Untimely rains and humid conditions created XtremeAg's Dan Luepkes, Lee Lubbers, and Chad Henderson a nightmare before Halloween, as they scrambled to drive crops out of the fields before disease and decay began.
Dan Luepkes and his son are on a farm in Oregon, Illinois. Together they cultivated 1,800 acres of dry land and irrigated corn, soybeans and hay. He uses underground drip irrigation and spins on the irrigated crops. He also manages a 200-head business.
Farmers in our area are trading corn horror stories, including me. After seldom raining throughout the summer, we received 3.5 inches of rain within a few days. It's not a good time at all. Corn that has been declining for a while is now beginning to rot, causing corn head headaches. One of the worst things in agriculture is flat corn fields.
The fields we harvested a few weeks ago were green and planted with volunteer corn. At this time of the year, our temperature is much higher than normal, which helps these seeds to germinate.
We just finished the planting of irrigated corn. After picking the sub-standard dry land planting area, we harvested about 300 bushels of corn, which is great. Our Valley Irrigation fulcrum and Netafim's underground drip irrigation system have brought huge benefits this year.
At this time, our corn is about half completed and is about to be completed. Tar spots arrived late, turning the bad situation into a worse situation. This corn needs to be picked first to maintain our yield before we lose it. Due to the appearance of tar spots this year, there is a lot of discussion in our area about spraying two fungicides in the next season.
Lee Lubbers of Gregory, South Dakota grew up in an agricultural tradition, and he clearly remembers using the remaining scholarship as the down payment for his first tractor and 200 acres of rent. Today, he grows more than 17,000 acres of dry land soybeans, corn and wheat. Lubbers said that one of the most important things for him is to keep learning and challenging himself to build a business and legacy that the next generation can be proud of.
The harvest continues. In South Dakota, we jumped from soybean harvesting and wheat planting to full corn harvesting. We fought till the end. I have always heard that this is a common problem this year, and there are still a lot of soybeans to be harvested in our country.
Our area has just rained half to 1 inch, and now the harvest will be suspended for a few days due to the cool weather slowing the dryness of the ground. We start at 70°F. To 80°F. The temperature reaches 35°F. To 50°F. The current temperature. During this time, we are regrouping and making sure everything is ready, and once the ground dries out, we can move forward. We may only need a whole week to process corn.
The wheat we planted for the first time looked good at this time of the year. Before you know it, the ground will freeze, and winter wheat will be dormant for the winter.
The supply chain problem is an ongoing problem; you never know when you need it most. This never seems to be the same thing-now there are always other things to be done on time.
Stay safe and reap happiness.
Chad Henderson is part of a five-generation agribusiness based in Madison, Alabama. Henderson Farms operates more than 8,000 acres of dry land and irrigated corn, dry land soybeans, wheat, and dry land and irrigated double-season soybeans. When not farming, you can find that Chad has inherited another proud family tradition as a drag racer of the Henderson Racing Team.
We are stripping the last corn planted in late spring. The harvest season is wet and rugged. We can say with certainty that our fungicide program has achieved results this year. Even in this year's wet conditions, when we rolled through each field with a combine harvester, we rarely saw signs of disease.
We used a few dry days to finish as much work as possible before it rained early this week. We just can't take a break. There is a 20% to 40% chance of rain every day throughout the week.
Our soybeans do not perform well in this humid weather. Our double-season soybeans will be ready for picking in about 10 days. We expect the yield of double-season beans to be 40 to 45 bushels per acre, which is correct with our usual double-season bean production. While waiting for the improvement of planting conditions, our wheat planting was postponed.
As input prices rose, we compared fertilizer prices to determine our plans for the next crop. Due to cost and nutritional level, we decided to use chicken manure on most of our land.
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