MGGA Weekly Crop Condition Survey
JULY 25, 2023
Carter County - Michael Hansen
Baled the Willow Creek this week, averaged 4.5 bales to the acre; absolutely amazing what that stuff can do. Got almost as many bales off 150 acres of it as we did five hundred of grass. Got the combine out, had to weld on the feeder house floor pan and put new batteries in. Had to take headers off bidirectional so I have an auger tractor. Which won’t matter to much because the rest of the haying is going to be patching around on the creek to see if we can manage to get a thousand grass bales made. Which is quite depressing when on average years we do three to four thousand. Cut the sorghum down as it was out of moisture and starting to show it pretty bad. Probably see if we can cut some winter wheat the middle part of next week. It’s all brown, but there are some kernels that are still fairly soft. But the 100 degrees forecasted for the next four days will probably take care of that in a hurry. Moisture conditions are poor receiving no precipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat, durum, barley, canola, hay and sorghum.
Chouteau County - Lochiel Edwards
Edwardsfarm should finish picking up the swathed hollow stem today. We had a thousand of that, and will be straight cutting most of the wheat but we’ll be in layup mode for a few days, waiting for it to ripen. No rain since June 2, so everything is parched. A nice stand of spring wheat is generally white capped now, but wheat is a weed- a tough plant with survival skills. Our Bobcat will probably be ready before any spring wheat. Mostly, Lonesome Prairie is having a slow start with harvest, maturity later than we’re used to. Safe harvest to all! Moisture conditions poor receiving no precipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat and spring wheat. Spring wheat is in the soft dough stage. Sawfly and hoppers are problems, as well as, pigweed, cheat and drought.
Fergus County - Robert Bold
The summer heat is here! I cannot believe how fast things have dried up. When we were haying, we were leaving ruts in the wet ground that is now bone hard. We will be cutting barley later this week. That would make it about 84 days from in the tank--air cart to in the tank--combine. Winter wheat is 2 weeks off yet. Just not enough growing days from the late seeding last fall. Wednesday and Thursday on a hot SE wind, we had hoppers migrate in droves from the SE. All landed safely with the latest Green Seaker technology. By Sunday, they had all the leaves stripped for the sweet clover and alfalfa. Monday morning we had a plane spray our spring wheat. I know, I know, I have not been putting down that we have spring wheat this season, but we did have to reseed about 100 acres of failed winter wheat. Harvest is on going north of us. Hope everyone has a safe and bountiful harvest. Moisture conditions are fair receiving no precipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat and barley. Winter wheat is in the hard dough stage and barley is ripe. WE have grasshoppers!! Flew in on SE winds Wednesday and Thursday. Had to spray the spring wheat.
Fergus County - Boyd Heilig
Winter wheat harvest is fast approaching with the upper 90 degree days upon us. Crop is in the hard dough and turning fast. Have heard some impressive yields to the north of us. Spring crops took a turn for the worse this week. Changing too quick. Hope the barley makes the grade. Moisture conditions are poor receiving no precipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat, spring wheat and barley. Winter wheat is in the hard dough stage, spring wheat and barley are in the soft dough stage. Grasshoppers are a problem.
Fergus/Wheatland/Judith Basin County - Paul Bradley
Crop is starting to turn, but we are still several weeks away from harvest. Moisture conditions are fair receiving no precipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat and barley. Winter wheat is in the hard dough stage and the barley is in the soft dough stage. Starting to see the grasshoppers getting very active. I’m not seeing any issues in the crops yet, but they are here hitting the pastures pretty hard.
Gallatin County - Dale Flikkema
Nicely. Moisture conditions are fair. Crops being grown are winter wheat, spring wheat, barley, lentils, canola, hemp, corn, sunflower and hay. Winter wheat and barley are in the soft dough stage, spring wheat is filling.
