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June 25, 2025
Carter County - Michael Hansen
Started making hay bales this past week. Alfalfa field did 2 bales to the acre...had to rake it twice as a storm went by and when the front hit had some 50 mph gusts and rolled it everywhere. I guess that’s what you get for trying to out think Mother Nature. Glad that’s all it was because town got baseball sized hail. Grass hay has been between half and a bale to the acre. Hay barley ran 3 bales to the acre on what we have done. Haven’t quite finished the first field of willow creek but so far the estimate is roughly two bales to the acre. So could definitely be worse but could also be lots better. Should have enough to make the winter if we can get it all before our turn is up for the hail stones. Chickpeas and sorghum are growing pretty good should probably be sprayed in the next week to ten days but hard to drive both the sprayer and the baler. AI’d the replacement heifers on last Saturday and was a nice cool morning so that was nice. It was also nice to be done having to work them as that was the fourth time down the chute in the last month and a half they were getting quite knowledge as to the gather was. Turned the clean up bulls out with them this morning which is Tuesday (6/24). Hoping that it remembers how to rain at some point...the spring crops could really use a drink.
Moisture conditions have been poor.
Planted Winter Wheat, Durum, Barley, Garbanzos, Oats, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the filling growth stage. Spring Wheat is the jointing growth stage. Barley is in the jointing growth stage.
Cascade County - Steve Sheffels
We are trying to get the last of last years crop shipped so that we can clean bins and get ready for harvest. The fallow is all sprayed and looking good. A hail storm went through the middle of the place last week. 10-20% loss along the road. Its been too wet to look any further. It is likely that the rain helped the crop more than the hail hurt it.
The earliest planted winter wheat is just starting to turn. The latest planted is still really green. I'd guess 4-6 weeks until harvest which is just a little early.
Moisture conditions have been good. We received 1.6 inches of precipitation within the last week.
Planted Winter Wheat, Barley, and Peas this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the filling growth stage. Spring Wheat is the jointing growth stage. Barley is in the heading growth stage.
Fergus County - Brandon Udelhoven
Hauled a little grain last week but had to shut down due to showers and the need to prioritize fieldwork. Finished second round of chemfallow last week, weeds were not out of control, but was time to be done ahead of the rain. Did not receive as much moisture as was predicted but still saw beneficial amounts. Showers started Friday morning, some heavier rain Friday night into Saturday morning and then showers Saturday evening and off and on throughout Sunday. Crops are looking fantastic all things considered. I think this rain was enough to finish the winter wheat crop. On fallow it looks to be a very good crop for the area, and even though we almost lost it a few times the recrop wheat appears to be above average as well. The peas are blooming like crazy and setting lots of pods, the lentils are close behind. Some of the lentils in waterways on our heavy clay soil are actually showing yellowing and stress from being waterlogged, so a week of dry weather will be beneficial for them. I feel blessed to have received extremely timely rains this spring to get us to this point, and am holding out hope that the next few weeks go well and give us a good crop.
With normal conditions going forward, we should be going strong for harvest by the last week of July, let’s say the 26th.
Moisture conditions have been good. We have received 0.80 to 1.1 inches of precipitation within the last week. Still have substantial subsoil moisture deficits but the rains have been extremely timely, and things are looking pretty decent.
At this point we just need to avoid excessive heat for the next few weeks. A couple timely rains in July will make the pulse crops.
Grasshoppers are bad in places. Bringing in a plane to spray a few fields and lots of edges.
Russian and Canadian thistle, prickly lettuce and salsify are present at this time.
Planted Winter Wheat, Peas and Lentils this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the filling growth stage.
Fergus/Wheatland/Judith Basin Counties - Paul Bradley
Haying is just starting to get rolling on our place.
Planning on 1st week of August for harvest.
Moisture conditions have been excellent. We have received 2 inches of precipitation within the last week.
Concerned about hail.
Wild oats and buck wheat are both healthy this year.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat and Canola this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the filling growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the jointing growth stage.
Fergus County - Robert Bold
Another Million/Billion dollar rain last week. Just what the spring crops needed. Winter wheat is filling nicely and just starting to get that golden green color. Spring wheat is headed and filling. About half done with this pass of chem fallow. Went to the Camaro Rally in Spearfish and Sturgis late last week. I have never seen the southern third of Montana this green this time of the year. The Sturgis area has become a center for rallies over the years. It really got a big start when the Hell's Angels and other biker gangs left LA for awhile in the summer to get away from the "heat" of the cops. They just kept coming back to Sturgis on an annual basis and the rally became annual renewable income for Sturgis. The town as well as the whole area, had nothing for them and was absent of industry. The area responded and built up to handle them and other annual rallies which provided income. Just like when my grandpa from Germany came to Montana's prairie to homestead. There was absolutely nothing there for him. But his annual renewal--his crop--helped to build what is now Montana's wheat and barley industry.
