GLENDIVE, Mont.—The Sharbonos are busy out in the sugarbeet fields as the sugarbeet campaign gets underway in the east central part of Montana.
Brad Sharbono, who farms with his wife, Nicole, west of Glendive, said they started the first week of October. A defoliator cuts the tops off the beets and then two lifters, a Wic and an Arts-Way lifter, lift the beets from the ground, he explained. Then the sugarbeet harvester moves the beets into a bin on the harvester. From there, the beets are moved by conveyor belt and then loaded into a semi that meets the beet harvester in the field and empties the harvester on the go.
"We are about a fourth of the way finished," Brad said. "The tonnage on what we have harvested so far has been great, and we are getting more normal sugar levels as compared to those of last year."
Cooler weather in October dipping down into the 30s at night has helped with the sugarbeet harvest as warm weather can damage the beets when they are taken to the piling station and put in a huge pile.
Russ Fullmer, ag manager at Sidney Sugars Co., where the Sharbonos' beets go, said sugarbeet producers in the region last year all had a low sugarbeet percentage due to weather conditions, in spite of large tonnage.
The same was true at the Sharbono farm, Brad said.
"So far I am very pleased with what I have seen. However, as harvest goes on, I know we will probably start seeing some disappointment as the hail we had this summer did severely affect about a third of our acres," he said.
Brad noted the farm received an early frost a few weeks ago.
"Our corn was mature enough that the frost didn't damage the corn," he said.
As soon as they finish with the beet harvest, Brad will check to see if the corn was ready to combine.
"We'll put the roll tarps back on our trucks and try cutting some corn as soon as we finish beet harvest," he said.
They have finished fall field work for next spring, except for the fields they are harvesting now.
"We got everything sprayed and the fields prepared for next year before beet harvest, so it will be nice being able to focus on finishing up the last two harvests for the year," Brad said.
After the corn and sugarbeet harvest, they will clean, do maintenance and put the harvesting equipment away.
Meanwhile, Nicole and her mom moved their coffee shop into their new location at the Moose parking lot in Glendive, and are happy with how the new shop is working out, Brad said
Source: www.theprairiestar.com