Different year for sure

Donald Lehman · Jun 24, 2018

Been quite a bit drier here this year. Not critical yet, but could get there in a hurry. Neighbor just finished baling small squares in a particular field. 2000 bales last year, 1100 this year. Ill wager the protein content is a lot higher this year, though.

We did get enough rain to leave puddles in the driveway last night. We needed it.

paul · Jun 24, 2018

A few folk got ok hay made early only rained on a couple times before they got it wrapped. A lot of alfalfa was laying 5-9 days, brown, and still so wet it got wrapped.

Dry hay really hasn't happened here at all.

It's about time for second cutting alfalfa, raining out right now, see if folks can find a dry few days to mow around the drown outs in the alfalfa fields. According to the forecast no dry periods coming up....

Grass hay around here is typically all the wet waste land that often dries out in mid summer. boy I don't see very much getting cut and baled at all this year.

Shouldnt see any bodies of water in the pic, from a couple weeks ago. It's rained steady ever since, quite a bit of the water is still in the fields.

Paul

john in la · Jun 24, 2018

Do you guys not know how to build ditches?
I know people that farm below sea level and they do not have that much water in the field.

kcm.MN · Jun 24, 2018

John, I used to think the same way before moving here. In this area, we have LOTS of ditches -- but nowhere for the water to go.

We had one year that had the normally-too-wet Spring thaw, followed by an intensely dry late-Spring and Summer. The water table dropped to more than 6' or 7' below the grass, and full grown trees were dying. However, we still had water standing stagnant in the ditches because it has nowhere to go. It's flat ground and just don't drain well. Water table is normally so high that if it drops more than 12"-18" down for too long, the grass starts dying.

I'm guessing there are many other places like ours out there; including much of the upper Midwest and up into Canada.

jon f mn · Jun 24, 2018

you need drop so the water can get away. There are 0laces in northern Mn that are so flat getting rid of water is an issue. My cousin lives 25 miles from the nearest river and all their water goes to that river. I've heard there is 10' of drop in that 25 miles, so water moves slow.

jon f mn · Jun 24, 2018

Near perfect weather for grain crops so far this year around me. Hay has been more of a problem. Plenty of rain lately.

paul · Jun 24, 2018

We have miles and miles and miles of ditches here in southern Minnesota. There are actually many feet of large county tile in the picture, underground. I think they are 3-4 feet in size there. My farm has a county ditch splitting it in half, it goes 10 miles upstream from me.

We just have the prairie potholes, rolling ground, and a very heavy yellow and blue clay subsoil, water does not soak away. We have many miles of tile in the ground, 3-15 inch size, to funnel the water to the ditches.

We have been blasted with rain for three years now, this spring has been the worst, we just had a 'shower' go through again this morning, some got .56", some got over 3" in a 1/2 hour downpour. Where the pics were taken (some relatives 20 miles west of me) they got 2.3" of rain in less than an hour. Those ponds are all back and big as ever in the fields, some have been there 3 weeks, it's so wet it doesn't dry out.

Been terrible flooding southern Minnesota and northern Iowa, just terrible.

Paul

flying belgian · Jun 24, 2018

John I am going to have to explain this to you in simpler terms. Not ridiculing you, just explaining it a little further. Go out to your garden and on a completely level spot set four corner stakes for a 6X6 ft. square. Now take your garden hoe and dig a 3" deep trench across it. Now turn the lawn sprinkler on it and leave it run for an hour. What's it look like? That's what my 160 acre field with the open county ditch running through it looks like here in So. central Mn.

fixerupper · Jun 24, 2018

Right now on the East end of my farm I share a 50+ acre puddle with two neighbors. My share is about 10 acres. It's over the gravel road for a 100 yard stretch.

old · Jun 24, 2018

Many areas of Missouri are in drought conditions. Spring field MO has the thing where to save water you can water your lawn in set days. Even number home water on even number days and odd on odd number days and it is in place as of a few days ago. I have less then half what a normal year has as for hay

Gambles · Jun 24, 2018

We were having quite a few days of 100? with severe drought conditions, creeks were not moving and we were probably within a week of losing everything.
Then we got a quick 5" of rain and it has cooled down here. Here is northern Kansas.

David G · Jun 24, 2018

We were very dry, now just a little too wet, good for corn, but bad for making hay.

NY 986 · Jun 24, 2018

It is getting dry here in the Finger Lakes and the rain between yesterday and today has not even dampened the dust under the pickup. Not overly concerned YET but I have 20 acres of beans that need a shower for full emergence. What went in around May 20 should be a little further along height-wise and probably would be where it needs to be if we had an inch of rain in the last 2 weeks.

Different year for sure

Donald Lehman

Well-known Member

paul

Well-known Member

john in la

Well-known Member

kcm.MN

Well-known Member

jon f mn

Well-known Member

jon f mn

Well-known Member

paul

Well-known Member

flying belgian

Well-known Member

fixerupper

Well-known Member

old

Well-known Member

Gambles

Well-known Member

David G

Well-known Member

NY 986

Well-known Member

Similar threads