Answer: The simple answer is everything we haven’t had time to do in September, October, and November while 90% of our focus was on the harvest.
December! Harvest is wrapped up – if combines are still going in December, we are not in a good mood (2019… yikes).
On Hartmann Farms, our goal is to be done harvesting the crop by Thanksgiving. We made our goal with a week to spare this year which allowed everyone to spend some much-needed time with family over the holiday.
So what do we do in December? The 2021 crop is in the bins. Fall fertilizer and tillage are finished. The simple answer is everything we haven’t had time to do in September, October, and November while 90% of our focus was on the harvest equipment and grain dryers!
Equipment needs maintenance, repairs, and cleaned before it gets stored for the winter.
December allows us an opportunity to analyze our agronomic practices from the previous crop season. We take a closer look at factors that could have affected yield – seed varieties, planting date, fertilizer and chemical applications – as well as factors that were out of our control, like weather.
Using all of this information, we begin to plan the crop for the upcoming season. Believe it or not, it is already time to begin selecting and purchasing those crop inputs.
The biggest task at hand for the month of December is to begin hauling the recent harvested crop to grain terminals. This December we have over 170,000 bushels of grain that have been contracted for delivery. This will keep our semi-trucks and grain trailers busy for the entire month.
We can’t forget about the pigs! We will take some extra time in December for maintenance and building repairs. The pigs need tended to 7 days a week 365 days a year. This includes Christmas Day!
We dial the busy-ness back as much as we can around the holiday to allow extra time for family celebrations. Our Christmas morning tradition is the family works together to do the livestock chores, much to the dismay of the children, BEFORE any presents are opened!
Wishing a very happy holiday season to everyone from the Hartmann Family.