Depending on the heat and weather, harvest is 35 days away.
Moisture conditions have been good. We have received 1.1 inches of precipitation within the last week, but June is still behind historic average monthly rain fall...but catching up nicely.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, and Hay this growing season.
Gallatin County - Dale Flikkema
Just about finished spraying. Haying is underway. Irrigation is at full throttle.
Grass seed harvest will start in about 10 days. Peas oats and wheat harvest in 45 days.
Moisture conditions have been fair. We have received .1 inches of precipitation within the last week.
We need rain.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Peas, Canola, Corn, Oats, Sunflowers, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the heading growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the booting growth stage.
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Hill County - Eric Hanson
What a year so far. We had been limping through this drought with minimal rain showers keeping us alive and we finally got the rain event we’d been waiting all year for. Received anywhere from .5”-1.9” of rain over 3 days. It’s going to be very interesting to see what the crops can do with the moisture at this point in the game. The winter wheat was already turning and burning up before the rain, with over 1/2 of the 3rd row kernels aborted, so it’s somewhat yield locked. But we’ll get weight now and maybe fill some smaller heads that might not have filled otherwise. The coulees and low spots were still green so they should finish nicely. Just not enough coulees or low spots in this flat neck of the woods! The spring wheat had been hit with drought when it was forming heads so it too is fairly locked into its yield with smaller heads and a thinned out stand. But we’ll see what it can do. It’ll probably need another decent rain to finish strong, so hopefully something comes along. The chickpeas had been flowering before the rain and yellowing up lower leaves trying to stave off the drought. They are the indeterminate wild card with this moisture. Hopefully we gain another week or two of flowering, some much needed height, and some nicely filled pods out of this rain. After all that rain, on Sunday night we went to 37 degrees. Felt very blessed we didn’t freeze at this time of the year—felt too close for comfort. And feeling so very blessed for the moisture. It’s looking like it will be next week before we can get in the fields and finish spraying the chemfallow without leaving compaction tracks. The weeds are thoroughly enjoying this rain and sun as well. Off they grow! A lot of people thinking somewhere around the 15th for winter wheat harvest to start. I’m hoping more around the 25th. But starting next week it’s going to be around 90 everyday so it’ll come hard and fast I suppose. We had started to see small hoppers around last week but they are far enough behind the crops and in small enough numbers I don’t think they’ll be an issue this year. Our local lake is about like the grain prices. Its so low you can’t get a boat in the water, so it looks like the old boat will just stay in the shed this year.
Planning on starting harvest the 20th-25th of July.
Moisture conditions have been good. We have received .5-1.9 inches of precipitation within the last week.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, and Garbanzos this growing season.
Hill County - Trevor Wolery
Blessed and Grateful! Dang near doubled our year to date precipitation total with this weekends rain event.
Recorded a whopping 1.32 over the weekend in a nice soft drizzle. Growers attitudes and plants attitudes are greatly improved. HRW is continuing to turn and will be an early July harvest around here. Bridger Chick peas, mustard and lentils in the flowering stages and enjoying having their feet wet. Busy working on some projects that have been on the back burner before the boys leave me to work for people that actually pay.
Planning on July 11 to being harvest.
Moisture conditions have been good. We received 1.32 inches of precipitation within the last week.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Lentils, Garbanzos, and Mustard this growing season.
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Judith Basin County - Greg Mathews
It was another good week for the crops that did not get hail from last week storms. Got 1.17 for the week - .32 Sun, .02 Mon, .02 Thur, .52 Fri and .29 Sat. Total for the month is 3.30, plus the cool temps helped the crops grow and fill. A small amount of the barley in the area is starting to head out, which is ahead of the normal. Alfalfa bloomed in two days, see just a few to see a lot of blooms. As I write this report it looks like it may rain again today and hope the weatherman is wrong with the low temps for tonight, close to freezing to frost. Lots of grain coming into both elevators. Hay price is starting to climb and old crop moving up and down the highway.
Moisture conditions have been good.
Concerned about hail storms, week before hail up to palm sized to soft sized. Lots of damage.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Barley, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the heading growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the 5-leaf growth stage. Barley is in the 5-leaf growth stage.
