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Dry weather leads to unusual harvest challenges

A region manager for Wyffels Hybrids says the fall drought has led to some unusual harvest challenges.

Eli Klokkenga, who covers west central Illinois, says feeding the big, dry crop through the combine has been tough.

“What I’m getting a lot of complaints about is how it’s fluffing at the head, or maybe plugging a row here or there.”  He says, “After 60 days with no rain or whatever it was, you just got a plant material that is so dry it won’t even feed into the corn head.”

He tells Brownfield this week’s rains should help alleviate the issue.

“It was across companies, across corn hybrids, I mean that was just a product of the year.”  He says, “You know, I’ve had guys try different things, running the corn heads faster, running their deck plates wider than they normally would.  A reel would help. The bottom line is the main ingredient to that problem being solved would be moisture.”

Klokkenga says another home remedy farmers shared on X/Twitter was to apply Pledge dusting spray to the corn head.

AUDIO: Eli Klokkenga – Wyffels Hybrids