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2022 is in the books, decision time for 2023
XtremeAg’s Lee Lubbers and Chad Henderson are both glad to be done harvesting their 2022 crops and it is now decision time for Spring 2023.
LEE LUBBERS – GREGORY, SOUTH DAKOTA
Lee Lubbers of Gregory, South Dakota, grew up in the farming tradition, and remembers well using leftover scholarship money as the down payment for his first tractor and rent for 200 acres. Today, he farms more than 17,000 acres of dryland soybeans, corn, and wheat. Lubbers says one of the most important things to him is to always be learning and challenging himself to build an operation and a legacy that the next generation can be proud of.
Dry and Dusty. It’s still terribly dry here in South Dakota. We haven’t had any moisture in a long time. We did our entire fall harvest without needing to stop once for weather. It’s the first time in a long time that we’ve done that.
We planted our wheat crop during soybean harvest. It needs a good rain for it to all germinate. We’re hoping to get some good moisture before the ground starts to freeze up. As dry as it is, the ground really wouldn’t freeze up much right now.
For being so dry, we are happy with what we ended up harvesting for crops. Test weights were heavy on both our soybeans and corn.
It was a long and difficult harvest run and everyone was happy when we were finally done. The girls rode with me part of the last day and that made them happy.
We started cleaning up equipment right away the next day to get things ready to put away in storage. It will all come back out in the wintertime to go through the shops.
Our custom cutter that runs with us started packing up right away and headed back to Minnesota. Most jobs they have are winding up early with it being dry over such a large area. They have crews running in multiple states and everyone is ahead of schedule.
We are in clean up mode, fall spraying mode, dirt work and hauling a little grain right now. The hours are shorter, and nobody seems to mind, including myself.
CHAD HENDERSON – MADISON, ALABAMA
Chad Henderson is part of a fifth-generation farming operation in Madison, Alabama. Henderson Farms operates over 8,000 acres of dryland and irrigated corn, dryland soybeans, wheat, and dryland and irrigated double-crop soybeans. When not farming, Chad can be found carrying on another proud family tradition as a drag racer for Henderson Racing.
Harvest is finished up. It’s now time for post-harvest maintenance. Equipment is being checked over to see what parts need to be ordered for the spring. It took a while to get everything in late spring, and we want to be prepared if next year is the same.
A lot of work has taken place putting in trials, scouting, and harvesting. This year, our weather has been a factor to consider in the final yield. We are going through our program for next year using the yield data we have from this year and making decisions. We’ve looked at different seed treatment options along with fertility and even tried some different equipment. In the next few weeks all our harvest data should be completely reviewed and we will start getting ready for spring.
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