McCone/Dawson County - Trevor Schock
We have gotten all of the crops sprayed. Looks like neighbors have been aerial appling some fungicide to pulses. We just started on our 2nd round of chem fallow. I spent most of the last month taking some wheat to the elevator and have gotten all caught up on current contracts. I will probably start prepping bins and harvest machinery in the next few weeks for harvest.
Harvest should still be at least a month away depending on July heat.
Moisture conditions have been fair. We have received .05 inches of precipitation within the last week.
We have had a nice period of some wetter weather the last few weeks. Pretty good timing for most of the spring crops. Rains have been pretty hit or miss this month. Most places in the area have had anywhere from 1-4". Early spring crops on recrop ground and winter crops may have been a little too far along for the rain to help them as much. Crops on fallow ground are looking good and should be putting rain to good use on filling heads and pods, but always seem like they are just few days away from needing another rain. We have some warming temps in the forecast, so another round or 2 of showers would be helpful to finish up heading and filling.
Saw flies are present at this time.
Glyphosate resistant kochia and thistles are present at this time.
Planted Spring Wheat and Peas this growing season.
Spring Wheat is in the heading growth stage.
Teton County - Mitch Konen
Finishing up the first round of irrigation. Sounds like the water might hold on a little further into July than first thought. But that can change in a hurry. Been getting some rain, but the short grass prairie is still suffering as are the flood corners that got irrigated a little late. But any sooner irrigation would have turned it yellow as evidenced by some leakage from some ditches. Have received from a little over a half an inch to three quarters of an inch this past week. Have seen about .6" per week the last couple weeks. It all helps for sure. Hay is getting windrowed locally. We are getting equipment ready for the hay game. Will start soon. Did have some hail a little over a week ago that wiped out some sizeable acres on the bench.
Planning to being harvest mid to late July.
Moisture conditions have been fair.
It remains fairly dry for the most part if it weren't for the irrigation.
Wild oats are present at this time.
Planted Winter Wheat, Barley, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the filling growth stage. Barley is in the booting growth stage.
Toole County - Klayton Lohr
Caught up with chemfallow for at least two more weeks. Then looking like we’ll be fighting more weeds.
Plannong to start harvest July 20th.
Moisture conditions have been fair. We have received 1.35 inches of precipitation within the last week.
Looking like it could be a year prone for thunderstorms and potential hail.
Kochia, Kochia and Kochia presentat this time.
Planted Winter Wheat and Durum this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the soft dough growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the heading growth stage.
June 18, 2025
Carter County - Michael Hansen
Started getting haying machinery hooked up and gone over. Was going to start, but there was a lot of rain in the forecast so we waited. It has been raining some which is good but it’s mostly too late...everything was too far gone. I guess it will be good for the chickpeas and sorghum...they were little enough yet. Other than that just still branding calves and moving cows to summer pasture. And watching the wheat market tank.
Moisture conditions have been poor. We received 6 tenths to 1.25 inches depending on the cloud of precipitation within the last week.
Planted Winter Wheat, Durum, Barley, Garbanzos, Oats, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the heading growth stage. Spring Wheat is the jointing growth stage. Barley is in the heading growth stage.
Fergus County - Brandon Udelhoven
Elevator has finally made ample room to hopefully allow us to get the rest of our contracted grain in. Have about a week of full days to get the rest hauled in and then need to decide if the unpriced grain gets hauled as well. Hard to get excited about selling sub $5 wheat, but I am hopeful that we will need all our storage available for this year’s crop. Next round of chemfallow will need to be done soon before the weeds get big and hard to kill, but we will need a little drying weather as we finally received a good shot of moisture. No rain when I woke up Thursday morning (the 12th) had me feeling pretty blue, but it started soon after and ended up giving us a widespread .50” to .90” across the farm. We then got hit with storms Saturday night through Sunday morning that dropped anywhere from .70” to 2”, along with some bad hail. Lost a couple sizable fields of peas that were looking phenomenal, as well as a peppering in some winter wheat and lentils that roughed things up a bit. The rain that came saved the wheat crop yet again and will do much more good than what the hail took away. If we can get a few more weeks of favorable weather the wheat looks to be average to above average with the pulses being well above average. Winter wheat is flowering/filling, pulses started blooming this past week.
Moisture conditions have been good. We have received 1.25” to 2.8” of moisture within the last week, depending on location. Ping pong sized slow release moisture in spots.
Topsoil moisture has been replenished in all crops, with subsoil reserves improved in pulses. With average to cool temps and maybe a shower or two this years crops are almost made, just need to stay away from hail and extreme heat.
Grasshoppers are becoming more widespread and hungry. Hopefully improved pasture conditions will keep them from moving into the crops as quickly.
