A Farming ?

[Norm]

I know we have a few folks on here that farm. I am trying to get a feel for how the planting season is going for you. Here, unlike last year, we've had ideal conditions for planting. I keep hearing that east of us has not been so lucky and would like to know what it's like in your area.

I pre-market quite a bit of our crop and the prices are good but if the eastern corn belt has to switch to beans it may affect the prices going forward.

[timberfaller390]

Every thing here was put in the ground late, late, late due to too much rain. We lost the first cutting of hay because we couldn't get a dry week to bale. I am just now getting most of my crops sprouted and out of the ground. Actually if the rain had cooperated we could have already cut hay twice. Some of my cousins over in AL. are cotton farmers and they don't even have thier fields planted yet.

[Maineloggerkid]

Up here, it's been so wet that we are just getting ready to put stuff in the ground.

[Faron]

Our planter is rolling for the first time today.  It is none too dry, either.  Some crops mudded in last week in the area.  We have kind of rolled the dice and sprayed corn herbicide, committing us to our planned corn acreage.   I would think in our area some ground will go to beans instead of corn.  Rain across northern Indiana yesterday and this morning.  Dad heard a forecast predicting the Wabash will flood again.  Not sure about the White in our area. 60% chance of thunderstorms tomorrow.  This is southwestern Indiana.

We did manage to get our rye hay baled without getting wet.

[JV]

Our renters are done.  We had a very narrow window open and the guys burned some midnight oil.  A lot of notill done here with Roundup ready beans and corn, so they had last minute options.  One renter has a 16 row planter and 30' and 20' notill drills, so he can plant a lot in one day.  He can do both farms here in the length of time it took me to get my equipment out of the shed and get ready. 

[Modat22]

Most of the farms near me went in late late due to rain, the ones that went early are going to be short corn.

[wi woodcutter]

We were late here in Southern Wisconsin.

A good friend of mine runs 2,500 acres of his own and 2,000 custom. He has a 12 row and a 6 row and we were running them  around the clock to get done last weekend.

[Don_Papenburg]

On the 21rst i got sweet corn planted for the first time this year. then I got field corn started on the 22nd.  Got most done by the 24th  . had a lake in one field that I had to drain ,planted around the swamp on the 30th . started putting on bean herbicides that afternoon . I have 6.5 acres of beans to finnish when it quits raining this week.

[blame]

i'd say that less then 50% of the crops here have been planted  thou there ahas been alot of activity last 2 days

[baronthered]

Got the hay in but it keeps raining on the days it's dry enough finally to get something in the ground. >:(

[zopi]

We're a bit earlier than most of you guys...stuff went in late here..12" of rain in May alone. I don'r see alot of cotton going in here, very heavy on the corn and soybeans, first cutting of hay is cut baled and stacked...a week or two ago..

[Faron]

Raining again :(

[Kansas]

Crops went in in pretty good shape around here, outside of some washing problems from the 7 inches of rain we got right after most of the corn went in. Most people are no-till here, both the river bottom and hill ground. Got an inch of rain yesterday which we actually needed. My 33 acres of corn is about a foot tall. I probably ought to forward contract what the crop insurance covers, but being greedy, I'm holding out for more.

[Norm]

Thanks for all the info guys. I'm sorry to hear of all the rain and poor planting conditions. It reminds me of last year when we were just starting on beans about now.

Hopefully the markets keep going up to help compensate for the smaller yields.

[CLL]

Vast majority of farmers here have planted their corn for the second time. Had a guy up the road that said when he called the agent for them to come out and look at his corn that drown, the agent said they had so many filing just to go ahead and plant and send them the bill.

[stonebroke]

I hate to say this but we are actually a little dry. The crops went in early and are looking very well. Got two inches of rain last week. Until that the hay looked poor . the rest of NYS seems to have had more rain than us.

Stonebroke

[Sprucegum]

Seeding going full tilt here. This is mostly canola and wheat country with a bit of barley here and there. Hardly ever see a field of oats anymore.
The weather is bone dry and too cool, haven't had a decent rain since '05.

[Don_Papenburg]

First year since 83 that I have not had a field of oats . It was just too wet and almost too wet for the corn that took its place. there is still a small pond out there.

[Norm]

I've got 12 acres of oats this year. It's a cover crop, double crop for new seeded alfalfa. I wanted to seed r-r alfalfa but some dip fed judge has it's sales halted. I really need to cut my 7 acres of alfalfa now but the forecast is wet for a week.

[Faron]

Looks like we baled 396 5x5 rye bales off 44 acres.  Probably a little more than 4.5 tons per acre.  It is a good start to keep the cows fed this winter.

[Norm]

Do you plant something else after baling off the rye Faron?

[Faron]

It goes into soybeans. We fertilize in the fall for the rye crop and beans at the same time.

[Norm]

We do something similar here with old hay fields. Get the first cutting and then spray roundup for a soybean planting.

[Faron]

Do you double crop beans after wheat there?  Most wheat fields here are double cropped, but I don't know how far north that works.

[Norm]

We are far enough north to not be able to do that Faron. I've seen neighbors try it over the years and they only do it once. :D

[ely]

i will try and get some pics of my field corn up when i get them back, roughly 24 acres of R-R corn. this is my first year at it so don't laugh. :

[Faron]

Sigh!!!  Correction on that rye bale count.  326 bales, or about 3.7 tons per acre.  I wish my brother would spit out that DanG chaw before he tries to tell me something. ;) :D

[thecfarm]

Corn is just coming up here.I saw some first crop of hay the last week of May.

[Roxie]

We haven't had any flooding, but the rain has been chronic, and it's been cold.  We had one week of sunshine week before last, and a lot of hay hit the ground.  Anyone that didn't take advantage of that window of opportunity, has been out of luck.  Folks can't even cut their grass. 

Between the rain and the cold, the corn that's been planted is way behind schedule.  Beans don't seem as stunted.  Hay is ready for a second cut, when the weather allows. 

Normal temps this time of year would be 75 - 85 but we're currently at 52 - 64 and that's forecast out for the next week with rain. 

[farmerdoug]

We had frost the last two mornings here. : : :

Cold and wet here.  Just putting second planting of sweet corn in today. :(

[Don_Papenburg]

I am guessing that that is late for you also .  I put my second in on the 31of may ,last year I had four plantings already.   

[Corley5]

Cold up here.  We've still got the woodstove running  :  Finished the pumpkin patch yesterday which is week later than I'd like but it's been cold and is forecast to be cold for the next week.  Hay looks pretty decent but we need some heat to finish it.  I'm hoping to start cutting next weekend if the weather looks promissing 

[zopi]

Rain is getting to be a problem here...if this keeps up crops are going to be in trouble...

[Handy Andy]

  I don't plant any corn.  It's a crapshoot.  Some of the neighbors do, but they don't get a good crop every year. I prefer beans, and wait till near June 15 to plant, as sometimes July and August are very dry, and the beans planted late will have enough life to wait for a rain that usually comes 1st week of September.  Have some neighbors that plant in May, couple years ago they were swathing their beans, and mine made 40 bpa.

[lmbeachy]

The fellow who farms my place got the no till corn in early and came up good, but then the slugs got into it and he had to replant quite abit of it.

[zopi]

about a third of my corn laid down...can't win with corn, it seems...too much rain this year and almost none last year...my fault tho' i put in drip irrigation or it wouldn't have rained at all.