We’re just kind of waiting around,” is how Jimmy Ellis describes field conditions this week in western Wisconsin.
With small grains harvested, spraying finished for the year and a break for most farms between hay crops, it’s time to complete other delayed summer projects.
Tar spot was found in our area. Fortunately it’s near the end of the cycle for affecting yields. The corn is too tall for sprayers to drive through so that part of the summer circuit has ended.
The beans are finished blooming; after .75 inch of rain, the timing was perfect to put a polish on final yields. Japanese beetles have been spotted munching on bean leaves but not enough to treat. It’s the tail end of the insect-pest loop.
Small-grain yields in our locality were very good. We received a report of wheat that yielded as much as 100 bushels. And rye was in the 60-bushel range for a couple of farmers who offered the information. They also shared they thought fungicide applications were a profitable choice for their farms.
The big farms with their self-propelled choppers are finished with third crop, while the smaller farms have completed their first and second crops of baled hay. With all the rain we’ve had, I talked to one farmer who said he had both first and second crop down waiting to dry at the same time. It has been a challenge.
Ellis said his cattle are doing well with plenty of feed. There are lots of face flies and he had a couple of cases of pink eye that seems to have run its course. He’s happy with the cooler weather for the animal’s comfort; calves are growing rapidly.
He also noted test-plot season has arrived; he’s started receiving plot-day notices in the mail. There have been some pasture walks lately; he said he’s hoping to host one before the season ends.
Kaleb Ellis reported on progress with the wheat harvest in Washington state. He said they finished 14,000 acres near Pullman and then made the five-hour move to Nez Perce, Idaho, where they had 5,000 acres left to combine.
The crew was hoping to finish wheat Aug. 21 if the rain held off. As I write this, radar shows some rain in his area so maybe it won’t happen. After the wheat is finished they will move on to the garbanzo-bean crop before he returns home.
This is an original article written for Agri-View, a Lee Enterprises agricultural publication based in Madison, Wisconsin. Visit AgriView.com for more information.
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