October 7, 2013

Gary Lesoing, Extension Educator in Nemaha County: Harvest is progressing. We did not receive nearly as much rain as other areas of the region last week. Rain totals ranged from .50-1.50 inches. Soybean harvest is going well, with probably 40% completed. Some corn has been harvested, probably 20%. I have not heard much concerning yields, although I have heard some reports that yields were better than expected and much better than last year, especially corn. Final cutting of alfalfa has been harvested. Some wheat has been planted and there's still some to plant.

Karen DeBoer, Extension Educator in Cheyenne County: Producers are still trying to plant winter wheat in areas that received the most rainfall in September and early October. The October 4 rain and snow storm produced 0.25-2.0 inches of moisture in Cheyenne County. Some of the proso millet has been swathed and windrowed and is laying on the ground and producers are waiting for drier conditions to harvest the grain. (10/8/13)

John Thomas, Extension Educator in Box Butte County: Beans are 95% harvested. Average yields at 38 bu/ac have been a little below the long-term average of 40-42 bu/ac, but the $50 price is good. There’s good moisture now and newly planted wheat is looking good, although a few areas were washed out with heavy rains and had to be replanted. Corn harvest is just 5% complete. Early harvest of sugarbeet is finished with pretty good tonnage but below average sugar content. Sugar was at 13-14% when in better years, it’s 15-18%. The timing of heat may have affected sugar content this year. We still haven’t had a hard frost here although temperatures touched 32°F last week. Last week’s blizzard did dump heavy wet snow in the northern Panhandle.

Jessica Johnson, Extension Educator at the Panhandle Research and Education Center: Some growers did not get their beans out before the storm and may face some discoloration now. Growers are waiting for corn to dry down. More acres of wheat have been planted in the Scottsbluff area than in recent years, likely due to uncertainty about water availability next year. It will be interesting to see whether the wheat serves as a cover crop or is kept for a grain crop.

Ron Seymour, Extension Educator in Adams County: Growers were harvesting soybeans and planting wheat before the rains came last week. Amounts of 4-5 inches in one evening were reported in some areas with multi-day totals of 6-7 inches. Other areas had very little. The rains stopped harvest and wheat planting. Some dryland corn had already been harvested and growers are waiting for the rest of the corn to dry down. A couple inches of rain likely soaked in, leading to improved soil moisture and pasture conditions.

Keith Jarvi, Extension Educator in Dakota, Dixon, and Thurston counties:  We had 2.5 to over 4 inches of rain here with a few areas reporting even more. We had gone for over a month with no significant rain, but have had good rains since Oct. 1. If you could take out last week’s tornado near Wayne, the weather has been beneficial. About 20% of the soybeans have been harvested and some high moisture corn is out. The beans are ready but the ground needs to dry out some more; harvest will likely pick up again in the next day or two. In one field in the path of the tornado, the corn stalks were left standing upright, but all the ears and leaves had been sucked off the plant. A field of soybeans near the airport, an area sustaining heavy damage, had an overturned pivot and a semi-trailer that was overturned into it, but the beans looked fairly good.

John Wilson, Extension Educator in Burt County: Last week we had 2 to 5 inches of rain across the county which shut down everybody in the fields. We haven’t gotten much harvested in our area — maybe 10% of the soybeans and in corn, about the only activity has been chopping silage or harvesting some high moisture corn and maybe opening up a few fields. Yields have sounded good from the few reports I have heard: soybeans at about 50 bu/ac or better and dryland corn around 200 bu/ac. No reports on irrigated corn yet. If we get some good drying conditions this week, almost all soybean fields appear that they are ready to go now although a good frost would help them. Farmers are reporting having to go slow because of green stems on soybeans that are testing around 11% moisture, so that may make harvest a challenge for some. (10/8/13)

Jennifer Rees, Extension Educator in Clay County: In the past week we’ve received from 2.5-3.75 inches of rain in much of the county to nearly 5 inches in locations closer to Hastings. Harvest had resumed Sunday-Tuesday (Sept. 29-Oct. 1) last week before the rains began. It is difficult for me to determine the percent harvested because so much of our crop area was destroyed by earlier storms, but my best guess is we’re at 35%-40% beans that were harvestable and 15% corn. Our dryland, storm-damaged corn was 17%-19% moisture before Husker Harvest days and jumped up to 25% after rain during that time. It had been slow to dry back down until early last week. I’m beginning to see sprouting corn kernels and some mold in “good” fields that were not affected by storm damage, particularly in hybrids that still have upright ears. There have been some harvest problems with green soybean stems. Wheat is about 20% planted in the area. I'm seeing more cover crops than ever before due to storm damage and they have established nicely. Also, volunteer corn is growing nicely in destroyed fields which will help with volunteer concerns for next year. (10/7/13)

Michael Rethwisch, Extension Educator in Butler County: Soybean harvest progressed rapidly through the middle of last week until halted by several rains, which totaled about 2.5 inches across the county. Rainfall was helpful for fall pasture and alfalfa growth. Soybean harvest is approximately 50% complete, with corn about 2% harvested. Rainfed soybean yields have ranged from 45 to 65 bu/ac, and some early rainfed corn yields have been reported to be near 180 bu/ac. Some irrigated soybean yields have been reported near 80 bu/ac. (10/7/13)

Gary L. Zoubek, Extension Educator in York County: This past week we received 1.60-3.40 inches of rain in the York area. At our office we received 2.52 inches. I’m guessing that we have 50% of the beans harvested and 15-25% of the corn harvested. Many producers were harvesting beans at 8%-12% moisture. I have seen some stem borer and green stems in the bean fields being harvested. Rainfed soybean yields are varying greatly (25-50 bu/ac) depending on tillage systems, maturity, and whether they received timely rains. The irrigated plots that I’ve checked have varied from 72-79 bu/ac.Producers have made good progress at harvesting much of the seed corn fields in our area. Yield have been looking good. Really just getting started on the corn. (10/7/13)

Tyler Williams, Extension Educator in Phelps and Gosper Counties: For the last week, some areas saw significant rainfall while others did not receive any. Most of Gosper County received less than 0.30 inch, which gradually increased to near 2 inches in northeastern Phelps County. This slowed harvest for most of the area. Many soybean fields were harvested prior to the rain, but the pods are nearly too wet to harvest since the rain last week. Sunshine and dry weather should help soybean harvest to commence quickly. Corn harvest progressed quickly for wet corn, but has been near a stand still since. I would estimate that soybean harvest is nearly 40%-50% complete and corn harvest is around 15%. Some farmers are done harvesting soybeans and others haven’t started, so the difference in planting day, soybean variety, and farming practices have played a role in the timing of the harvest as usual. (10/7/13)

Brandy VanDeWalle, Extension Educator in Fillmore County: In the past week much of Fillmore County received 2.5-4.0 inches of rainfall with some portions receiving over 5 inches. Before the rain, approximately 40-50% of soybeans were harvested with about 15-20% of corn, mostly dryland, harvested. Wind and hail damaged a few fields last week, but fortunately it wasn't a large loss. Last week's rain helped cover crops emerge. (10/7/13)