A scattering of fanweed and mustards in the pulses. Chemfallow has a strong flush of Russian thistle and prickly lettuce. Patches of nearly impossible to kill foxtail might require the old methods.
Tan spot and leaf blotch on lower leaves of wheat, pulses will have to be monitored closely for sclerotinia after recent rains.
Planted Winter Wheat, Peas and Lentils this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the heading growth stage.
Fergus County - Boyd Heilig
This past week has been all over the board. Received some beneficial rain on Wednesday and then had three separate hail storms come through over the weekend. Probably 10-15 percent damage on a third of our crop.
Moisture conditions have been good.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Barley, and Canola this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the filling growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the heading growth stage. Barley is in the jointing growth stage.
Fergus County - Robert Bold
It was a very welcome rain. A million dollar rain if not a billion dollar rain. There was some bad hail in Fergus and Judith Basin counties. Took out a lot if grain, hay and roofs. Haying is in full swing in this area. Production below average. I did notice that in this day and age, there are two things that can bring an operation to a complete halt...either the AC quits or the GPS goes down. Definitely a dry year to date. The Missouri River's recorded flow here is 6,200 cfps instead of the average of 12,000 cfps. 6,200 cfps flow is August's river flow. Wheat prices keeps trying to make a run but get knocked back.
Germany is the only country in the world that offers a Brewmaster Masters Degree. If MSU were to offer such a degree, maybe there would be more barley raised in the state. Winter wheat is all headed, flowering and in soft dough. Spring wheat is all in the boot and 25% headed. Harvest in 30 to 35 days.
Moisture conditions have been good. We have received just a little over an inch of precipitation within the last week.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, and Hay this growing season.
Hill County - Eric Hanson
Last Thursday we ended up getting a nice set of rain showers that came through along with a nice cool day. We picked up 2/10ths in places and up to 4/10s in others on our farm. We had a string of days in the mid 90s with wind before that moisture showed up and crops got hurt from that. But we got another small saving grace out of that rain. Fast forward almost a week and things are crisp again. I think every thunder storm has missed us, so no additional help—although some places only 20 miles away got 1.5-2” out of some of these stronger storms. The spring wheat is blue and 8-10” tall and trying to head out. It’s thin and short. Small heads. The heat and drought hit full tilt at the wrong time. The winter wheat is filling and is beginning to show a beautiful green/gold color. And burning up in the lighter soils. Any crops that missed any showers this spring are showing it. We finally broke the 2” of moisture barrier for the year on some places, where other places are just over 2.5”. And it’s noticeable. It’s damn dry and disheartening. The chickpeas are short and flowering like mad, or stunted back in areas from drought and heat. The recrop spring wheat and chickpeas look pretty sad. Needless to say, we still have not received a significant enough rain to get us more than a few days. It’s been this way all spring—right on the verge of failure and then we get saved. And there’s another saving grace possibly coming this weekend along with a cool down. Sure hope it shows up and saves us one more time. We started touching up some chemfallow that hasn’t been sprayed for almost two months. Which I guess is one win out of a drought. We also got combine parts ordered and starting to think about harvest. If the rain doesn’t show up this weekend harvest will be coming fast.
Moisture conditions have been poor. We have received .2-.4 inches of precipitation within the last week.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, and Garbanzos this growing season.
Hill County - Trevor Wolery
Winter wheat has its white flag out and is starting to turn from blue to brown. Harvest will be early July in this area. Received zero precipitation this past week while the typical forecast shows chance of showers every week. Earlier planted lentils, mustard, and chicks flowering now. Keep hanging onto faith but reality slowly creeping in.
Moisture conditions have been poor. We did not receive any precipitation within the last week.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Lentils, Garbanzos, and Mustard this growing season.
Judith Basin County - Greg Mathews
Been an up and down week. The upside, rained 5 of the last 7 days. 0,14 Tues, 0.54 Wed, 0.19 Thur, 0.03 Fri, 0.87 Friday-Total 1.97 inches. The down side...it hailed in the Moccasin, Moore, Winifred areas pretty bad, have not heard from the places in between. Golf ball to 2 inch size and small...broke windows in some areas. Turned the top of the snowies white Saturday evening. The rain areas were streaky with some getting dumped on and others getting little to none.
Moisture conditions have been good.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Barley, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the heading growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the 5-leaf growth stage. Barley is in the 5-leaf growth stage.
June 11, 2025
Carter County - Michael Hansen
Finally finished seeding Sunday night. Absolutely baffling...the field I put the sorghum into the dirt was muddy enough to pick up in the packer tires and just across the fence the willow creek is burning up. Hot dry and windy week more or less did most the older crops in lots of brown leaves in em now almost skipped the blue stage and just went for a quick death. Supposed to rain Wednesday night...if it doesn’t the swathers will hit the field full force and try to salvage what little green is left. Done spraying crop except for the sorghum if it comes up and the chickpeas when they get a little bigger.
