By Andrea Hay ahay@nebraska.tv
Marlin Murdoch is watching out for fires on a dry, hot harvest day, saying that's a disaster he doesn't want to repeat.
"Last year we did have a fire on a farm and I just about lost a combine. It was really a bad deal," he said.
Farming in the Orleans/Oxford area and on up to Holdrege, it's a busy time for the Murdoch brothers, who spend long days in the fields.
"Today we're harvesting soybeans, and as you can see, it's a windy, dry day," he said Tuesday afternoon, standing on the intersection of 716 and F roads in Orleans.
The dry weather brought a rather rapid start to harvest. "It makes the stems dryer, and you're just able to go faster with the combine and get more done in a day," said Murdoch.
But what's good for the Murdoch's of in Nebraska is bad for some southern states.
Murdoch's even picked up some extra work in the midst of his busy season.
"I brought in some cattle from New Mexico; we had some friends that had really dry weather down there and couldn't keep their cattle. The hay is so expensive that they can't afford to keep them down there," he said. "What I tell a lot of people is, whatever we get is better than what a lot of people are getting this year."
He said farmers in harvest avoid disaster by getting field work done while there's not wind and weather in the way of destroying crops. "You want to get the crops out before you get a bad storm. Whether it's snow, or wind that might blow the crop over."
Combine the higher prices of corn and beans with the rapid harvest, and this year looks quite promising, said Murdoch.
"With the prices and the yields, it's probably going to be our best year ever."
