The worst of the heat wave seems to have broken and just in time! The corn is starting to tassel here, and I have seen minimal diseases while out scouting. We ran irrigators a bit last week but got about half an inch of rain on Friday night so we didn’t have to run them over the weekend. Dri…
Elyssa McFarland is the sixth generation in her family to farm near Columbus Junction in Louisa County. She runs the farm with her husband Dave and parents Tom and Chris McFarland. Her degrees in soil science and soil conservation guide her management of the family’s row crops. The family al…
This week was fairly quiet weather-wise. The crops are coming along nicely here, but I have heard from agronomists in our area that the poorly drained fields are starting to show stress. There are concerns about nitrogen loss from the rains, but so far I have not seen symptoms. It will defin…
We had some pretty strong storms roll through on Wednesday. The rain totaled 2.5-3 inches, and I heard reports of some damage to bins and buildings to the south. We were able to catch up on spraying prior to the rain and worked on a few projects in the shop while we waited for things to dry …
Rains last week totaled about 3.5 inches. There were strong winds on Wednesday that took down a few trees in the area and leaned over some corn. We are a bit behind on post spraying beans but hope to be mostly caught up in the next day or two. Upcoming, we have some standard things to do, li…
We missed most of the rain during the week, so we were still very dry heading into the weekend. It finally started raining on Sunday and we are up to a half inch of rain. Last week we made repairs to irrigators and worked on some shop projects. Hoping to get our oats and peas chopped towards…
Last week was another dry week. We ran irrigators, sidedressed corn and moved cows to fresh pasture. There was spotty rain over the weekend, but we did not receive a measurable amount. Hearing from some folks in the area with concerns about stands, and a few fields have necessitated replanti…
We were lucky to catch an additional 0.75 inch of rain early in the week which helped the crops substantially. Corn in our area is off to a good start. The beans were a little slow getting out of the ground with the dry conditions earlier in the spring, but they are catching up now. The adde…
Last week was very dry. We irrigated our soybeans and spent a good bit of time scouting and checking soil moisture. Deep cracks were forming, and soil moisture depth varied from a half an inch to 3 inches plus. We built fence, and it felt more like August than May. The dry conditions made dr…
This week was very dry as most missed the rains early in the week. Lots of planting progress here with some folks able to finish up planting. The dry conditions are leaving early-planted beans in need of rain. There were some irrigators running this weekend, too.
Spotty rains last week kept some folks out of the fields, but most people I talked to made some progress on planting. The temperature forecast is keeping folks from going all out. Early-planted corn in the sands are up.
Rained out Friday after the ground was fit to plant Wednesday and Thursday. Folks were planting corn and beans and sprayers were running. Rain was variable Thursday night. We only got a quarter inch here and were able to run this weekend. West of us, I have heard reports of more rainfall and…
We’re hoping to get soybean planting started by Thursday probably. It’s been so cold as we got frost over the weekend. Forecast calls for good, dry and warm conditions. That will be a change from the 2 inches of rain received last week.
Elyssa McFarland is the sixth generation in her family to farm near Columbus Junction in Louisa County. She runs the farm with her husband Dave and parents Tom and Chris McFarland. Her degrees in soil science and soil conservation guide her management of the family’s row crops. The family al…
Elyssa McFarland is the sixth generation in her family to farm near Columbus Junction in Louisa County. She runs the farm with her husband Dave and parents Tom and Chris McFarland. Her degrees in soil science and soil conservation guide her management of the family’s row crops. The family al…
A lot of anhydrous and pit manure went into the ground this past week. I spent time winterizing sprayers with antifreeze and getting heaters started in three buildings where we don’t want it to freeze. Also cleaned off the garden and mowed yards for the last time before cleaning and putting …
Things are slowing down on our farm. We’re mostly getting ready for winter. A lot of pit manure is being applied in the neighborhood. We talked to our drag line operator, and he plans to be here in two weeks to empty our pits. I finalized our seed order for 2026. Cover crops are all seeded a…
Harvest is winding down in Southeast Iowa. I took a 60-mile drive on Friday and saw one soybean field and three corn fields that were yet to be harvested. We finished seeding cover crops and are working on getting equipment put away for the winter. I still need to get the pits pumped and put…
I finished combining both corn and some late soybeans this week. I got the rest of the cover crops planted and had a half-inch of rain late in the week that should get them germinated. I tried to report the cover crop acres to the Farm Service Agency but found that the government shutdown ha…
Rainfall of 0.46 of an inch on Monday did not slow harvest very much. Corn and soybean harvest is progressing rapidly. Cover crops planted a month ago look good. I actually had to mow some yards for the first time in several weeks.
A lot of soybeans were combined this past week. By the time the dew had dried the soybeans were often 10% or under in moisture. Early-planted cover crops look good. Normally the pits in our hog buildings do not need pumping until mid-November. We have taken enough manure out of each building…
With no rain forecast, it could be another busy week. We received 0.6 of an inch of rain Tuesday, which was our biggest rain since July 30. It will be enough to get the rye cover crop germinated. We were still able to combine corn Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday. By Thursday most of the neig…
Many neighbors have started combining corn. Yields vary greatly by soil type, tiling, fungicide application, moisture and variety. Several neighbors tried combining soybeans last week but most decided it would be better to wait a few days longer. We did get 0.67 of an inch of rain this past …
Last week, I said yields were similar to last year. I spoke too soon, as we are finding yields on some varieties 30-40 bushel less than the same varieties last year. This is on corn that we had one shot of fungicide applied. Soybean harvest should start in earnest this coming week. Several n…
Southeast Iowa could use a rain. I recorded 0.38 of an inch in August and 0.06 so far in September. Corn is maturing and drying down faster than normal. We wanted to make sure that the harvesting and drying equipment worked, so we combined some corn on Sept. 5. The moisture ranged from 23% t…
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