July 25, 2022 2022 Between the Rows, Sponsored, Top Headlines Leave a comment

We’ve been pretty fortunate around here. There have been some timely rains in the last 2 weeks with a total of a little over 4 inches. All the crops were definitely needing it, especially the corn that is starting to tassel. Everything is looking pretty good at the moment.

We’re not going to complain if we continue to get more rain. We’re feeling a lot better than we did 2 weeks ago. We were really starting to sweat it then. Things definitely look better now. It appears the corn will not be as tall as usual this year. 

We were able to get all of the wheat off and get the straw baled before the rain. All the wheat ran really well. We didn’t have any vomitoxin and didn’t get docked anything there. There was a little straw around here that didn’t get baled. The majority of our wheat was running in the 90s. The wheat we planted later we spun on and incorporated with a vertical tillage tool was on wetter ground. Some of it did get drowned out. It was still 65 or 70 bushels. 

The drier weather did slow our orchardgrass down. We are trying to get as much of it square baled as we can. We like to make 9,000 or 10,000 small square bales of that to market. This rain will help push that a little farther. We are getting ready to start mowing our third cutting today. We’re hoping to get that knocked out this week.

The heat has definitely had an effect on the cows. The cows further along in their lactation generally tend to drop off in milk production in the heat. It has begun to affect some reproduction too. This last pregnancy check we didn’t get nearly as many confirmed pregnant. It is not affecting the fresher cows as much. We’re hoping for cooler temperatures.

It has been a really interesting year with ups and downs along the way. It has felt like a roller coaster. Everything looks really good right now. We got some key rains in the last couple of weeks. The corn is coming into tassel. The beans are just starting to flower. I am really excited to see where the yields go with these ups and downs, as long as we can continue to get some more rain. 

Right now, soil moisture looks really good. In the mornings there is a lot of dew and there is moisture in the air. If you walk in the field and look at the corn stalks, right at the ground, it is dark in the morning with moisture. There are still some areas that could use more rain, but I’d say right now we are very happy with the rains we have been getting.

We have not seen any diseases yet. We are watching closely. Some guys have started putting fungicides on around here already and it will be a decision that will have to be made on pretty short notice. We have not found insect problems yet either.  

I think everyone is excited. Even when the corn and beans went under stress, everything still stayed really green. We didn’t see a lot of yellowing in many areas. I think there is still potential for good yields. It will be interesting with where prices are going. People are really pushing for the best yields they can. Things will still pencil out but it won’t be as lucrative as most people were hoping. Farmers are resilient. If it is tight in one area, hopefully there are different avenues where securities are in place, whether it is their contracts or inputs they bought early, something so they can lock in some profit this year.

All in all, things are progressing really well. We are really happy with the corn and the beans look good too. We’re starting to see some effects of getting a little too much rain right now. We’re pretty flat and we can see where the water had been sitting in a few areas. I don’t know how much that is hurting yield, but we really won’t know until we get later in the game. We still need some of this heat, especially these beans, to help them out. 

We are still applying fungicide in the corn. Based on the planting dates, they are spraying over a wide window to get it applied at the right time. We could see that for the next month yet. We are covering everything on corn. We really have liked the results we have been having on aerial application on our corn acres. We have a lot of money invested in this corn and want to do everything we can to protect it and make sure we have good end of season health. When we go in early on soybeans, we do put some fungicide on them too. We have not been seeing any disease yet. We are watching closely.

We are pretty happy with our weed control this year. In the past we have seen stuff bleeding through that we were not happy about. This year when you walk out in the fields things look pretty good. Even with the holes, the weed control is holding up pretty well. 

We are pretty fortunate right here and we have been lucky. I know a lot of people had a harder time earlier on but these rains we’ve had in the area have really helped out and brought everything to life.

Right now, we’re all focused on the county fair. It is fair week and so my biggest decision is whether I’ll get a funnel cake or a waffle tonight with my sausage sandwich from the Pork Producers.

We have some guys around here who were able to get in and get some decent stands. There are other places that were more unfortunate just because of the weather this spring. Things are looking a whole lot better than they were June 1. Some of the bean fields are starting to fill out and look like bean fields, but the calendar is starting to worry us a little. The corn stands are looking fairly decent but they have a long way to go too. 

The late planting is somewhat of a concern. The corn is tasseling and we are fortunate on that end. The beans are in a wait-and-see kind of period. We have experienced this kind of thing before, but not on this scale. 

We really haven’t put anything on yet in terms of fungicides. We are watching them to see what happens. We may decide to do that in the next week or so.

We noticed a bunch of Japanese beetles but they really haven’t made that much of an impact. We have found some stem rot along the creek bottom in some of the beans.

We are moving grain this week. We will probably be working on equipment and cleaning stuff up. We’ll start getting things ready for the harvest side of things too.

They are talking about some more rain in the next few days. We have had high humidity and warm enough temperatures to make the air feel swampy. 

Ryan Hiser We are getting things wrapped up with planting. We managed to get all …

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August 19, 2022 — Our forecast is largely unchanged this morning. We still have some moisture in our outlook, and overall no major heat problems…More from Chief Meteorologist Ryan Martin

August 19, 2022 — Our forecast is largely unchanged this morning. We still have some moisture in our outlook, and overall no major heat problems…