MGGA Weekly Crop Condition Survey

 

SEPTEMBER 20, 2022 - Final Crop Survey

Carter County - Michael Hansen
Got the drill ready to go, will start seeding on Monday. Had a little shower on Friday night, not enough to do much. Can’t remember what it’s like to seed winter wheat into moisture as it’s been since 2019. Fertilizer is still expensive and roundup is worse. Hopefully the price of wheat stays up so we can pay for all these expensive inputs. Moisture conditions are poor receiving .1" of precipitation in the past week. Crops seeded are winter wheat. Grasshoppers are still here.

Cascade County - Steve Sheffels
Finished seeding WW on Thursday. We then got 0.25" of rain on Friday. Feeling pretty good about things right now. Hopefully we'll continue to get some moisture through October. Moisture conditions are fair receiving .4" of precipitation in the past week. Crops seeded are winter wheat. We still haven't seen any brome emerge. Conventional wisdom would say the soil temperatures are still to warm.

Fergus County - Robert Bold
No seeding in this area. Everyone is waiting for some moisture to germinate weeds, cheat and volunteer and reduce broke air seeder shanks. Hoppers are very active when it warms up. I don't know what they are eating as there is no green. We are drier at this time this year over last year to date. It is beginning to look like dormant seeding this year. Done it before. Moisture conditions are poor receiving .4" but not enough to seed into.

Flathead County - Tryg Koch
We had an excellent winter wheat crop!! Best crop we have ever raised coming in at 85 bushel per acre on dryland. Hay yields were great on the first cut and average at best on the second. The spring crops were below average by about 10-15 percent, but overall a pretty good year for producers over here. Winter wheat seeding has now begun and it looks like there will be lots of wheat acres going in this fall. It's time to go moose hunting and put a fork into the 2022 growing season!! Bring on 2023, we are ready. Moisture conditions are poor receiving no precipitation in the past week. Crops seeded are winter wheat and canola.

Hill County - Eric Hanson
A few spotty showers have rolled through over the last week. Being so dry it hasn’t made a big difference but every bit helps. Anywhere from .15-.4 total. Some drills going but still a lot are waiting or going to start at the end of this week. No sign of volunteer or cheat grass starting out there yet; too dry. Hoppers have slowed down significantly but still there when it warms up in the afternoon. Moisture conditions are poor receiving .15-.4" of precipitation in the past week.

Judith Basin County - Greg Matthews
Some have decided to try seeding and looks like last year as some chunks are showing up in both SF or recrop ground. The feed lots are breaking lots of parts trying to seed the recrop ground. Should be better after Friday's rain. Moore, Hobson, Moccasin, Kolin and Lewistown area all got between .50 to .80, but in my area .10. What a disappointment. SF has between 5 to 10 inches of moisture and no moisture in the recrop ground. Combining finished up on Sunday for the few that were left. Moisture conditions are poor receiving .1" of precipitation in the past week.

    

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

Broadwater County - Franck Groeneweg
Our area is just starting to seed winter wheat. The top 2” is dry and will need some rain to sprout the seed. Moisture conditions are poor receiving no precipitation in the past week. Crops seeded are winter wheat.

Carter County - Michael Hansen
Got winter wheat cleaned this week. Hauled off some barley to get an empty bin for seed wheat, test weight was awful 42 pounds. Clean up combine now and get drill ready to seed if it would ever rain or grasshoppers leave we would start. Moisture conditions are poor. Crops planted were winter wheat, durum, barley, canola, hay and millet.

Fergus County - Robert Bold
Not much going on here. Not much if any winter wheat seeding here. Heard of some seeding trying to be done south of here with a hoe drill. That did not work too well, so a disc drill trial is scheduled to be next. The attitude here is to wait for moisture, kill some weeds and seed into moisture. Late seeding or dormant seeding is on the discussion menu. It will take over an inch of rain before any seeding is seriously considered. Less than that much moisture will just mean enough to germinate the seeds and then run out of moisture. At this time we are much drier now than last year at this date. On top of that, the weather prediction is winter #3 of LaNina--a record maker for that many winters. Oh yes, we have hoppers. Pray Rain!! Moisture conditions are poor receiving no precipitation in the past week.

Fergus County - Boyd Heilig
Decided to start seeding the summer fallow. Actually going into moisture. Had to treat our seed with grasshopper dope. Will hopefully keep them at bay. Won’t be any recrop going in here if it doesn’t rain soon. Moisture conditions are poor receiving no precipitation in the past week. Crops planted were winter wheat and spring wheat.

