MGGA Weekly Crop Condition Survey
June 26, 2018
Alex Smith - Big Horn County
No field work this week due to 5 rain events. Looks like some nice weather coming. Moisture conditions are excellent receiving 1.7 precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is good in the filling growth stage with an expected 60 (bu/A). Barley is good in the booting growth stage with an expected 60 (bu/A). The tall alfalfa crop and heavy downpours have knocked it flat on the ground, hope we can get most of it. A few fields in the area were swathed and not dried for bailing and are the color of tobacco now.
Robert Bold - Fergus County
Had a super good week. Done crop spraying and just about done top dressing spring wheat. Crops really look good. Been a cool spring/summer--just right for wheat and barley. Anything above 85 is yield reducing. Let's see if we can keep the hail away. Moisture conditions are good receiving over and inch but under 2 inches precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is good in the filling growth stage. Spring wheat is good in the heading growth stage. Barley is good in the heading growth stage.
Greg Mathews - Judith Basin County
Since last Saturday had 2.43 rain, some dumpers and some flooding. Everything is soaked as the water table is higher than the bottom of the ditch. WW is about done heading SW and barley are getting close to the flag leaf. Some talking about applying liquid fert to SW. Everyone waiting for a window to start haying as the alfalfa is blooming. Still have not sprayed SF yet, too muddy. Everything looks good but did have hail hit the Lewistown area hard Thursday night, crops and hay took a beating. Moisture conditions are excellent receiving 2.43 precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is excellent in the filling growth stage with an expected 80 (bu/A). Spring wheat is excellent in the jointing growth stage with an expected 40 (bu/A). Barley is excellent in the booting growth stage with an expected 60 (bu/A). Problems in the field are kochia, prickly lettuce, russian thistle, some buckwheat and a little volunteer grains.
June 19, 2018
Kurt Voss - McCone/Dawson County
Moisture conditions are good and timely rains keep coming. Over an inch of rain in the past few days. Crops are looking good at this time with no unusual disease or weed pressure. What a difference a year makes. Spring wheat is good in the jointing growth stage. Barley is good in the jointing growth stage.
Robert Bold - Fergus County
Super nice rain!! We had .75 in before last night. Temperature wise June has been a good grain growing month. This moisture should help getting things back to average. May was less the 70% normal moisture for us. And of course no work in April so 7 weeks was condensed into 4 weeks. Moisture conditions are good receiving .75+ precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is good in the filling growth stage. Spring wheat is good in the tillering growth stage. Barley is good in the booting growth stage. Lots of hay on the ground. Tonnage is disappointing. Looked very good standing. Not much for pulse crops here this year. The late seeding had pulse acres put into grains or prevented plant. Problems in the field are lots and lots of kochia. A big Canada Thistle year. Duty free I presume. Also Russian Thistle is showing up. Also duty free I presume. Is there an American Thistle? Will begin harvest about 8 days and 42 hours after Dan Works.
Terry Angvick - Sheridan County
Crops look good so far. They are growing fast and are outpacing available moisture. Beginning to show signs of stress. Area farmers are busy crop spraying. Little to no rain for the majority of the county. Need moisture soon or .... Moisture conditions are poor receiving none to just a few scattered tenths of precipitation in the past week. Spring wheat is good in the tillering growth stage with an expected 20 (bu/A). Peas are starting to flower. They look good, but as stated earlier, the amount of growth cannot be supported by the lack of subsoil moisture. Same for lentils and chickpeas. Lentils don’t have the lush growth compared to peas, so are holding in there. Problems in the field are scattered wireworms and the usual weed spectrum with kochia and RT leading the way. Wild oats and green foxtail are primary grassy weeds. No diseases yet. Been too dry! Do have overnight humidity and dew. Could be a problem for chickpeas. Getting closer to harvest every day, will begin the end of July for peas. Early to mid-August for first durum.
