Looks like a hot week. Guys are finishing the second cutting of hay, and I wouldn't be surprised to see some airplanes flying on fungicides in the area by the end of the week. Right now it looks like the potential is still there for some good corn. The beans, not so much. The corn is just starting to tassel.
Everybody is wrapping up the soybean spraying. The corn has taken off the last two weeks. There is even a little bit that is starting to tassel. The corn looks better than the beans. By the end of the week guys will be going hard on the second cutting of hay.
With some dry weather, guys are getting after the spraying. I was doing some top-dressing of nitrogen and stuff is finally growing and starting to look good. A lot of guys are doing hay, some of them doing first crop and some of them doing second crop.
Last week guys were top-dressing nitrogen and getting their beans sprayed. Then we had about 1.8 inches of rain over the weekend. It wasn't a bad rain. It may have helped some of the crops. Hopefully we'll get back in the field and see some sunshine this week.
We got a little rain last week but it was pretty spotty. We had about a half inch at our place. I got some hay baled. Around the area a lot of corn got sprayed last week and there is some sidedressing going on.
Last week was a nice change of pace with some good weather. A lot of first cutting of hay was baled. I don't think I have ever seen so much hay put up in a week. It looked like a good crop for first-cutting alfalfa. There are still a lot of guys planting beans. I would guess half the beans went in the ground last week. There are still a few fields that aren't planted. Some guys are actually hoping for a little light rain to break the crust on beans planted last week.
We finished planting our beans Sunday. We kind of mudded them in but it is still a good feeling to have them done. Now maybe we can look at re-planting some acres where we had ponding. I would like to get the first cutting of hay done but we need a good forecast before we try to cut that. Normally we do first cutting somewhere around Memorial Day.
It's too wet to get into the field right now. A couple of guys did a little spraying before the rain rolled in Thursday night (May 23). We're just doing some cattle work. Pretty soon a lot of guys may have some decisions to make about whether to replant in some fields.
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Pease farms near Colfax with his father. They have about 1,000 acres, most of which is in corn and soybeans. They also have a small cow-calf operation.