Hill County - Trevor Wolery
I apologize for not checking in for awhile, but this circus needed its clown focused for a bit. Harvest was fast with ww being better then anticipated and spring sowed crops being dismal. Two kids off to college, one kid beginning his first year of high school and Karleen back at the chalk board teaching to support my farming addiction. Winter wheat planting began last Thursday and as I write this I am watching the shanks chatter across the prairie. Optimism for 2023 is all we have left to hang onto so hold the faith, rain is around the corner! Moisture conditions are poor receiving .1" of precipitation in the past week. Crops planted were winter wheat, lentils and mustard. Hoppers are a problem, as well as all the above for weeds and dry air.

Judith Basin County - Greg Matthews
Most farmers in the area have decided to wait and see if it rains considerable or not to seed. Soil temps are quite high and no top level moisture and very little down deep in the SF and no moisture in the recrop ground. Hoppers are slowly getting fewer. Pastures are going fast and grass is getting short. Only haying is the irrigated under pivots. Straw getting baled everywhere. Had a light frost on Friday morning and enjoying the cool temps. But the weatherman says the heat will be back on Monday and last till the end of October. Not the news we were expecting, hope they are wrong. Few showers went through the area but were narrow and streaky. Will finish heavy harrowing first of the week and put the tractor back in the shed. Moisture conditions are poor receiving .02" of precipitation in the past week.

Teton County - Mitch Konen
Harvest is officially over for 2022 on my farm. Finished cutting some wheat yesterday along with some flood irrigated corners of barley. The flood irrigated corners did not amount to much as the drought persistently put a drag on its development. The final tally has yet to be counted for an overall look at how well the year went, but it is assured that it was one year to leave in the dust. We received about .25" rain last Thursday night, preceded by a wind event that blew the lids off a few bins and flattened a span on a pivot and drug the pivot towers about 4' from their original track. Neighbors who had hay laying in the windrow spent a couple days pitching the hay off the fence lines and raking what could be salvaged in the field back into windrows for baling. Somebody give Mother Nature back her beer. These "hold my beer" events have got to end soon. Most of the crops have been taken with very few fields remaining. A little canola, chickpeas and late seeded crops are real close to being ready. They will disappear quickly though. A few folks are beginning to seed winter wheat. This is next on my chore list as well. But not sure if I want to seed before or after the rain, I know it is coming, but when? Moisture conditions are poor receiving .26" of precipitation in the past week. Crops planted were winter wheat, spring wheat, barley and hay. Grasshoppers are still a problem and the whole book for weeds.

    

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

Broadwater County - Franck Groeneweg
Harvest is completed, yields were 1/2 of average. It’s very dry. Moisture is at 2” deep on fallow making it questionable to start seeding winter wheat. The forecast is for 90-100 the next few days and 80s next week. No rain in sight. Moisture conditions are poor. Crops planted are winter wheat, spring wheat, garbanzos, canola and flax.

Carter County - Michael Hansen
Done combining and bins are all full. Ground barley for the feedlot. Getting grain cleaner set up to clean winter wheat this coming week. Miserable hot for the last week today, Sunday, it was 105 and ten percent humidity. Grasshoppers have nothing green left to eat so maybe they will leave and find some corn in the Midwest to go destroy. Ship yearling steers this week, hope the price stays up. Been getting some hay hauled as well. Moisture conditions are poor. Crops planted were winter wheat, durum, barley, canola, hay and millet. Hoppers are still a problem.

Fergus County - Robert Bold
Another dry and hot week. So far broke the record for the most days above 90 degrees. Heavy harrowing the stubble, waiting for rain for some soil moisture and delaying winter wheat seeding until there is enough germination and seeding survival moisture. We were in Idaho and Washington over the weekend. Very hot and dry there as well. A small amount of acres being seeded as we were there--all with box drills. Probably due to the hills they grow wheat on. Some of the box drills were IH 150s with levers, no hydraulics and 14 inch spacing. The rest of the box drills were Great Plains. Interesting to see them seeding into very dry very warm soil and what appeared to be very low organic matter soil. Makes our hills look like gopher mounds. Looks like their wheat yields were noticeable down as well with their out door storage rings only half filled and not covered. Looks like very short term storage before moving the wheat. River barge traffic noticeably down as well. Pray rain! Moisture conditions are poor receiving no precipitation in the past week.

Flathead County - Tryg Koch
Harvest is half done for most guys. Lots of canola left, most of the wheat and pulse acres are done. Great winter wheat yields. Spring crops are average to slighly below. Winter canola is seeded and next week we will start seeding winter wheat. Second cutting hay is mostly done with a handfull of fields that are just about ready for a third. Moisture conditions are poor receiving no precipitation in the past week. Crops planted were winter wheat, spring wheat, barley, canola, lentils and hay.

