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July 16, 2025
Carter County - Michael Hansen
Finished haying for the most part last night or early this morning I guess it was (7/15). It was 105 degrees yesterday afternoon...at least there was no wind with it. There will be 1200 acres of grass that we won’t even go over with the swather; just let the four legged black ones cut it or get what little is out there. Which is just absolutely baffling because the drought monitor says we aren’t even abnormally dry now. I guess 100 degrees for a week takes you out of a drought. They just learn something in college that I’ve never heard of that no rain for a month and excessive temperatures alleviate dryness, but I’ll be done with that soapbox. As soon as I get combine and header drug out of barn we’ll get to cutting something. As usual all the stuff that I was going to fix on it will last another year. I’m sure the barley is ready to start on.Turned out bulls this morning (7/15) and shockingly only had one lame one. Usually it’s half a dozen that can’t go to pasture. Been green on the radar the better part of the day but no rain...oh well, by this point everything is not going be worth the hassle of combining anyway. Branded the last of the calves one morning this week as well.
Moisture conditions have been poor.
Planted Winter Wheat, Durum, Barley, Garbanzos, Oats, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the soft dough growth stage. Spring Wheat is the heading growth stage. Barley is in the hard dough growth stage.
Fergus County - Boyd Heilig
The spring crops sure took a turn for the worse here over the weekend. Barley is turning white already. Good luck to everyone this harvest season.
With the last week of heat and wind the winter wheat harvest is expected to be here sooner than I thought.
Moisture conditions have been fair.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Barley, and Canola this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the soft dough growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the filling growth stage. Barley is in the filling growth stage.
Fergus County - Brandon Udelhoven
We’ve finished hauling old crop, other than one load sitting on a truck until the next train arrives. Bins are cleaned and closed up for this year’s crop. Have trucks and combines in the shop, getting everything serviced out and ready to go. Still have the last pass to make on chemfallow before we get going cutting. We received a big rain the past two days (1 to 1.5”) and I have very mixed emotions. The rain is too late to have any real benefit on the crop, and has laid down some sawfly impacted wheat that otherwise would’ve stayed standing long enough to cut it. We also have peas that were a couple of days from being cuttable, so hoping we don’t start seeing pod shatter as things dry out. The rain is going to make the staging in the lentils tricky too, as some spots will be dead ripe and others will probably start flowering again, will make decisions on desiccation timing harder. I hate to complain about rain though and the moisture will definitely help the grass, the fire danger and our overall morale; might even build a bit of subsoil reserve in the pulses so we can get by with less rain in September for winter wheat seeding. Hoping things will dry out over the next few days and maybe we can get combines with in the field by the Sunday/Monday. SDRP forms arrived in the mail earlier this week and the financial aid will be great appreciated, a big thank you to MGGA and all other organizations and individuals that were so vital in getting that program crafted and passed. Hope everyone has a safe and timely harvest.
Starting harvest July 21st.
Moisture conditions have been fair. We have received 1-1.5 inches of precipitation within the last week.
The lingering drought is always on the mind, but with harvest starting would be nice to get 3 or 4 weeks of dry and then lots of rain.
Grasshoppers are present at this time.
Prickly lettuce, russian thistle, and kochia are present at this time.
Planted Winter Wheat, Peas and Lentils this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the hard dough growth stage.
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Fergus/Wheatland/Judith Basin Counties - Paul Bradley
Getting bins and the combine ready for Harvest. Spraying chem fallow.
Planning on 1st week of August for harvest.
Moisture conditions have been good. We have received 1.1 inches of precipitation within the last week.
Concerned about hail, heat and wind.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat and Canola this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the soft dough growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the filling growth stage.