Hill County - Eric Hanson
Hot days and hot nights. Long days and short nights. Yesterday was a blast furnace. Harvest has started here north of Highway 2. And with this weather, it will continue on at an exponential rate. We have yet to get a combine in the field, but by all accounts it looks ready, and some of the neighbors going are making us nervous. Excited to see how the crops are going to do this year as opposed to the last two. Put out a train on fire this morning; not the kind I thought I might be helping fight with these hot days. Hopefully with the next two days of heat and wind nothing gets started. Happy harvesting and stay safe! Moisture conditions are poor receiving no percipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat and spring wheat. Winter wheat is ripe.
Hill County - Trevor Wolery
Crops are in the cure phase with hot drying winds lately. HRW has been swathed with windrows to be picked in the next couple of days. Barley is ripening fast as well as the mustard. I anticipate no delays between harvesting these crops. Wishing everyone a safe and productive harvest season. Crops being grown are winter wheat, barley and mustard.
Judith Basin County - Greg Mathews
Will finish baling on Sunday, it was an average to above average year. Those who fertilized really got their money worth this year. In bale numbers and quality. The crops are starting to turn with some barley turning faster than the ww. As a whole, do not see any combines harvesting next week. Maybe the next week. Received no rain last week and the pastures are starting to dry up. Will spray chem fallow this coming week for volunter grains, buck wheat and Russian thistle. Hoppers are showing up more in areas and thought more would have drowned out, but looks like they didn't. Custom cutters are starting to head north at a slow pace so far. Sawfly has hit the Denton area bad and some are swathing for the first time ever. Hope every one has a safe week and good luck to all. Moisture conditions are good. Hoppers starting to really show up in places.
Northern Yellowstone/Eastern Stillwater County - Michelle Jones
A few very scattered showers rolled through earlier this week - but the heat was turned up into the weekend and into this week. We’ve topped out well into the 90s and potentially will be over 100 today. That’ll move the crops along - and make the countryside appear more like early August rather than the last June it has looked like up until recently. The wheat and barley continues to look good. We’re about 10-14 days out from harvest…although the longer it stays hot the faster it’ll get here. One thing we do have going on that’s unusual is the wheat east of Broadview has a decent amount of later tillers/sucker heads in it. Likely due to being irreparably damaged in May due to drought conditions - and then shooting new tillers once it started raining in June. Outside of hail storms, this is the first time I’ve ever seen that. Haying season largely wrapped up last week. Solid season. Definitely a decent amount of hay for sale in this area. Moisture conditions are good receiving 0-.2" in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat, safflower, barley and hay. Winter wheat and barley are in the hard dough stage.
Valley County - Rob Davis
Scattered rains in the area last week delivered anywhere from nothing to .75'' of moisture. Peas are finished flowering and are podding great, lentils are finishing flowering and look great, wheat is filling nicely and early seeded wheat is turning. We are finding lots of stems infected with sawfly larva while cutting stems, I think we are in for quite the battle come harvest with the early seeded wheat having a high probability of going down. Moisture conditions are fair receiving 0-.75" of precipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are spring wheat, peas, durum and lentils. Spring wheat is filling. Sawfly and grasshoppers are problems.
JULY 18, 2023
Carter County - Michael Hansen
Started haying this week, first four hundred acres of grass ran a ton to the acre. Which for the year we have had is surprisingly good. Cut down the Willow Creek, it’s going to have last awhile, it’s quite a crop as well. We now have green winter wheat in the ripe winter wheat, so not entirely sure when we will combine. I think the sorghum grew three feet in the last week, it’s now almost waist high. Grasshoppers are really getting thick in spots, wish they would find somewhere else to be. Sprayed the neighbor's chemfallow and after doing this for him I have reminded myself why I don’t do it. Turned bulls out as well in the old cows. Looks like we are going to have our end of July heat, high temps for next week are almost 100 degrees. Moisture conditions are fair receiving .5" of precipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat, durum, barley, canola, hay and sorghum.
Fergus County - Robert Bold
Should be cutting barley before the end of the month. Looks like our barley will be completely harvested before the winter wheat is ripe enough. Usually the other way around. But the winter wheat went into cold dry soil, seeded late and never got any growing days in last fall or early spring. Looks like winter wheat prices are now lower than before the Black Sea Conflict. Haying in this part of the world is about done. Most got 1.5 to 2 hay crops this year. The pulse crops have good height. Combines won't have to ear much dirt this year. Moisture conditions are fair receiving no precipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat and barley. Winter wheat is in the soft dough stage and barley is in the hard dough stage. Nice hot SE wind delivered hoppers and migrants. Now we are like most everyone else.
