Has anyone else noticed how tough the cornstalks are this fall??

My goodness they are tough! I tried to pull one out of the ground or snap it off at the ground and could hardly do it. Then I picked up a section of stalk about 1"-1-1/4" in diameter and about 18" long and I could NOT even bend it over my knee! It was like a doggone steel bar or stick of ironwood.

This was in a 200 bu+ field in C MN and I was wondering if this was just the year or new genetics or whatever....is this why we are getting higher yields or just a weather fluke?

This was in some heavy black ground. Unfortunately in some sandier ground not too far away the stalk and yields were sad to see due to the drought. Soil type sure showed itself this year. In my area of WI we often curse the clay hills but this year those clays held moisture when we needed it.

Cutting these stalks this year is taking more hp on the corn head/knife rolls and more pressure on coulter type carts etc than I have ever seen before. They are tough!

Jim at Dawn