Overall, a nice weather week. Corn looks like it’s shot up 2 feet since last week's rain. Soybeans are starting to grow up enough to get some canopy but seem a little short this year. However, I’ve been told short beans really stack the pods. Looking to next week there’s a chance some fungic…
Our farms received a much-needed rain early Saturday morning and then got another round of precipitation late Saturday night. Amounts ranged anywhere from 2.5 to 4 inches, and it seemed to soak in well. The rain was very well timed and should move the crops along for a while. Both corn and s…
Let’s start with the positives — hay weather was great this past weekend, and a lot of good bales were made. The early-planted corn looks good, later-planted corn is looking a little rougher because its root development isn’t as good. I think the beans are doing OK, but they’re beans so who …
On and off rain showers helped provide enough moisture to help push the corn and beans along. Corn is starting to get that dark green color that we so badly want to see. A lot of corn is post sprayed, and I would imagine people will start post spraying beans this week. It’s been a while sinc…
We had near-perfect weather this past week. The cows should be very happy with the hay that was made, and we had ideal conditions for post-spraying corn. As far as plant health, corn is still searching for nutrients, but with rain I think it will have the beautiful green color soon. Soybeans…
A week of on-and-off showers amounted to 1 to 1.5 inches of rain. I saw some pictures around Monmouth that had hail so thick it looked like it had snowed. Here, we were fortunate to avoid huge amounts of rain and severe storms. The corn has grown enough that most sprayers will start next wee…
Most of the crop in our area is planted and a good percentage of it is out of the ground. To me, the stands look pretty good. I’ve heard some corn planted around May 1 has a weaker population due to some crusting on top, but I think overall it’s hard to complain about the crop that’s growing…
Last week I felt like I was able to plant Illinois ground with Florida weather! All of our corn is out of the ground and solid green, which is a lot nicer than the two weeks of sickly looking plants that we are accustomed to. Beans came up in five days. We received scattered showers Friday. …
Not a whole lot happened this past week with off-and-on rains that amounted to around 1 inch of precipitation. The soil seemed to stay above 50 degrees, according to our thermometer. The corn has put out a root and small sprout. I would guess we’d have corn out of the ground this week with t…
As expected, planting got off to a fast start in our area. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so many people start planting at once. We planted a lot of corn this past week — right or wrong, we will know this fall. Driving by fields it looks like more beans went in, but there’s a lot of corn plante…
Still playing the waiting game for planting, but we were able to miss the major rains that the north and west received. I would guess planters will start this week. I talked with a friend from Christian County who claimed about every planter in the county was out Saturday, and I was pretty e…
This past Christmas my kids were upset that they didn’t get a “white” Christmas, well how about a “white” Easter? What started as rain turned into snow. A lot of sprayers, fertilizer bars, tillage tools and even a rare planter or two were rolling late last week. My hope is to plant later in …
Until this past weekend, I was really starting to think the sun had given up on us. But we received some much-needed sun and warm weather both Saturday and Sunday. With the 25 mph sustained winds on Sunday, fields really dried out. There will be some fieldwork started as farmers and service …
Cold with periodic rains was the theme for March. Lawns and pastures are starting to turn green while the air sends hints of spring. Very little field work, if any, has been done and the upcoming week looks like more of the same. The rains have been slow and steady, which is welcome this tim…
Drew DeSutter farms with his dad Jim, uncle Randy and cousin Matthew in Knox, Mercer and Henry counties. The family follows a 50-50 corn soybean rotation and has been using no-till for 25-30 years. “It works well with the soil here,” he said of the rolling hills in Knox County. “We’ve tried …
DeSutter farms with his dad Jim, uncle Randy and cousin Matthew in Knox, Mercer and Henry counties. The family follows a 50-50 corn soybean rotation and has been using no-till for 25-30 years. He calls raising 30 cows his hobby.
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