Fergus County - Boyd Heilig
Crops are maturing at a nice pace here. The hay crop that is being put up in Central Montana will be one of the best on record. I hope the grain crops follow suit. Next week's heat will be tough on the spring crops for sure. I hope everyone has a safe harvest and please share your harvest stories and pictures here. It truly makes a big difference. Moisture conditions are fair receiving no precipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat, spring wheat and barley. Winter wheat is in the soft dough stage, spring wheat and barley are filling. Grasshoppers are a problem.
Flathead County - Tryg Koch
Things are hot and dry! Sure doesn't slow the tourists down!! Winter wheat will be ready by the end of the week. The fiber hemp is looking good, it's about 10 feet tall in our irrigated field and looks great. Not sure when we will start cutting it down, but I'm guessing in about 2 weeks. First cutting of hay is just about done for most guys and there will be very little second to worry about. We will be finished up by the end of next week and move right into harvest! Moisture conditions are poor receiving variable readings of precipitation in the past week: .04" in Creston to 1" by Whitefish. Crops being grown are winter wheat, canola, hemp, mustard and hay. Winter wheat is in the hard dough stage.
Hill County - Eric Hanson
And here we are again, at the main event. Crops are starting to make the final turn in their life cycle. By week's end, winter wheat harvest will commence. I suspect rather slowly at first, but the 100+ temps forecasted for next weekend will almost certainly ensure the rapid onslaught of combines gobbling up wheat next week. We had a dry and smoky last few days. Visibility was down to a 1/2 a mile at times, with air quality warnings complimenting what we were seeing. Or weren’t seeing. We had small, localized thunder showers roll through the area earlier in the week. Most missed us, but we did snag a .15 cloud burst the day we got combines out. Others got nice amounts of rain. A swather started a grass fire up north, our second one in two weeks for our fire district. But quick response and green spring wheat kept it from taking off. Just the start of fire season with all the green starting to crisp up. A big thanks to everyone in our area who drops what they are doing when they see a big plume of smoke on the prairie. Going to finish up our chemfallow the end of this week, attempting to time it right with harvest. A little pre-harvest hauling. Cleaning bins. Continue getting equipment ready for the harvest battle. Going to be a very busy week. Good luck to everyone, stay safe! Moisture conditions are poor receiving .15" of percipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat and spring wheat. Insects showing up are grasshoppers, flies, ants and blister beetles.
Judith Basin County - Greg Mathews
Haying is slow with all the cool nights and heavy dew every morning and cool days. Takes anywhere from 3 to 6 days to get the hay dried down. Looks like a average crop here, but to the North it is a bumper crop with lots of bales. Crops are starting to turn slightly. Had a dumper of rain on Monday 0.35 in 15 minutes and 40 to 60 mph winds. Laid one field of barley 95% down and still has 35% down and probably will not stand back up. Will finish haying next week with some hay barley that will take a long time to dry down. Best of luck to all and have a great week. Moisture conditions are good receiving .35" of percipitation in the last week. Hoppers starting to really show up in places.
Teton County - Mitch Konen
Everything is looking fantastic here on the Greenfields Bench. Irrigation is starting to rap up for some while others, like myself, are in the middle of this last push of irrigation. Water supply seems to be holding and looks to be available close to a Sept 1 shutoff date. Winter wheat is turning fast with the heat. Spring wheat is filling and starting it's harvest hue as well. Barley is also filling and getting heavy headed with thinner soils starting to show the variability in the fields. Most of the first cut haying is done with irrigation in progress. The canola fields are really showing their plant dates. The early canola is waning fast on the blooms while the later seeded canola is brightly lit with the yellow blooms. Won't take long with the heat for it to start waning on blooming and beginning to fill. Overall looks like great crops for all. The markets are holding their own with the latest crop reports, weather and political strife around the world. Harvest will soon be upon us. Stay safe and best of luck. Moisture conditions are good receiving .04" of precipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat, spring wheat, barley and hay. Winter wheat is in the hard dough stage, spring wheat is in the soft dough stage and barley is filling. Grasshoppers, mosquitoes, deer and horse flies and skunks showing up, as well as wild oats.