Hill County - Eric Hanson
Not much to report. Record breaking heat. Wind. No rain. Grasshoppers. Day after day, it continues the bleak outlook into tomorrow. Had 102 degrees on Saturday. Stifling. Calling for 103 on Wednesday. Had a high wind event come through Saturday night at 2am. It was still 87 degrees. Reports of 89-100+ mph wind. Building damage, blown down trees, neighbors tractor windows broke out, a stock trailer blown onto a semi hay trailer by it. Just a few reports from the area. I’m sure there was a lot more. It was like a hurricane but with no moisture, just sand blasting dirt. It was a bit spooky. Still not enough to blow the hoppers away. First 2-3” of soil is powder dry. Not much below that. We have been getting everything ready to seed. At this point, the plan is to wait until the end of the month and reevaluate then; unless we can get some rain and cooler weather before that. Not looking great, but things can always turn around. Seems it always does around the equinox. Can’t get here soon enough in my book, we are ready for a season change. We need cooler weather and a good chunk of rain. Hope it gets here sooner than later. Moisture conditions are poor receiving no precipitation in the past week. Crops planted were winter wheat and spring wheat.

Judith Basin County - Greg Matthews
The big question is when or if one seeds this fall. There is worry about the grasshoppers, soil moisture, when will it rain and no one wants to see the bad crops like last fall with poor stands, or didn't come up till spring, not really a bad problem. The only one seeding is the feedlot that has so many acres to seed they have to start or it will be late October or later when they finish. Harvesting has only the people that continue to break down or had other problems. There is very little greening up in the SF so spraying is on hold till it rains. Moisture conditions are poor receiving no precipitation in the past week. Hoppers everywhere.

McCone/Dawson County - Trevor Schock
We just wrapped up harvest over the weekend, along with many in the area. Overall the crops were near average to slightly better than average, but still a little disappointing because of the great start and stark contrast to last year's drought. The late start this spring because of some late April snowstorms pushed all the crops back about 3 weeks. That was fine until the typical July heat came in the 2nd half of the month and hit the flowering and seed head developing crops. Along with the heat returned the drought-like conditions to dry out the crop as it was nearly reaching full maturity. The grasshoppers also continue to be relentless. They return to yards and ditches now with the fields harvested and are continuing to devour tree rows. They roughly took 5 bu/ac by the time we got to our last fields. Sawflies also turned out to be a problem this year. Many fields had heavy sawfly damage for the first 100' then much less throughout but still would find heavier pockets where 50% would be down. The crops yielded as follows: yellow peas 32-42 bu/ac, mustard 500-600 lbs/ac, and spring wheat 28-46 bu/ac. This year proved to be a more difficult one to finally bring the crop in to harvest. From the constant grasshopper pressure to rapidly deteriorating weather conditions, highly variable futures markets, and we had a lot of breakdowns during the first week of harvest. After all that, I am happy to have the crop in the bin and be able to relax for a bit now. Moisture conditions are poor receiving no precipitation in the past week. Crops planted were spring wheat, peas and mustard. Grasshoppers and sawflies are a problems. No weeds and no diseases.

Stillwater County - Michelle Jones
Well the 2022 crop is entirely wrapped up except a few hundred acres of safflower…that should be properly cooked after this weekend. We’re in a holding pattern for seeding 2023 winter wheat. It’s going to have to rain first - and so far not much of that in the forecast. Same boat as the rest of the state - extraordinarily hot this weekend. Looking forward to it actually being fall…whenever that will be. Moisture conditions are poor receiving no precipitation in the past week. Crops planted are winter wheat, barley, safflower and hay.

Teton County - Mitch Konen
Harvest end is in sight around here. Down to the last few hundred acres remain for me. Some late seeded and flood irrigated ground is all that remains. This year's schedule of cutting was reversed. Usually we cut out the flood corners first and have to wait on the pivot ground a few more days, this year the pivot ground was ready and the flood corners are all that remains, since we had to irrigate them up it put them behind. Yields are all over the board so will have to to wait for the final tally. So, barley harvest is near finished and I have a little field of replant winter wheat left to cut. A lot of hay got knocked down lately and is in the process of drying and or getting baled up. Meanwhile the balers have been busy baling up every stick of straw as well. Big headers on newer combines actually leave a little windrow that is worthy of baling. My short barley and smaller header doesn't leave much worthy of a baler. Some big fields of chickpeas are getting close to being ready, and the canola is being cut locally. Water has been shut off for irrigation as there is unsustainable stream flow and the reservoirs are depleted. Moisture conditions are poor receiving no precipitation in the past week. Crops planted were winter wheat, spring wheat, barley and hay. Grasshoppers and mosquitoes are problems.