So what happens now?

How bad is this snow for the beans I did not get off the field? Done hay for years now. Corn for three years. Last year I did oats, they paid for themselves but in this part of Michigan it is hard to compete with the Canadians and their pretty golden oats. I'm still selling last years oats out of a gravity box in the shed. Nice heavy oats, I use them for cover when I plant grass seed. Just ugly. But I digress....this year I tried planting a few soybeans to see how it goes. They would be long gone if the elevator hadn't been full. Now they want them but the dang things are under the snow. I have seen people pick corn and soy in the Spring. If I tried that with corn I wouldn't have a kernel left. Nothing seems to want to eat the actual soybeans though, only the plants when they were green. Just wondering how they will fair with a little snow and how it affects quality and harvest?

I never grew them,but I remember one year when everything got buried in the snow. We had a January thaw and I got back to shelling corn. I got to the elevator one day and a guy out east of town was in there with two truck loads of soybeans. The snow had melted off and they were cutting beans off the frozen ground. Maybe you'll get lucky and the same thing will happen this year.

The turkeys will love your soybeans when it gets cold!

Deer love soybeans and will have fun in your field. How deep is the snow? A few inches won't stop you from combining them, just go out when its 10 degrees or so. If the snow is deep then you will just have to wait til it goes down and hope there is something left.

Just do to the risk you want to finish beans ahead of the snow but that just does not happen all of the time in the Northeast. This year I have more out at this time of the year than I ever had before. The key is the condition of the bean seed and as long as it keeps good color and odor it is just a matter of them getting dry enough due to temperature or freezing to thrash. Really not much different than in the warmer months. It gets on a person's nerves and it has certainly gotten on mine as of late. Over the years I have lost very little due to molding or lodging during the winter. The reason things got stuck this year is we had a wet fall after having record drought this past summer. I am one of the few guys who can not afford to over buy on combines so I can't knock off 150-200 acres in a day. I wish I had a rotary machine to giving me more working days earlier in the harvest season but it is what it is. Back when I had purchased my most recent combine budget dictated what I could buy and that is a large reason why I have my JD 6620 combine which certainly is not a bad machine. Just not as advanced as newer machines is all.

Soybean plant breaks down a lot worse in snow over winter.

The beans loose oil sitting outside, tho the elevators don't test for that. But, it will be a poorer product. The beans will split something terrible because they are dried out. Again, the elevator guys will look at it, but probably accept it.

The pods like to shatter in spring when it finally dries off.

Good luck.

I cringed when I heard you got the corn done but beans are left.......... One doesn't wait on beans, when they go you get them in a wagon, truck, bin, something.

Again, good luck.

Paul

Soybeans in snow is not fun. Can be done early in the morning til your sieves ice up never. Had luck after dinner combine till drives get bad combine and head in heated shop up at 4 am park combine and head outside to Lett warm steel cool off good again kinpco and generator in field but didn't. Work that great.
Loren

Well then, at least there will be lots of soup to go around this winter!

Thank you! I had a decision to make...mine to live with now. It was snowing when I got there. The beans were already frosted with snow but the corn was not. The corn head was on the combine. I decided to run thru the corn and hope for the best. The shed is not heated, if I iced up the combine it might be a while before I got things going. Never done it so I dunno. When we have early snow USUALLY it melts and we have some cold bare ground thru the holidays. But all bets are off with the weather lately. Appreciate your thoughts as well as everyones. I'll hope for the best.

Like Jon F said if not much snow cut when real cold like below 10 and if lots of snow will have to wait. Get plenty of extra guards as the frozen ground will eat them. Corn will do better in snow since you are higher of the ground. Corn needs to be done in about the same temperature as the beans or will freeze the sieves and walkers. Want to check your walkers by banging on the bottom of them if they quit sounding hollow stop and clean them out. If you don't it gets real expensive and time consuming real fast. Been there about 40 years ago.

Dave if you only have a few inches of snow then you can run the soybeans in the snow. Any more than that and you done until the snow melts. I have ran soybeans with snow in them. I had the best luck after dark or on cloudy days. If the sun shines it will warm the machine and plants up enough that you will have trouble. This next week it is going to get very cold here. IF you only have a few inches of snow I would try to run the beans when we get these sub zero days/nights. When it is real cold and the machine is cold the snow will blow out just like dirt/dust. If the sun warms the pods at all then they will stick to the snow and you will plug the sieves.

Now as far as the snow hurting the soybeans themselves. It usually does not damage the quality of them this early. Later in the season if they have been under snow all winter they can mold. The biggest concern I would have is pod shell. When the pods goes from wet to dry or wet to frozen they will eventually split open and drop all the beans on the ground. I have never had soybeans last until spring. They usually are shelled out by late January or early February around here. So I would try them ASAP even if you have snow. If you wait too long you will get nothing. They will NOT stand until spring in snowy and freezing weather.

Dave, I live closer to the big lake than you, but I can tell you what I learned the hard way. If you get heavy lake effect snow of much depth it will lay the beans flat. If you get cold lake effect snows that are deep they will pull the plant down as it warms up enough to melt. Few inches of snow you can live with. Deep lake effect will end your show. Get them off if you can even if it means less than perfect results. You are a ways from that snow machine, but anywhere in this state you can get a lot of snow fast without warning. Michigan is to unpredictable. Get what you can while you can. It most likely will get worse if you gamble and wait. Best of luck,,,,Al