MGGA Weekly Crop Condition Survey

 

 

June 25, 2019

Craig Henke - Liberty County
Very nice rain, anywhere from 1.0 to 3 inches. 2 miles can change how much you received. Winter wheat should have enough to make crop. Ready to cut alfalfa, but waiting for few sunny days. Chickpeas and lentils are blooming in this cool weather, mustard starting to bloom too. Had a few very cool mornings, feels like fall. Getting grain bins cleaned in this cool weather, could be bin buster. Moisture conditions are excellent receiving 1.0 to 3 inches of precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is excellent and filling with an expected 60 (bu/A). Spring wheat is excellent and heading with an expected 60 (bu/A). Lentils, chickpeas and mustard look great.

Robert Bold - Fergus County
On the 8th day, God looked at his paradise and thought he needed a person that can be responsible for the mistakes everyone makes, a person that is expected to read minds, a person that is to be everywhere he's expected twice as fast as possible; so God made a grain cart driver. God said this person will have to be patient for he will get his ass chewed like he's a dog for simply not being able to see due to the sun. A person that is expected to have the same view as the combine driver does of the cart while he is inside the tractor in front of the cart. He needs to be a person that can make the miracle of a 1000 bushel per minute, auger unload at nearly twice that speed and be expected to knock his teeth out driving back to the combine at nearly road speeds. So God mad a grain cart driver. God said this person will be solely responsible for mot spilling grain, but also smart enough to run over kips so the field looks clean. God needs this person to be able to understand hand gestures that change daily, be a person that can hold his tongue when it's all his fault, and a person that is willing to grease the combine daily. So God made a grain cart driver. Moisture conditions are good receiving 1.5 of precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is good and heading. Spring wheat is good in the 5-leaf growth stage. Barley is good in the 4-leaf growth stage.

Mitch Konen - Teton County
Crops are coming along nicely. Weather has remained relatively moderate with no excessive heat or cold. Spotty showers have graced the landscape with no real wild weather to cringe at. Haying season has started in a few areas locally, some due to previous hail storm damage and trying to save what was left. Irrigation is in full swing on the Greenfields irrigation project as evidenced by the rationing of water on certain canals due to demand load on the system. Crops are in great condition just reaching full canopy for the spring grains. A few pulses are looking exceptional as well, peas and garbs. Starting to see a few flowers on the peas. Canola is starting to bolt as well. Irrigating the spring grains and readying the hay equipment is the chore of late. Moisture conditions are excellent receiving .25 of precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is excellent and heading with an expected 100 (bu/A). Spring wheat is excellent and jointing with an expected 100 (bu/A). Barley is excellent and tillering with an expected 100 (bu/A). Dryland grass/ alfalfa is filling in with the grasses heading and a few blooms on the alfalfa. Harvest is eminent soon. 1.5T/Ac expected. Problems in the field are mosquitoes, sawfly, cereal leaf beetle and milkweed. Will harvest dryland hay soon, grains will be mid-August.

Greg Mathews - Judith Basin County
A nice week for all the crops to grow. The rain was varied across the area with some dumpers and others as showers. At home got 1.12 and to the north just 3 miles got .38, Lewistown finally got some rain as did the areas north and east. Harlo got a dumper on Tuesday half to an inch in 25 minutes. Moisture conditions are excellent receiving .38 to 1.12 of precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is excellent and heading with an expected 70 (bu/A). Barley is excellent in the 5-leaf growth stage with an expected 80 (bu/A).

June 18, 2019

Craig Henke - Liberty County
In need of a nice 3 day rain, recrop spring wheat showing stress. Fallow winter wheat still holding on. Start swathing 1st cutting of irrigated alfalfa by week's end. Had to spray for flea beetles in mustard. Moisture conditions are good receiving .2-.4 of precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is good and heading with an expected 60 (bu/A). Spring wheat is good and booting with an expected 60 (bu/A). Lentils and chickpeas are looking good yet. Problems in the field are flea beetles and tansy mustard.

Robert Bold - Fergus County
Spraying spring wheat and barley. Lots of little weeds coming on with the heat now. Dow AgroSciences is at our place again this summer with their test plots and new product development/certification. Open Sky got part of its final approval from some of the test plots they had on our place. But it does make you wonder just what kind of a farmer we are when the weed specialists are here summer after summer. Research is good. Glad to be a small part. Moisture conditions are good receiving .25 of precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is good and booting. Spring wheat is good and jointing. Barley is good and tillering. Haying has started. Usually that means rain. Could use a good rain to better position top dressing on the spring crop.

Mitch Konen - Teton County
Crops are coming along nicely. Irrigation is in full swing. Sprayers are making the last passes across the fields. Been watching a lot of t-storms going around us here on the bench. Some have had a devastating punch of hail. Moisture conditions are excellent receiving no precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is excellent and heading with an expected 100 (bu/A). Spring wheat is excellent and jointing with an expected 100 (bu/A). Barley is excellent and tillering with an expected 100 (bu/A). Dryland alfalfa/grass is excellent. 1.5T/ac. Problems in the field are wild oats and thistle.

Greg Mathews - Judith Basin County
Things are looking up as the hay is still growing even with all the grasses headed out too early. A lot of hay moving from last year's stacks to Alberta and Northern Montana. Feel sorry for all the drought areas to the north. Here the rain has been feast or famine. Garneil got .90 Friday, home .06 just 8 miles to the east and north of Straw got nothing. So far only have .69 for the month. Will start spraying SF next week for the second time, most of the spring crops have been sprayed. Hope all is going well in your area and let the rain hit you as we all could use a good 3 day soaker. Moisture conditions are excellent receiving .29 of precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is excellent and heading. Barley is excellent in the 4-leaf growth stage.

