The summer is moving right along at Hillside Partners. Their county fair has come around which includes showing and volunteering. But like many other farmers in the Midwest, Hillside Partners is seeing the effects of lots of rain on their crops. Continue reading to learn how their crops have been affected.
Effects of Mass Amounts of Rain
Same story as most of the nation, we’ve had plenty of rainfall after several years of drought. Thankfully minimal flooding and ponding in the fields. Things look really well. Some of our early planted corn fields were tasseled by the 4th of July. The rest are quickly catching up.
Our signal for the next round of spraying is the Silks on the corn ears are browning and will apply fungicide to enhance plant health.
Most of the soybeans are planted in 15” rows to help with weed control. While the beans seemed slow to start, like our field surrounding our house here. It was hit with hail in May and had enough damage that we interseeded so this field looks like a blanket!
The beans are showing signs of stress from too much precipitation, and yellowing and tile lines are noticeable. “Beans don’t like wet feet,” is what I hear most often. Meaning that a bean plant won’t thrill as well having wet roots. They are getting taller and a flow of blooms under the leaves. Those flowers will be pods, the pods will fill in August, the most critical time frame.
County Fair Time
This week most of our farm family is at the county fair! Our girls show pigs and steers. The weather has been spectacular for the fair considering we are midsummer and not melting at the fair – it’s a blessing. The cooler temps are easier on the animals and exhibitors.
The others come visit and support the fair and help in our county pork booth selling meals. Our county fair has
three food stands on the grounds outside of food trucks that come in. Which are run by the county cattleman, dairy, and pork producers open for the week to promote their product and provide donations for local causes and such. It takes many, many volunteers and pretty amazing to see so many people come together to pull it off for the public and especially the youth exhibitors.
It’s a busy part of summer on and off the farm, but we all love what we do, or at least most days – ha!