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November 2008
Post-Harvest Stress
Dear Friends,
I hear people say things like, "Now that you’ve got harvest finished, you probably don’t have anything to do." Of course, some of these comments are just good-natured ribbing, because having nothing to do is really a problem most farmers never face.
In some ways, post-harvest activities can be more stressful than harvest itself. It is true that harvest time provides it’s own stress factor with long, long hours in the field, anxiety about weather forecasts, untimely breakdowns and trying to find time to have a family life in the middle of it all. But, I often feel more anxious about some of the things that must be accomplished after the combine is parked and the grain bin lids are closed for the season.
If you are like me, during combining time, you put off lots of things that need to be done. Sitting in the combine cab, I always think about this work list and I worry about when and if I will finish it all. I sit there and try to come up with a priority list and the order in which I should attack it when we’re finished harvesting.
There are calves to be worked and weaned, miles of electric fence to put up around cornstalks and stubble fields, yards and buildings that need repair, and fall tillage for those spring wet spots.
I think post-harvest stress also comes from concern over grain prices as we start analyzing our year-end records and begin making financial plans for the next year. And the adrenaline that kept us going during harvest is long gone.
My Dad tells me that folks usually picked corn well into December in the old days, when it was all picked by hand. When I was a kid, if we finished combining by Thanksgiving, we probably didn’t have a very good crop. There were even autumn storms in early November that forced us to turn the combine around in front of snowdrifts, leaving the snow-laden corn for harvest the following spring.
It is a relief that harvest is over or nearly so for most farmers. We should celebrate the end of the season, give thanks for a safe harvest season and enjoy life a bit. But there is no worry that we’ll run out of things to do. Besides, there is always that list of things that need to be done around the house, just in case.
Talk with you next week.
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
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