Mitch Konen - Teton County
RAIN. That is a big four letter word at times, and a welcome one this time of year. I was busy last week irrigating and forgot to report. But we are catching up with the crop staging and mother nature is helping us out with carrying the late crops to a better irrigating stage. It was getting dry, but the sub moisture was adequate to sustain crop growth. Stress was evident when it got hot. Now the rain is welcome sight for those who haven't cut their hay yet, (and there has been quite a bit cut) and those about to go full steam into irrigating. Not much irrigation has actually happened except for some sprinklers. Sounds like the reservoirs are still full and the excess is being dumped down the river. Flood gates are open again as it sounds like the back country received 2"+ of rain over the weekend. Crops are progressing vigorously, as are the weeds. Grasses along the roads and ditch banks are headed out. Winter wheat is flowering, barley is flagging, and spring wheat is tillering and jointing. Alfalfa is budding and flowering but the dryland grass has not headed out yet. Rain will delay its harvest with a welcome. Still have some late spring wheat to spray. The peas in the area are looking outstanding and starting to flower. The 'chicks' or 'garbs' are looking great as well. Moisture conditions are excellent receiving 1"-2"+-, depending on location, of precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is excellent in the heading growth stage. Spring wheat is excellent in the jointing growth stage. Barley is excellent in the booting growth stage. Dryland hay is outstanding with this rain pushing harvest into July. Problems in the field are wild oats, kochia and lambsquarter.
Trevor Wolery - Hill County
Rain events are welcomed in the town of Goldstone having received .41 precipitation during the night. Majority of spring grains have had their herbicide applications. Winter wheat looks great in the area with my wife asking me “why did we not plant more of it?” Lentils are finally starting to grow, but have yet to begin flowering. Round 2 of chem fallow to begin soon.
Greg Mathews - Judith Basin County
It's been 8 days since the last moisture, but on Saturday got 1.38. Things were getting dry and it was needed. It's still dry north of Roy and rain is needed badly there. Some have started haying, a little early since there was a window. Crops look great as ww is heading, pastures are green, spring crops are really taking off. Fertilizer spreading is mostly done, spraying sf for the second time mostly for kochia and russian thistle, fanweed and tansy mustard and a little volunteer. Hope the rest of you got this nice rain and good luck to you. Moisture conditions are excellent receiving 1.38 precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is excellent in the heading growth stage with an expected 80 (bu/A). Spring wheat is excellent in the 4-leaf growth stage with an expected 40 (bu/A). Barley is excellent in the 4-leaf growth stage with an expected 50 (bu/A).
June 12, 2018
Dan Works - Chouteau County
The cooler weather that moved in over the weekend is very welcome. The wind has been relentless for the last few days. The kochia and Russian thistle seem to be nearly impossible to kill this spring? Moisture conditions are good receiving .1" precipitation in the past week here. We missed the thunderstorms that were roaming the country some of which reported to have up to 2"! Winter wheat is excellent in the heading growth stage with an expected 60 (bu/A). Spring wheat is excellent in the tillering growth stage with an expected 50 (bu/A). Chickpeas will be blooming this week. Problems in the field are sawfly, bullet proof kochia and russain thistle. Will begin harvest July 19th.
Boyd Heilig - Fergus County
Had a good week of spraying the spring wheat. Main weed to take care of was prickly lettuce. Had a half inch of rain on Thursday. Winter wheat is heading. Moisture conditions are excellent receiving 1/2 inch precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is excellent in the heading growth stage with an expected 50 (bu/A). Spring wheat is excellent in the tillering growth stage with an expected 40 (bu/A).
Robert Bold - Fergus County
Mother Nature is hard at it again--cramming a month or two of work and plant growing season into a few weeks. We are done spraying winter wheat and barley but behind spraying spring wheat. Lots of kochia. Winter wheat is heading. Looks like an average crop. The best barley crop here that I have ever seen. Moisture conditions are good receiving .75 precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is good in the heading growth stage. Spring wheat is good in the tillering growth stage. Barley is good in the tillering growth stage. Haying is under way. The stand looked just excellent. It looked like record tonnage first cutting. However, the windrows are disappointing. Problem in the field is lots of kochia.
Alex Smith - Big Horn County
Spraying malt barley, about done with that and sprayed what little fallow I have. Heard of a few irrigated fields being destroyed due to standing water damage earlier. Nice growing conditions this week with mild temperatures other than one hot day 92. In pretty good shape schedule wise and getting caught up. Nice weather in forecast. Now watch things grow. Moisture conditions are excellent receiving .6 precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is good in the heading growth stage with an expected 60 (bu/A). Barley is good in the tillering growth stage with an expected 50 (bu/A). Triticale tillering to jointing in good shape. Will begin harvest July 20th.
