Racing the elements: Herbst and crew react to heavy autumn rainfall

(Sentinel photo by Jack Haralson) Darwin Herbst of Merrill and his brother Melvin empty loads of corn into two of the three semis they use to haul grain for sale. With so much time being able to combine this fall, they ran constant from Nov. 11 to Dec. 5 getting every bit they could battling small rains in between. [Click to enlarge]

When the September harvest rolled around this year Darwin Herbst thought it would be business as usual.

But that wasn't the case thanks to a very rainy October.

Herbst, of Merrill, has been farming his whole life.

(Photo by Jack Haralson) Barely beating the snow, Darwin Herbst of Merrill and his helpful crew did an excellent job of racing the clock and the elements. [Click to enlarge]

This year was different for the Herbst farm and most farmers in the area.

Their soybean harvest started September 28 but didn't finish until November 9 because of the rain through most of October.

Soybean harvest on the average would have been done by mid-October.

During harvest, Darwin and his brother Melvin Herbst run two eight-row 30-inch combines full speed covering as much land as they can from dawn until far into the night.

To keep up with them the crew runs three semi-trailers, and behind the tractors they run three 500-bushel grain carts. They run the smaller carts to control soil compaction.

So much work goes into harvest that people don't think about, especially getting into wet weather and impending snow.

When a load of combined grain is ready to go to the elevator or co-operative for sale, farmers have to deal with moisture percentage.

In order for the grain to go into the elevator for sale it needs to be dry. High moisture causes mold.

To find out if the grain is dry enough they use a probe and measure the moisture percentage.

Herbst has a tester he uses in the field to gague whether the grain can go straight to town or if it first must go to the dryer.

Farmers get charged per bushel to dry the grain and bring the moisture percentage down.

This year Herbst combined a lot of soybeans that had 16-18 percent moisture.

Normally soybean moisture runs 10-13 percent.

High moisture soybeans can mean farmers are charged upwards of one dollar per bushel, taken off the soybean selling price, running approximately $10 a bushel.

As for corn, Herbst's harvest started on November 11, well behind schedule.

"Corn yields varied according to yield monitors from 170 bushels to 245 bushels, averaging 200 bushels per acre," he said.

The moisture readings on the corn varied from 16-24 percent, depending on seed brand and relative maturity.

Moisture percentage levels around 14 are ready to sell. Otherwise it must be dried.

The longer harvest ran, the more farmers had to rush to get to field where the possibility of mold was a high risk.

All of the factors this season made drying costs very expensive and harvest very slow.

Another time killer followed the haul to sell the grain, the wait in line. Trucks and tractors were constantly in line, waiting as long as two hours.

Then they headed back to the field for the same process over and over.

They fought rough, no maintenance roads deep with mud; drove in the dark on steep terraces, and wrangled the semi-trailers in and out of muddy entries to the fields.

Getting this year's harvest done fighting the elements took a good crew.

For the Herbst crew, Darwin's wife Susanne kept them all fed.

Everyday, twice a day she would bring the crew meals. They were never all in the same spot. She covered lots of acres searching in the dark and finding them in the fields.

Seven to eight guys ran full speed for Darwin: Jack Haralson, Donald Ruhland, Randy Schulz, Richard Foley, Marcus Schuttler, Marlin Herbs and Melvin Herbst. Plus two mythical characters Ethel and Mr. Moose who provided humor.

"These guys made harvest more enjoyable because of their joking around and hard working attitudes," Herbst said. "Harvest is long and slow but we should be thankful for the bountiful crop God gave us."