June 11, 2019

Todd Hansen - Hill County
Had a great time at MGGA golf. Rain in area is needed, hrw is turning blue. Sawfly are very abundant as are the antelope. In the area, guys are putting the finishing touches on inputs. No turning back now. Come on market/rain. Daddy would like a new drill. Be safe! Moisture conditions are fair receiving .15 of precipitation in the past week. Problems in the field are sawfly and antelope. Will begin harvest July 25th.

Craig Henke - Liberty County
Things are changing fast with warm weather. With no rain, had to start irrigation season. First cutting alfalfa couple weeks away. All spring wheat sprayed, now working on pulse and mustard. Should have all spraying finished by week's end. Moisture conditions are good, missed that inch of precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is excellent and heading with an expected 80 (bu/A). Spring wheat is excellent and jointing with an expected 80 (bu/A). Lentils , chickpeas and mustard all look great. A problem in the field is tansy.

Robert Bold - Fergus County
Had a little trip to Iowa for one of twins' DDS degree from Univ. of Iowa. Lots and lots of fields not seeded--planted if you are from the Mid-West. South Dakota is really wet with lots of unseeded acres. The further east in Iowa has 2/3 open acres with lots of pots holes full of water. Those conditions extend into Ill and Ind. Farmers are still trying to seed corn even though crop insurance full guarantee ended May 25th. Some say they will go to the 15th before shifting over to beans. But those acres will be down as well. In addition, the soil temperature is cold. For them, one of coldest spring since 1896. The talk is yields will be down. One farmer told me that with the new high yielding varieties, corn is shoulder high by July 4th--this year it will be knee high. Just like old times. They are not seeing anywhere close to a 14.25 billion bushel corn crop this year. Not even close. Moisture conditions are good receiving .6 of precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is good and jointing. Spring wheat is good in the 3-leaf growth stage. Barley is good in the 4-leaf growth stage. Lots of new little weeds showing up. Welcome to warm weather and warm soil temps.

Mitch Konen - Teton County
Crops are progressing well as are the weeds. A few showers around here and there. A band of hail hammered the Greenfield area on its way towards Dutton. There was some damage but have not heard to what extent. Sprayers are the machine of late for field work. Winter wheat irrigation is in full swing as well. Did see some early season alfalfa being cut Sunday afternoon. Moisture conditions are excellent receiving .39 of precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is excellent and heading with an expected 100 (bu/A). Spring wheat is excellent and tillering with an expected 100 (bu/A ). Barley is excellent and tillering with an expected 100 (bu/A). Dryland grass/ alfalfa looking excellent with 1.5 T/A expected. Problems in the field are mosquitoes, wild oats, mustard, kochia and thistle.

Greg Mathews - Judith Basin County
Been a good week for the crops to grow, lots of sun and warmth, and some rain over the weekend. Have most of the barley sprayed except for the one piece that took a hail storm. Have to wait for it to come back only about the two-three leaf stage when it hit last weekend. Still a lot of fertilizer going on from the local Cenex. Rain over the last weekend varies from a lot to small amounts. Moisture conditions are excellent. Winter wheat is excellent and tillering. Barley is excellent in the 3-leaf growth stage. Some spots of darnel and wild oats and fanweed, mustards, buckwheat in the spring crops.

June 4, 2019

Terry Angvick - Sheridan County
Sorry for absence on reporting. Have had only one planting delay this spring, so have been hard at it. Finished seeding May 23. One rain of .15-20 and that’s it! Getting dryer by the day! We have good subsoil moisture going in, so not despairing yet. Pulse crops up and growing and most of durum except last. County as a whole wrapping up with some stragglers still at it. Less acres of durum, lentils and chickpeas. Moisture conditions are fair receiving no precipitation in the past week. Spring wheat is good in the 2-leaf growth stage with an expected 30 (bu/A). Peas and lentils look good thus far, early stages of growth. Most rolled at planting, so just moving into early weed control. Same basic weed issues: wild oats and vol grains in pulse crops. No diseases as of yet. Haha, will begin harvest sooner than later if it stays dry. Normal would be end of July for peas, and early to mid/late August for lentils and durum.

Vince Mattson - Liberty County
Moisture conditions are fair receiving .4 of precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is fair and tillering with an expected 30 (bu/A).

Mitch Konen - Teton County
The summer switch has been turned on with 80 + degree days of late. The crops are in mega-grow stage trying to soak up as much sunshine as possible. Sprayers are making the rounds trying to stay up with the growth patterns. A few pivots are coming on here and there mostly on grass, alfalfa, and early winter wheat. Most of the crops are rowed out with a few still needing a few days to break ground as they are finally getting seeded, but for the most part seeding should be completed this week. The flooding on the rivers has subsided but the rivers remain high within their banks. Reservoirs are all full with excess running down the spillways. Moisture conditions are excellent receiving .33 of precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is excellent and jointing with an expected 100 (bu/A). Spring wheat is excellent in the 4-leaf growth stage with an expected 100 (bu/A). Barley is excellent in the 3-leaf growth stage with an expected 100 (bu/A). Dryland grass/ alfalfa excellent, 1.5 T/A potential. Problems in the field are wild oats, tansy mustard and kochia.

Greg Mathews - Judith Basin County
With the rain from Memorial weekend and the heat that finally showed up the crops are starting to look better, except for a lot of the winter wheat that didn't stool out. A lot of the recrop wheat is thin and not going to fill in. The spring crop is jumping up and growing. A lot of fert is still going on as people are top dressing the sw and some barley. The grasses are starting to head out and it's only the first of June and not late June. Looks like the hay crop will be average to below average, will have to wait and see. Moisture conditions are excellent receiving 1.51 of precipitation in the past week. Winter wheat is good in the 5-leaf growth stage. Barley is excellent in the 3-leaf growth stage.