JULY 11, 2023
Carter County - Michael Hansen
Ten percent chance of rain Thursday afternoon turned into an inch and a half downpour with some pea size hail. Don’t think the hail did much damage knocked some blossoms off the canola. All the haying macOS ready to go just don’t want to go cut any yet as there are still lots of chances of rain in the next weeks forecast. And it seems that the grass is still growing with all the moisture we’ve had lately. Several meadows are standing water should’ve had a rice paddy. Going to start spraying neighbors chemfallow a second time for him. Spring crops look excellent winter wheat is horrid. The clearfield wheat was just to far along before it started raining and now it appears that the beyond residual has wore off and the volunteer wheat is coming back so it’s half green with new growth. Super thin won’t have to worry about needing many truckers. The fields of Matlock and 406 look way better but they also have new growth out there with just pollinating heads next to ones with soft dough. Willow creek seems to grow six inches a day really needs cut but has such a canopy that it’s still mud underneath. Sprayed hoppers out of my sorghum it is super uneven some being almost waist high and other spots barely above your ankle. Think the hoppers are to blame for that. Going to haul some wheat to the flour mill this week. Moisture conditions are good receiving .5 -1.5" of precipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat, durum, barley, canola, hay and sorghum.
Chouteau County - Lochiel Edwards
Winterwheat on Lonesome Prairie is turning gold, but uneven stands will delay the combined. Edwardsfarm would be swathing some older wheat this week, if not for an understory of green heads on tillers which were granted a reprieve with our first rain of the year on May 27. Our last rain for this crop came 7 days later on June 2, so spring crops are thirsty. A cool and quiet June helped a lot to offset lack of rainfall. Spring wheat varies from almost soft dough to still filling, depending on seeding date. It remains to be seen when we will be swathing the hollow stem HRW, but it will be a compromise between sawfly cutting and sacrificing the green sucker heads. Strong but small thundercells in June benefited about a third of Lonesome Prairie, as just a guess, and the country looks nice with tall grass still green. Moisture conditions poor receiving .09" of precipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat and spring wheat. Winter wheat is in the hard dough stage and spring wheat is filling. Sawfly and hoppers are showing up with pigweed and drought making an appearance.
Fergus County - Robert Bold
Looks like our standard July heat has finally hit. This year has been a good growing season year with the temperatures and moisture. Looking back, in 2021, June daily high temperatures set a new record high. In 2022, a new daily high record temperature was set in July. I am not a big fan of hot weather. However, it has been excellent haying weather. It seems like 14 foot swathers are harvesting the hay crop faster than 40 foot combines harvest grain. Looks like our area will be getting 1.5 to 2 annual hay crops this year. Our country is rapidly changing from my favorite green landscape to harvest colors. I also noticed the grain market has taken out over a $1 in basis since last harvest--plus the futures. Beginning to look like $8 cash wheat will be the ceiling. Read an interesting article about post Pandemic prices. Wheat like most everything else had a nice price run in 2022. Most industries including the auto industry dramatically increased prices on their new vehicle due in part to shortage of some parts. Now Jeep, Ram and Ford are grossly over stocked and priced out of the market. For example, Ram is advertising a 10% discount on their Ram pickups. Kind of like what the wheat market has been doing all of 23 and a good part of 22--discounting. On the brighter side, I think Ford's Shelby GT is a very good looking prestigious car. Besides, I not aware of anyone naming their daughter Camero. Moisture conditions are fair with no precipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat and barley. Winter wheat is filling and barley is in the soft dough stage.
Fergus County - Boyd Heilig
The crops are maturing at a nice pace here. We had a nasty thunderstorm last night but fortunately there wasn’t any hail with it. Ended up getting 1/3 inch. Hope to start winter wheat harvest in early August. Moisture conditions are excellent receiving .33" of precipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat, spring wheat and barley. Winter wheat is in the soft dough stage, spring wheat and barley are filling. Grasshoppers a problem.
