We mowed hay on Saturday and Monday, but just baled on Friday and Saturday before spotty rain forecasts this coming week. The hay was beautiful quality, but very slow drying.  Manure is still being hauled on wheat stubble. We flew with a neighbor in his plane to survey the crops, everything looks very good thus far in the season. There is very little downed corn, and stand looks to be decent. There is some disease pressure, and the cropdusters appear to have wrapped up in this area.

Spotty showers. We did have a much needed 1.3 inches of a good, soaking rain on Wednesday afternoon and evening, and another 0.2 inches on Sunday afternoon.  We've still been cleaning out bins. The manure spreaders started flying every which way as soon as the wheat was off. The extreme heat earlier in the summer really hurt the pollination on the sweet corn.  

The wheat and rye have been mostly combined in this area, although the straw remains a struggle.  We tried the wheat on Thursday and it tested at 15.9% moisture, but it combined beautifully on Friday afternoon at 14.2% moisture. High humidity on Saturday and showers on Sunday night have delayed our straw, with similar reports of delays from the neighbors. Fungicide applications on corn acres are in full swing, with some disease pressure noted. We have been delivering on corn contracts th…

We had 0.7 inches of rain on Wednesday (July 15).  Wheat and straw progress has been slow. The neighbors have started, but our field still has a lot of green stems. Pop up showers could continue to affect progress. The alfalfa has some nice regrowth, and was treated early last week for leafhoppers. Crop dusters have been slow but appear to be gaining momentum. All in all, it's been a relatively quiet week. 

We've had 1.2 inches total this week, with the majority falling on Thursday. There was wind damage from the storm on Thursday, affecting only a few acres of one variety.  Second cutting of hay is in the barns, made in good shape before the rain, and leafhoppers remain a problem to be treated this week. Drift from earlier applications of herbicide are showing up in both corn and soybeans, with herbicide being applied to soybeans throughout the week. The cattle were minding the heat early …

Crops are looking somewhat stressed with the unrelenting high temperatures and humidity and only 0.2 inches of rain. The livestock are really minding the heat, with feed consumption falling off drastically. We are fortunate, but there are numerous reports in the area of extremely poor grain quality from last fall, with a fire at one of the elevators and light test weights in many bins. The local seed reps are starting to trap rootworm beetles, and we are fast approaching tassel and the f…

Corn is at V9 in the earliest planted fields. We've had breakdowns hindering progress in second pass herbicide on corn. We've had 0.3 inches on Monday, and another 0.3 inches on Tuesday. This area is still a touch dry and could use a bit more rain. Further scouting in the field damaged by army worms resulted in a decision not to treat.  We hope to make second cutting of hay next week, pending weather.