Fergus County - Robert Bold
Glad to see the rain. Right at 1.25 inches for the week at the time of this report (7/15). Close to harvest and first rain so there should be no crop damage. However, we do have winter wheat lodging before this rain. It is foggy this morning. Rain October 15? Had to turn the furnace on this morning. (Happy wife: happy life!) Also, we had frost on the pickup roof and hood the first morning of summer. Welcome to Montana! Harvesting has started north of here in the Triangle. We are probably 7 or so days off. The grain market is not going to have a summer rally this year. Cash grain prices are 2018/19 levels. Cash input costs are not. A lot of chart damage has been done to the wheat market. Recovery will take a lot of effort...and 45% ending stocks to production ratio does not help at all. End stocks should be at most only in the high 20's percent for any good price movement. It looks like corn and beans are joining us Wheaties. Corn is approaching below $4 and beans below $10. Glad to see there will be a 2025 crop year PLC and possibly ARC payments from the newly passed budget. The local elevators here are full with more 23 and 24 crop coming in daily. The ground pile is next even before the combines start rolling. Hope everyone has a good and safe harvest. Again, may your combine tank runneth over, stack yard, may your combine grain tank always be full and ready to run over. Have a good harvest!!
Moisture conditions have been excellent.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, and Hay this growing season.
Gallatin County - Dale Flikkema
Just finished 1st cutting. Start 2nd soon.
Planning to being harvest 1st of August.
Moisture conditions have been poor. We have not received any precipitation within the last week.
Dry land crops are burning ripe.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Peas, Canola, Corn, Oats, Sunflowers, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the hard dough growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the soft dough growth stage.
Hill County - Eric Hanson
It was a scramble but we started harvest on Monday July 14. Our far east farm has had the least amount of rain all year and it was ready to go. The way we cross the river at Fresno dam is closed to one lane so it was a 53 mile move to get around; but we made it over dale and glen, through town and beyond to reach our destination. We cut most of the day Monday and then rain hit at 9:30 and shut us down. Ended up with .7 inches of rain on ripe wheat. Got down to 46 degrees and cool days to follow. Not sure when we will be back in the field. So back to getting things ready for harvest and finishing our prep. Wheat yield appears to be close to average and good quality—before the rain. We’ll see how it’s fared following the rain. Should be fine. Looking forward to getting back going already. Hopefully we see everyone at the 4H sale on Saturday—come help support tomorrow’s leaders in ag!
Moisture conditions have been fair.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, and Garbanzos this growing season.
Judith Basin County - Greg Mathews
The heat is starting to take its toll, orchard grass usually comes back after haying it, but not this year, as it turned brown. A first, WW is turning, still 3 weeks out or more. Barley is holding its own but did see some having white awns where seeded to thick. Feedlot is again chopping forage that is too dry, it has a turned look to it. With 3 choppers and 30 trucks they cannot get over the fields fast enough. Fixed the resistant weeds with the cultivator last Monday. What a great laugh as they are in the heat drying out. Haha. Will finish haying Monday as it was a below average crop. No rain this last week. But the weather man says maybe Monday or Tuesday, hope they are right. Best to all and be safe.
Planning on starting harvest August 10th.
Moisture conditions have been fair.
Spring crop really needs a rain.
Saw some hoppers today just along the creek and they are small and many. None out in the crop ground.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Barley, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the filling growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the filling growth stage. Barley is in the filling growth stage.
Teton County - Mitch Konen
Been busy haying and irrigating around here. Hay finally up with with a few breakdowns slowing the process. Had to make a run to Roundup for one of the only part I needed in the state. Still have some grass to cut and bale, but this rain will set it up nicely. Yes, I said rain. Half an inch so far this Wednesday morning. Irrigating is just about done as the water supply is dwindling fast. Sounds like within a week it will be gone. Need to get the combine out as the dryland winter wheat looks about ready. This rain will wash the color and falling numbers, so just another headache in the marketing game. The wild oats have gone hog wild in some fields. A late flush I guess. This rain will sure help for fall seeding and fire prevention. Not sure it will be much more than detrimental to the harvest at hand...but we will take it and like it, a lot. Hauling the last of last years crops to the elevator, just in time to refill them with this years crops.
