I think we have some pretty decent crops in our area. The rains Saturday night were huge. There was a little wind but nothing major. It was not a good haymaking week, with a couple of little showers and poor drying conditions. I drilled alfalfa and orchard grass Saturday so the rain was huge for that. I think there’s some pretty good yield potential on corn in this area.

This week we got some hay made and were fortunate to get a shower this weekend. It has rained a decent amount this morning already. There are some pessimistic voices in our area concerned about the borderline drought we are in, but this rain should help. Corn, for the most part, should be at the point where the crop is what it is. For beans, we need some more consistent rain.

We finished combining our oats. They yielded pretty well. I think the aerial application of fungicide helped with that, but it took them longer to get dried out than we would have liked. We are starting our third cutting of hay this week. We are in need of rain for corn and soybeans and hay. If we are going to get a solid fourth cutting, we could use some good showers over the next week or two.

We were able to get some oats combined last week. A lot of fungicide was being sprayed on corn and soybeans in our area, and waterhemp continues to be a problem. It doesn’t look like anyone is immune to it at this point. Crops around here are looking good. There are a few fields of corn that aren’t tasseled yet, but they were planted later. Things are looking as good as you could expect in a year like this.

We are looking to get our oats combined. We were able to get our second cutting of hay last week, which is a good feeling. We are sitting in a good spot for hay. We got some decent showers last week. We kind of got to a point this summer where we weren’t dry, but we were in need of rain, especially with corn pollinating. Beans are starting to look decent in a lot of places. Thirty-inch rows are starting to close a lot better.

Within the next couple of days, we should finish up the second cutting of alfalfa. We've had good weather from the standpoint of getting dry and getting things done without rain. Loading bales in 90 degree heat hasn’t been fun, but that comes with the territory. Corn is tasseling in a lot of fields. Looking across the countryside, you can see the difference between fields that had a lot of erosion and those that didn’t.

We were able to make a little bit of hay. We are baling some today, and it looks like it should be a really good week for hay making. I’m hoping the forecast is accurate because there isn’t a bunch of rain in it. Last week was a good growing week — corn is 6 foot or taller in some places. Some soybeans pretty much have the middles covered — even a lot of the stuff planted later.

I’m currently at the county fair and we got some good showers around 8 a.m., so I would assume the home farm got some good rain as well. This week, we mowed some of the oats, and that needs to be baled yet. They are approaching the doughy stage. A lot of beans were being sprayed this week. Crops came a long way this week with the sunshine and heat.