Rain: Too much, now not enough

Ryan Hiser

We are getting things wrapped up with planting. We managed to get all of the corn in we were planning on planting. We were able to get the corn spotted in that we needed to get done, though it was probably in vain because we got a rain on June 6 that turned the ground to cement. A lot of our beans have spots in them too because of that rain. For the most part, we are alright where we are at, but it wasn’t the best situation this spring. We are still looking at replanting a couple places in the beans. We finished planting beans on June 20 and we replanted up to 2 days ago and we still may still touch up a couple of places. We replanted about 15 acres of corn. One field in particular, we thought about ripping up, but it turned out to be a really nice stand.

We still have plenty of moisture in the ground, but our plants have been reacting to the heat we have been getting. The corn plants are curling up, we call it pineappleing. We caught a little rain last night. We needed it to give those last beans a good start. 

My cousins have been baling hay the last couple of days and I helped with that. We have a load to go to Chillicothe and we have a lot of maintenance and wear and tear kind of projects. We need to get things worked on in the shop, cleaned up and ready to go into storage.

Kurt Wyler

The last few weeks did not go quite the way we planned. It has been a bit of a roller coaster around here. For 2 weeks after we finished planting, we did not go for more than a day to 2 without getting more rain. We got hit with some pretty bad storms that caused some messes. Up until then, our wheat was looking great. The storm twisted some of the wheat up pretty good. Luckily none of it is clear flat, so we should be able to pick most of it up. Our wheat harvest looks like it is still 2 weeks out. There is a lot of green in it yet. We cut our wheat off at the ground and put it into a windrow. We follow right behind the combine with the baler. 

You do not have to look very hard to see the wet spots in the corn. There is definitely a lot of yellow corn in the area. Our creek bottom ground is generally some of our highest producing ground and it has been under water 1 or 2 times. There is even some hill ground that is drowned out.

Now things have taken a turn the other way. The last week has been pretty dry. We were able to get about three-quarters of our corn sidedressed with urea here last week. And last night we lucked out and got two-tenths to a half-inch of rain across most of our farms we had spread on. We were happy to get the urea worked in.

All the rain was good for our hay. Our second cutting was heavier than ever. The rain and hot weather really made it grow. We would have liked to get the hay off a week or so earlier. The alfalfa was just starting to bloom. 

The heat can also put a lot of stress on the cows. When they start to get stressed, that is when problems can happen. Milk production has not been really affected yet. You can also start to see reproduction issues when it is hot. This week, temperatures do not look like they will be quite as high.

Nathan Birkemeier

It has been challenging, but it is nice to say that everything is planted and out of the ground. There were definitely some people still replanting beans even up to a week ago on June 20. Now guys are getting ready for wheat harvest. We had a couple of guys around here start harvest over the weekend. The wheat heads look pretty big and long and the fields look thick all the way across. I think there should be really good yields around here and good test weight if they can get it off before it rains.

We finished up planting on June 19. We are tiling 40 acres right now and we’ll put beans in on that as soon as we finish with the tile.

The rain held off for about a week. The last stuff that went in, went in very well. It was dry and the conditions were nice. Unfortunately, it is still dry. We haven’t had any rain in a couple of weeks and we are wishing for some rain now.

The beans like this dry weather and are looking really good. They are getting a chance to grow. The corn is definitely starting to show some stress. The corn that went in early or a little wet, you can start to see the tile lines in fields and the low spots are showing up. The corn that went out really early looks pretty good. The corn that went in late is looking good and the fields are even, but in the middle every field has problem spots. Some of this stress is going to carry into the fall, but getting some rain could turn that around. If we do not get rain, though, this later corn may really struggle because it is so small. 

There is a chance for rain towards the end of the week, maybe Thursday or Friday. There was some spotty rain around here on Sunday.  

Joe Everett

Up until last night in our area we have been really dry. Corn was starting to curl and you have been able to see it affecting the crop. Luckily last night around where I live, we got about a half inch. It didn’t hit everywhere we farm, but in this case every little bit counts.

Last year, we didn’t get hot all year. This year we have had more hot days in June than we had all last year. The high temperatures and the amount of time since the last rain has made a big difference. One good thing is this dry weather is giving the corn a chance to root down since we had all of those rains early. Now it is forced to root down deeper.

Our stands look pretty good. Last year everything was so perfect, so it is hard to compare. This may be more of a typical farming season in Ohio. Overall, I think we are doing pretty well, but of course there are some spots that got hurt by all the rain. In general, though, I think we are fairly satisfied with what we have. We are looking pretty good on weed control and we have not been seeing pest issues so far. 

Right now, we are not seeing much rain in the forecast, but we are seeing cooler temperatures and that is a good thing. Last week was too hot, too early.

As soon as we got sidedressed and fed that corn, it really responded. Now that we got it all sprayed it is looking good. If we can get the rain, I think this could be a good crop. We still have great potential out there. Now we are hauling beans, cleaning bins and getting ready for the Shelby County Fair. If you ask us, it is the best in the state.