AAFH Ask the Harvester: Mark and Sonya Dannehl

Farm location: Bertrand, NE

Number of years farming: 40 years

2025 Crop(s) harvested: Corn and soybeans

Q. Can you share a general overview of this year’s harvest in your local area?

A. The beans were very good this year. Irrigated beans yielded 80-90 bushel per acre.

Q. What’s been the biggest challenge with this year’s crop(s)? 

A. We had nice timely rains in June and July. August was dry and then southern rust and spider mites started to infest. Marketing has been a challenge.

Q. How do you store your grain? 

A. The basis has not been good, so we are storing just about everything this year at several bin sites as well as bagging our crops.

Q. How do you manage crop residue post-harvest? 

A. We have a cow calf operation and so we plant rye on our soybean stubble and graze cows and calves on this.  We graze all our corn stalks as well.

Q. What’s your favorite harvest memory

A. It’s always a thrill to see the yield monitor go over 300 for corn. It’s not a favorite memory but one we don’t forget of pugging the feeder house and not having a reverser on the old combines. And it’s always a favorite to have a delicious meal delivered to the harvest crew by the wives.

Q. Do you have a piece of equipment or technology that has been a game changer?

A. High speed planter, Draper head, No-till drill, have increased the efficiency of our farming operation.

Q. Is there something unique about your operation you’d like to share? 

A. Our son, Ethan, who is our 4th generation farmer also farms and runs his own cattle operation. Planting rye so we have a good place to run our baby calves on.

For more harvest reports and updates follow along at All Aboard Harvest – High Plains Journal.