they can to get to where
they need to go, and they don'twant to be on the highway.
Like they know that that bigpiece of equipment needs to be
in the field, and they're tryingto get there as safely as
possible, and they don't wantanyone to get hurt.
And I don't think anybody hasany intention of that.
(17:37):
It's just taking us taking aslowdown.
Slowdown.
For everybody.
SPEAKER_01 (17:44):
Yep.
SPEAKER_02 (17:47):
Because we're all in
this in this together in this
big beautiful world.
SPEAKER_01 (17:55):
So thanks for
listening.
And as always, go find us on allof the socials.
SPEAKER_02 (18:02):
At farmers greatest
asset.
Send us a message atFarmersgreatest Asset at gmail
dot com.
SPEAKER_01 (18:11):
It's a good day.
SPEAKER_02 (18:15):
Bye.