Harvest is mostly done. The combine is parked. It is tempting to call the season finished.
Take one more walk first.
Not a drive past. A walk. Boots on the ground, field by field, while what happened this year is still easy to see.
What the field will tell you now
Look at the low spots. If water sat there this fall, it will sit there again in spring. Note it now, while the mark is plain.
Look at compaction. Headlands and grain cart tracks tell the truth after harvest. You can see where the ground took the weight.
Look at residue. Even cover is good news. Windrows and bare patches are a note for next year, not a problem to fix today.
Look at the edges. Weed escapes along the fence and the waterways are easy to miss from the cab. On foot, they are hard to miss.
Keep it short
You do not need a report. You need a few honest lines per field.
Field name. What you saw. What you would do about it. That is enough.
Write it down the same day. A note made in November is clear. The same note made from memory in March is a guess.
Winter work starts here
Winter is when the plans get made. Seed. Tillage. Drainage. Money.
Those plans are better when they start with what the field actually showed you, not what you think you remember about it.
One walk. A few lines. That is the cheapest planning work you will do all winter.
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