Greg Mathews - Judith Basin County
Crops are looking better as they have caught up with the fertilizer and took off. Got most of the grass-alfalfa seeded with about 70 acres left to do when it dries out. Pastures look great with lots of grass. Seeding is down to very few left to do. Haying has started with one person but the rest are getting nervous. In about a week will have to spray sf again. Moisture conditions are excellent receiving .61 precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is excellent in the booting growth stage with an expected 60 (bu/A). Spring wheat is excellent in the 4-leaf growth stage with an expected 40 (bu/A). Barley is excellent in the 3-leaf growth stage with an expected 50 (bu/A).
June 5, 2018
Terry Angvick - Sheridan County
General rain received over the majority of the county late last week. Varied from .75 to almost 2 inches across the region. Delayed the final push to finish seeding, however most are done and moving on to the spray season. Crops look good so far. Moisture conditions are good receiving .75-2.0 precipitation in the past week. Spring wheat is good in the 3-leaf growth stage with an expected 30 (bu/A). Peas, lentils and chickpeas look good. Emerged crops are being rolled. Those rolled immediately after planting are being sprayed for grasses. Problems in the field are some reports of wireworm damage, volunteer grasses in pulse crops and wild oats in small grains. Will you begin harvest late July to mid-August.
Todd Hansen - Hill County
Great to see so many at MGGA golf. Got little over 1.00” of rain last Friday/Saturday. Perfect. Now getting ready to spray lentils for grasses. Spring wheat for weeds and apply fertilizer to Dns. Hoping pump stays primed.
Mitch Konen - Teton County
Crops are looking great. Sprayers are busy when the wind ain't blowing or the clouds aren't leaking rain. Winter wheat, alfalfa, grass is being irrigated. The rare road grader has been sighted from time to time. Roads are a mess after all the moisture from the winter and spring. . Moisture conditions are excellent receiving 1.0" precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is excellent in the heading growth stage. Spring wheat is excellent in the 3-leaf growth stage. Barley is excellent in the 4-leaf growth stage. Dryland grass is looking great. Problems in the field are mosquitoes, cereal leaf beetles, wild oats, kochia, lambsquarter and milk weed.
Trevor Wolery - Hill County
1.55" of precipitation received over the last couple of days with areas to the west and north receiving 2+". A weather event that was welcome by all producers in the area. Majority of ww has begun "heading" with sw ranging from 2-5 leaf. Spring wheat being the focus this week with a herbicide and UAN application. Kochia seems to be the enemy at the moment within our sw. Lentils appear to be idling along as the more I watch the less they grow. All in all North Western Hill County is looking promising with optimism in the air. Moisture conditions are excellent. Winter wheat is in the heading growth stage. Spring wheat is excellent. Problems in the field are sawfly and kochia.
Alex Smith - Big Horn County
Not much field work this last week due to heavy rains week before. Got some spraying done by Thursday but could only do a couple of certain fields. Had to call in a plane to do some work. 91 on Monday yesterday was an indication things might get dryer. Mistakenly entered WW stage as SW last week. WW is now heading and is from excellent to fair. SW and Barley is growing quickly but needs to because everything was seeded late. Moisture conditions are excellent receiving .8 precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is good in the heading growth stage with an expected 60 (bu/A). Spring wheat is good in the tillering growth stage with an expected 40 (bu/A). Barley is good in the tillering growth stage with an expected 50 (bu/A). Triticale is tillering. Alfalfa weevil sprayed.
Greg Mathews - Judith Basin County
Well got home Friday and here we only got .11 of rain. Small hail storm around Eddies Corner that damaged pretty hard. Lots of rain the last week but varies all over the place in amounts. Some still top dressing and seeding, but should slow down at the end of the week. Moisture conditions are excellent receiving .37 precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is excellent in the tillering growth stage with an expected 50 (bu/A). Spring wheat is excellent in the 3-leaf growth stage with an expected 40 (bu/A). Barley is excellent in the 3-leaf growth stage with an expected 50 (bu/A).
Craig Henke - Liberty County
Nice rain, anywhere from 1.6 to 2.6 inches. Was getting ready to start pivots but now have a week to prepare. With late spring surprise to see first cutting alfalfa will be ready in a week. Most chem fallow been over and winter wheat sprayed. See lots of winter wheat showing yellow spots, ready for some nitrogen. Done with rolling pulse crops and getting ready for grass control. See lots of acres of pulse crops around, some producers for the first time. Moisture conditions are excellent receiving 1.60 to 2.60 precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is excellent in the booting growth stage with an expected 60 (bu/A). Spring wheat is excellent in the tillering growth stage with an expected 60 (bu/A). Problems in the field are lots of tansy mustard.