Fergus/Judith Basin County - Paul Bradley
Winter wheat is filling and barley is headed out. Moisture conditions are good receiving .10" of precipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat and barley. Winter wheat is in the soft dough stage and the barley is heading. There are a few grasshoppers showing up and we are seeing some cheat and Japanes brome grass that came after in a crop spray that was applied. No diseases to speak of at the moment, the heat has really got things turned around this last week.
Flathead County - Tryg Koch
All crops are pushing for the finish line extremely hard!! Drought conditions continue to push forward and the spring seeded crops ate taking a beating. Hay yields are down and unless it is irrigated or has some sub irrigation under it there will not be a second cutting. Water levels in the rivers are low and guys will have to start pulling pumps or stop irrigating dew to low water levels. I know one guy that went out and dug down a little deeper in his slough so he could keep irrigating...that only lasted for 3 days and now he is done. They are saying that this is the 5th dryest year on record. Moisture conditions are poor receiving .03" of precipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat, canola, hemp, barley, mustard and hay. Winter wheat is in the hard dough stage.
Hill County - Eric Hanson
Some very hot days joined us this week, as did the the wind. The spigot has shut off. No rain other than a stray thunderstorm passing through. Crops are continuing to change fast. We’ve lost what was potential; the rain that we needed hasn’t shown and is probably too late for some crops. Definitely disappointing with the start we had to the season. I’ve been told swathing to the south of us will start towards the end of this week. So harvest is not far off. Spent a good portion of the week traveling through the Canadian prairies. They are quite dry across a lot of it, and very dry in some areas. A stark contrast to most years. We have a slight chance for thunderstorms at home this week. Maybe a shot of water will come our way. Maybe some falling ice. Heat near the century mark on the horizon. Full steam ahead to harvest now. Moisture conditions are poor receiving no percipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat and spring wheat. Insects showing up are grasshoppers, flies, green stink bug, and wheat stem maggot. Kochia showing up.
Hill County - Trevor Wolery
Blessed crazy weather receiving .46 Saturday and .3 last night in spotty and isolated storms. Goldstone Montana hasn’t been this green this time of year since Jim Hill proposed bringing rail to town. Slowly working on fallow and prepping for harvest. Moisture conditions are good receiving .76" of percipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat, barley and mustard. Grasshoppers showing up.
Gallatin County - Dale Flikkema
Very well. Moisture conditions are good receiving .5" of precipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat, spring wheat, barley, lentils, canola, hemp, corn, sunflower and hay. Winter wheat is in the soft dough stage, spring wheat and barley are filling.
Judith Basin County - Greg Mathews
Barley is fully headed out, WW is starting to turn. Haying is in full swing with some great crops to average, Neighbors silage looks to be a big crop with lots of trucks running and bid windrows. Haying is slow with the cool temps at night and cool daytime temps, 4 to 6 days to dry, great for the spring crops as the barley is taller than the WW Had 2 days it showered last week and did not get much rain .10 and .05. Moisture conditions are good with .15" of percipitation in the last week.
McCone/ Dawson County - Kurt Voss
Crops are looking about average at this time. Most fields could use some rain. Crops condition varies with early seeded acres the poorest. Moisture conditionsa re fair with no precipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are spring wheat, lentils, hay, barley, corn, oats, and peas. Spring wheat is heading and the barley is fillings. Grasshoppers continure to be a problem even though lots of acres have been sprayed. Some fungus showing up on pules and wheat.
Northern Yellowstone County - Michelle Jones
It has been a relatively quiet - but pretty cool week - the 4th nearly set a record low high with temps right at 60 degrees. That slowed an already slow haying season - but by the end of the week haying was in full swing. Appears to be an above average crop in most places. The winter wheat and early seeded barley is starting to turn. We’re still likely nearly a month out from harvest with no sustained heat in the forecast. That will make it one of the latest harvests in recent memory. Moisture conditions are excellent receiving .1-.2" in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat, safflower, barley, and hay. Winter wheat is in the soft dough stage and the barley is filling.