Will try to start harvest when it dries up. Most likely next week.
Moisture conditions have been fair. We have not received any precipitiastion until this morning (7/15) within the last week.
Planted Winter Wheat, Barley, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the ripe growth stage. Barley is in the filling growth stage.
July 9, 2025
Carter County - Michael Hansen
Sprayed the chickpeas. They are quite the plant...almost more roots below ground than plant above ground. Had two storms this week go over that settled the dust for the afternoon. Hay barley looks like it could be combined on the hilltops and the winter wheat isn’t far behind. But my old neighbor always says once it turns, to go fishing for a week and then it’ll be ready. Even so it’ll be one of the earlier harvests I can remember. Still making hay bales. Working on the last field of willow creek and the old swather is cutting grass hay. So it’s been bale in the grain hay until it gets too dry, then go to the grass. Probably at a little more than 1500 acres left to go and we can be done. The feed barley has huge heads but no way will we have enough water to get em filled. But I guess everything has a stand and is weed free so we did our part of the game.
Moisture conditions have been poor. We have received .4 inches of precipitation within the last week.
Just won't rain.
There is starting to be a lot of little baby hoppers.
Planted Winter Wheat, Durum, Barley, Garbanzos, Oats, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the soft dough growth stage. Spring Wheat is the heading growth stage. Barley is in the hard dough growth stage.
Fergus County - Boyd Heilig
Things are still looking good here in central Montana. Winter wheat might be ready to harvest by the first of August. The spring crops are filling and will have quite the time with the heat coming this week.
Moisture conditions have been fair. We have received .3 inches of precipitation within the last week.
Grasshoppers are present but not a problem so far.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Barley, and Canola this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the soft dough growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the filling growth stage. Barley is in the filling growth stage.
Fergus County - Brandon Udelhoven
Just about finished hauling the last of old crop to the elevator, and not a moment too soon as harvest is approaching fast. Hot, dry and windy conditions have sapped the life out of everything the past ten days. No appreciable moisture in the last two weeks on 90% of the farm has the spring crop extremely stressed. The peas might still be an ok crop all things considered, but the lentils won’t amount to much. Grass has lost its luster and grasshoppers have started flying. The drought monitor might not show it yet, but this area of Fergus county is in severe drought, conditions improve drastically with every mile south. Hard to find much motivation at present but have to keep chugging along as there is tons to do before combines can roll. A field of chemfallow and a few skips or weedy patches in others will need to be addressed before harvest.
Starting day has moved up with the rough past week, might start harvest in as little as 10 days.
Moisture conditions have been poor. We have not received any precipitation within the last week.
Drought conditions have returned, rain at this point is almost too late to improve the crops, but would help with morale. Praying for a wet fall.
Grasshoppers are present at this time.
Prickly lettuce, russian thistle, pigweed and kochia are present at this time.
Planted Winter Wheat, Peas and Lentils this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the hard dough growth stage.
Fergus County - Robert Bold
The July (the hottest month of the year) heat has hit. Turning things very fast. Haying is about wrapped up. Grain hay is about the only thing left to bale. Swathing winter wheat north of here. They are usually about 2 weeks ahead of us. Crop still golden yellow not the ripe white yellow color. The early seeded spring wheat is going to be a very good crop. The late seeded probably may not be harvested. Lots of trucks hauling grain. Looks like the elevators will be full before harvest even starts. Wheat price is still in the toilet. Still every bushel of wheat has a home; its just a matter of price and getting it there. Times in history grain was used to govern a population. Also, it has sparked revolts. It's hard to govern a hungry population--just like trying to keep hungry cows out of the stack yard. May your combine grain tank always be full and ready to run over. Have a good harvest!!
Moisture conditions have been fair. We have not received any precipitation within the last week.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, and Hay this growing season.
