Jimmy Crack Corn....(and a shout out to Saxon Creamery)

Today is the first day of this years final harvest - high moisture corn.  Most of our 800 acres of corn have already been harvested as silage to provide for the forage needs of the cows for the coming year.  While our yields were not great, they were good enough that we have about 200 acres left for corn as grain.  We've been watching the corn dry down over the past several weeks to catch the proper moisture level and today was the day to call up the combine.  This machine takes off 6 rows of corn at a time and removes the kernels, leaving the stalk and cobs in the field.  The kernels are then transferred to a truck and hauled to our farm.

Once at the farm, the corn is loaded into a grinder (back left) and ground into a fine material.  This is necessary so that all the nutrients in the corn can be absorbed by the cows.  Once ground it is packed into this 40'x12'x200' feed bunker.  We pack it super tight with this large tractor to ensure that oxygen does not spoil the corn.  When we complete harvest we will cover with the large pieces of plastic that you see draping the walls and top with tires.  The corn will ferment for a long as possible before feeding to the cows.

Every year at this time, I find myself humming Jimmy (Dad) Cracked Corn.  Which did you know was Abe Lincoln's favorite song and was written about a slave and his master.  I always thought it was about farmin!

On another note, we are blessed to have a great cheese making facility in our neighborhood.  Please check out the front page article written about Saxon Homestead Creamery in our local paper.  Saxon Homestead Creamery Front Page Article.  While I haven't ever met a cheese I don't like, Big Ed's is my favorite at Saxon.  You can also check them out at http://www.saxoncreamery.com/. 

Enjoy the fall season!