Teton County - Mitch Konen
Crops are looking great. Irrigation and haying have been the priority list for the last two weeks. Winter wheat is filling and holding its own for the heat this week. Some in the area is turning fast, but mine is hanging on green yet on the dryland and really green on the irrigated ground. Spring wheat is in full on flowering and the barley is 60-70% headed. Haying was a treat this year on the dryland after last years miscue due to drought. The 4+" of May moisture set it up for probably the best dryland crop i have ever seen and rivaled olden days of irrigated hayground. A few days of rest and cleaning hay equipment is in order before the last big push of irrigating the final round. It truely is amazing how fast time flies as I get older. The crops grow so fast it seems that there is not much time for anything else.stay safe and be well. Moisture conditions are good receiving no precipitation in the past week, dependent on area. Crops being grown are winter wheat, spring wheat, barley and hay. Winter wheat and spring wheat are filling and barley is heading. Mosquitoes and a few grasshoppers are problems, as well as wild oats for weeds and physiological leaf spot for diseases.
Toole County - Klayton Lohr
Things are burning up. Moisture conditions are poor receiving no precipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are spring wheat, durum and mustard. Spring wheat is heading. Grasshoppers, kochia and Russian thistle have been showing up.
Valley County - Rob Davis
Drying out, little to no rain for 3 weeks but things look remarkably well for the weather we've had. Moisture conditions are excellent receiving .04" of precipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are spring wheat, peas, durum, and lentils. Spring wheat is filling. There are a few grasshoppers showing up.
JULY 4, 2023
Blaine County - Mark Billmayer
Started out excellent, now turning dry. Moisture conditions are poor receiving a trace of precipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are spring wheat and camelina. Spring wheat is heading. Hoppers and worms on camelina, as well as fungus on camelina.
Carter County - Michael Hansen
Canola has started making pods, barley is pollinating, durum is starting to fill, and winter wheat is mostly turned. Grasshoppers are starting to get big and really moving in. Got haying equipment ready this week. Built a mile of fence. Sprayed neighbors sorghum for hoppers and weeds. Got a few thunderstorms this past week really spotty on how much we got from one end to the other. Moisture conditions are fair receiving .5 -1" of precipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat, durum, barley, canola, hay and sorghum.
Fergus County - Robert Bold
Happy Independence Day everyone!! For me, it is a good day to look back at this great experiment in personal freedom and given the ability to pursue happiness. The ability and nobility to have your own business. In my case, farming and ranching and producing for others. The ability of others through their pursuit of profit--plant genetics, technology and equipment for starters--to allow my business to more than fill my cup with the overflow on the saucer going to feed others. The "overflow from my cup" to serve and build a community here and a world for others. So thank you to the Red, White and Blue and the Stars and Stripes. Thanks to those who fought and sacrificed before 1776 to establish this great experiment in personal freedom with ability to pursue happiness. Thanks to all those who fought and sacrificed since 1776 to preserve this Independence Day. Happy Independence Day everyone!! Moisture conditions are good with .15" of percipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat and barley. Both are filling.
Flathead County - Tryg Koch
Haying season is in full swing!! It is a drought over here this year so yields will be lower tgan normal. Dryland grass will yield about half of normal. Its looking like we will have winter wheat teady to cut in 3 weeks which is at least 2 weeks early. Spring seeded crops are in rough shape!! Guess its our turn to be dry.. it does make for exalent haying weather!! Moisture conditions are poor with no precipitation this week. Crops being grown are winter wheat, canola, hemp, barley, mustard, and hay. Winter wheat is in hard dough stage.
Gallatin County - Dale Flikkema
The crop season is progressing very well in my area. Moisture conditions are good with 1 inch of precipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat, spring wheat, barley, lentils, canola, hemp, corn, sunflower, and hay. Winter wheat is in the filling stage and spring wheat and barley are in the heading stage. Weeds showing up are resistend wild oats.