Hill County - Eric Hanson
The heat is on. They were predicting some rain over the 4th but we hardly got a sprinkle. We are on the fast track to harvest. Not quite two weeks until we get into harvesting the recrop yellow peas and then into winter wheat. Some winter wheat, where we got the late rain, is still fairly green, and where we didn’t it looks very gold from the road. The recrop chickpeas are short and drying up, but trying to do what they were made to do. The spring wheat is being pushed, as are the chickpeas on fallow ground. And we are being pushed to get everything ready for harvest. Finishing up spraying weeds, mowing weeds, and cursing weeds. The war on weeds continue. Lots of cleaning bins and wrenching on harvest equipment in my near future. Caught a hot tour (97 degrees) at the northern ag research field days last week. Was a large success, like always. They really put on a great tour and meal out there. Thanks to everyone involved. Got the kids on the river a few times over the holiday and saw two bald eagles on our float. Was a great reminder of our freedom in this country.
Planning to start harvest July 20th.
Moisture conditions have been poor. We have not received any precipitation within the last week.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, and Garbanzos this growing season.
Hill County - Trevor Wolery
Can’t find the sawfly! Well can’t find enough to warrant the swather cost this year. Ball park estimate at 1% infested this year and have no answer to why. Harvest was predicted around July 11 but since we are letting it stand, harvest will be closer to the 18th or 20th of July now. Missed out on all July 4th rain storm predictions and the only consistent thing 2025 weather apps have been this year is wrong. Heat units will hasten the spring crops to ripening going forward.
Moisture conditions have been poor. We have not received any precipitation within the last week.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Lentils, Garbanzos, and Mustard this growing season.
Judith Basin County - Greg Mathews
Shut down haying till after the 4th because of chance of rain. Did get some rain last week, 0.22 Wed, 0.10 Fri, and 0.08 Sat fior a total of 0.40 for the week. That will really help the spring crop and the cool temps. Looks like hot weather coming mid week and should finish haying by the weekend. About the same amount as last year to below average in some fields. Sprayed most of the Sf again and plan to work ground in between haying operations. Crops look very good in the area and the WW is turning fast. Have a great week.
Planning on starting harvest August 4th.
Moisture conditions have been good.
Still need one more big rain to finish off the spring crops.
Weevil is present at this time.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Barley, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the filling growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the filling growth stage. Barley is in the filling growth stage.
Lewis & Clark County - Jake Merkel
Working on finishing up 1st cutting. Had a lot of little afternoon showers that made putting hay up challenging. Keeping irrigation going with the hot days.
Moisture conditions have been good. We have received .25 inches of precipitation within the last week.
Planted Spring Wheat, Barley, and Hay this growing season.
Spring Wheat is in the filling growth stage. Barley is in the filling growth stage.
July 2, 2025
Carter County - Michael Hansen
Still making hay bales and by the time we are done the baler and swather will probably be able to run right beside each other. Very little green left in the grass already and the farm fields are close to the same. Had planned on swathing the winter wheat but it’s mostly brown already...trying to get heads filled but looks like they have aborted about half the head, so I guess we’ll combine it. The hay barley that is left is also filling heads and has lost most the green color when you look at it from the road. I guess just isn’t going to rain. Went to town for a wedding over the weekend and couldn’t believe how much nicer it looks just 20 miles away where they have gotten recent rains. Headed to spray sorghum. The kochia seems completely unaffected by the lack of moisture. Sure wish they could but the genes of it into some sort of grain crop.
Moisture conditions have been poor. We have not received any precipitation within the last week.
Planted Winter Wheat, Durum, Barley, Garbanzos, Oats, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the filling growth stage. Spring Wheat is the booting growth stage. Barley is in the filling growth stage.
Fergus County - Brandon Udelhoven
We are keeping busy hauling grain, it’s been a slow process as we are cleaning the bottoms of all the bins and trying to do it during the cool parts of the day. The summer heat has finally arrived…wish it could’ve waited until mid month or at least until after the 4th. The heat and dry conditions is pushing the winter wheat, less green and more gold everyday. The first seeded peas have pretty much blasted the last of their blooms and will now just need to finish filling the last of the pods, might be scary how fast they ripen up going forward. The lentils are still green as a gourd and flowering really nice. I’m hoping that they are thick enough to help shade their blooms and create a microclimate of sorts to buy them some time until the cooler weekend gets here; another good shower on them and they could really be a special crop. They are knee high, and if nothing else will cut really nice. Have a couple of fields of chemfallow that will need attention soon and a few areas where grasshoppers will need to be sprayed again. The hoppers are relentless, and trying to eradicate them seems hopeless, just have to try and stay ahead of them long enough for the crop to ripen. Some tame grass pastures in the area are starting to look more like parking lots than grasslands. Maybe 2026 (year seven of them) will be “lucky” and they’ll magically disappear? My folks took a drive to the northeast part of the state over the weekend to tow home a rock picker and said from Malta east towards Glasgow was extremely tough, so feeling very fortunate to have the crop we do. Praying for everyone’s health and sanity during these dry times
I feel pretty confident that we will be doing some test cuts in three weeks or so. Harvest starts July 25th.
Moisture conditions have been good. We have received .05 to .4 inches of precipitation within the last week in a couple of showers last Thursday/Friday.
The heat has me more concerned than the dry right now, but both together will really zap the spring crop. In a few weeks we will be past wanting rain for a bit.
Grasshoppers are getting to be terrible. Not as widespread as in the past few years but every bit as thick.
Russian thistle and prickly lettuce are present at this time.
Planted Winter Wheat, Peas and Lentils this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the soft dough growth stage.
Fergus County - Robert Bold
Grain crops look really good! Been some hail in the area so there will not be as many bushel delivered to the elevator this year. The last half of June rains really worked out well. A lot of hay got rained on. For the most part, haying is about wrapped up--literally. By the weeks end there won't be much hay left to bale up. The winter wheat is a golden-green color. These up coming hot days will stress it some for better protein. Spring wheat is all in the soft dough. Enough moisture to finish it. Done with another chem fallow pass. Just the hot season weeds coming on. Independence Day is Friday. With the amount of trouble and wording I do every week for this crop survey report--I can not imagine the effort our founding fathers, with their quill feather pens and ink wells, went through to draft the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. They are the ones that gave us the basis to build the freest nation ever on the face of the earth. That unleased freedom gave us the ability to innovate and build upon our productive ag land the best bread basket ever known. Hope everyone has a good 4th.
Remember the red, white and blue and those who gave their all to get it and keep it. Hoppy 4th everyone!!
Harvest will begin in 20 to 25 days.
Moisture conditions have been good. We have received .45 inches of precipitation within the last week. June is almost up to average rain fall.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, and Hay this growing season.
Hill County - Trevor Wolery
Warmer weather this week is making the crops yearn for more moisture. HRW is ripening fast and spring crops are being pushed along. Fallow is still holding at the moment which is giving us time for some odds and ends projects.
Happy Independence Day and God Bless the USA!
Planning on July 11th to begin harvest.
Moisture conditions have been poor.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Lentils, Garbanzos, and Mustard this growing season.
Judith Basin County - Greg Mathews
Will have to start spraying some fields again for weeds and cheat again. One field will have to be cultivated to get rid of foxtail. Do not want to but only way to get rid of it. Started haying on Sat (6/28). Looks to be average to below average. Weevil showing up in areas. Moisture last week Sun 0.09, Mon 0.01 dew, Thur 0.21, Fri 0.03; for a total of 0.34 for the week. Total for June was 3.64. My barley has started to head as is the spring wheat. Things look good in the area except where the hail hit earlier in the month.
Have a great Fourth and be safe.
Moisture conditions have been good.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Barley, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the filling growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the heading growth stage. Barley is in the heading growth stage.