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Hill County - Eric Hanson
A change in direction this last week. We had been riding along the edge of the precipice, but the heat and wind was a tipping point. Crops have been pushed, some maturing and some starting to pocket and burn up. Our last widespread rain was June 9. We need more, and it needs to be soon. No reserves. The lack of subsoil moisture from the previous years of drought, along with shallow rooted crops from timely rain, is starting to present our current situation in full color. The winter wheat is again a full shade closer to harvest. The spring crops losing their vibrancy of green and trying to fill. Grass drying up. No significant rain in the forecast. We are headed for harvest now; here it will be July 30th. I attended the Northern Ag Research Centers field day this week. I thoroughly enjoy this top notch event they put on every summer. They had great attendance, important science, delicious food, and a beautiful evening. A big thanks to all who put that on. We’ve been working on weeding this week, our second time over the chemfallow. Depending on where spotty rains have fell, directly correlates to weed pressure. Some significant, some non existent; for now. Combines will come out of their slumber next week. And over the course of the next few weeks, the entire fleet of equipment that comprises harvest production will get a glance, some grease, and for a few items, a quick prayer. Watch your step out there! THe buzz worms are out. Ran into a few last week. Moisture conditions are poor receiving no percipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat and spring wheat. Spring wheat is filling and winter wheat is in the soft dough stage. Insects showing up are grasshoppers, flies, green stink bug, and wheat stem maggot. Weeds showing up are kochia, pigweed, and wild oats.
Hill County - Trevor Wolery
Happy Independence Day! Cool temps this morning made me look for a sweatshirt before leaving the house, but Saturday was a scorcher ending the mustard’s flowering process. Mustard has flowered the entire month of June which has left the landscape awe inspiring. Winter wheat along with barley is changing color reminding us that harvest will soon be upon us. Everyone take some time to enjoy family before fall work begins. Moisture conditions are good receiving .04" of percipitation in the past week. Crops being grown are winter wheat, barley and mustard. Winter wheat is in thesoft dough stage and barley is filling. Insects and weeds that are showing up are grasshoppers, kochia and Russian thistle.
Judith Basin County - Greg Mathews
Things are progressing very nicely. WW is all headed out and filling, barley is flag leaf to heading out. Rained 3 of the last 7 days for a total of 1.09. One was a dumper getting .69 A few have started haying but looks like most are waiting till after the Fourth. Went to Havre last week for the field day and it looked green most if not all the way. Fort Benton Gerldine Loma looks like they have a big crop coming along. It was green all the way witch is some thing for the end of June. Grasshopper are starting to show up and will have to spray spots. Hope every body has a great Fourth and stay safe. Moisture conditions are excellent with 1.09" of percipitation in the last week.
Northern Yellowstone County - Michelle Jones
Well I missed my report last week - we closed out a record rainfall month. On Friday 6/23 a series of storms rolled through - dumping anywhere from 3-4.75 inches of water. These came down faster than the original 3-6 but nothing terrible in our area. Rapelje to Columbus again saw devastating flash floods. These storms did have some hail and clipped a few fields but nothing terrible at all. This boosted our June total to anywhere from 7-13+”…Anything over 10 was record shattering. The lower ends settled in top 3 ever. The crops look tremendous - especially any spring crop - barley, safflower, and spring wheat are tremendous. The forage sweet peas the Colony has across from the main place are unreal. Never seen anything like them. Harvest appears it’ll be on the late side. Easily into August. For now we’re just starting haying - finally some sunshine across the forecast so lots of people started the minute they found a dry field. We have a few hundred acres down. It’s a solid crop - you can tell a dry April and May took off the top end, but certainly no complaints. This year will be one to remember - no matter how the crops turn out - it’s one we’ll never forget. And likely won’t see again…every time I fly back from Seattle I take the time to marvel at the full ponds and lush green conditions. A few days ago I had the drone out to document the summer fallow barley that’s already trying to lodge. Stop to listen to creeks that haven’t been running in 2 years bubbling through culverts. I know some haven’t been nearly so lucky - and I don’t want to take any of it for granted. Moisture conditions are excellent receiving 3-4.75" since 06/23. Crops being grown are winter wheat, safflower, barley, and hay. Tan spot is showing up.