Moisture conditions have been poor.
Planted Winter Wheat, Durum, Barley, Garbanzos, Oats, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the heading growth stage. Spring Wheat is the tillering growth stage. Barley is in the heading growth stage.
Fergus County - Boyd Heilig
The crops here in central Montana still look promising. Will need some rain soon otherwise things will turn backwards quickly. The winter wheat is about 60% headed.
Moisture conditions have been fair. We have not received any precipitation within the last week.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Barley, and Canola this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the heading growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the tillering growth stage. Barley is in the 4-leaf growth stage.
Fergus County - Robert Bold
No moisture for the week. When I was growing up, everyone waited until after the 4th of July to start haying. This year everyone waited until after the 4th to start haying...June that is. Swathers are running full bore getting what there is before the hay goes backwards. Hay production will be under average. Winter wheat is over 90% headed out. Very nice heads! Spring wheat done tillering and jointing. I thought my canary in the coal mine was going to come out his 3 year molt this week...nope. However, I see the report that 25% of new crop wheat has export sales. Way ahead of normal for this date. But the large carry over bushels is killing the price. The price run up started in 20 & 21 and topped out in 22. 21-22 wheat crop carryover was 20%. Today it is 55%. With USDA projections of the 25 wheat crop adding another 80 million bushels to the already bloated carry out. The writing will be on the wall at harvest. If the grain terminals are cash or contract only--price going up. The cool and damp weather in May killed off most of the first hatch hoppers. The second hatch is live and well...and hungry! Heard of some hopper spraying. Everything needs a good rain. Especially the shallow rooted pulse crops and recrop. Have a good Father's Day weekend.
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.
Fergus/Wheatland/Judith Basin Counties - Paul Bradley
Finishing up spraying spring wheat this week!
Moisture conditions have been good. We have received .2 inches of precipitation within the last week.
85+ degree days with wind is going to be a killer.
Wild oats and buck wheat are both healthy this year.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat and Canola this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the booting growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the tillering growth stage.
Hill County - Eric Hanson
Too much heat and wind and not enough moisture. No rain this last week. Have been in the low to mid 90s...too much for the amount of rain we’ve had this year...and drying wind. Crops are starting to hurt. They are going backwards in lighter and poorer soil. The recrop is doing quite poor now. Winter wheat is trying to fill but out of moisture and has taken on a new shade. Chickpeas have stalled with lower leaves yellowing from the high temps and no soil moisture to fall back on. The last 3 days have really taken a toil. We are at the brink of going down a bad road. I tried to take pictures of the best areas I could find—too depressing elsewhere. But they keep saying we are suppose to start getting rain tonight and into tomorrow. A good drenching would still help immensely—as bad as things are starting to look, it ain’t over yet. Godspeed. The smoke has been thick coming down from Canada today. We drove through a good part of the Canadian prairies over the weekend for a family funeral and they are the driest I’ve seen in maybe the last 20 years. Some places better than others. Some crops not even emerged yet. A lot of places hadn’t seen more than a half inch this spring. But the northern part of Saskatchewan got a nice rain on Sunday. A lot of small grains versus the usual canola. For what it’s worth. Ditches hayed and in bales already around here. Saw one field of winter wheat out east being swathed for hay.
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
#HolyAirball is the trend for the 2025 crops.
Winter wheat’s gas tank is on empty, spring crops holding on but need rain soon as we have only received 1.8” of precipitation from January 1 to date.
Sprayer is officially caught up on its work for the interim and the focus now will be to work on some projects that don’t cost any money, guess we go pick rock, nope that takes fuel, cheaper to stand at the shop door, chew on some nails, watch the crops wither and the markets tank.
Moisture conditions have been poor.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Lentils, Garbanzos, and Mustard this growing season.
Judith Basin County - Greg Mathews
The BIG rain did not show up and the area only got 0.26 inches last Sunday and 0.10 inches on Monday. More to the north and south and east. Finished spraying SF again and all the bly and sw. The crops are holding on and the ww is starting to head out. The spring crops are starting to cover the ground. Need a rain, maybe Tuesday as the forecast predicts. OH HUM
Moisture conditions have been fair. We have received .36 inches of precipitation within the last week.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Barley, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the booting growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the 4-leaf growth stage. Barley is in the 5-leaf growth stage.
June 4, 2025
Carter County - Michael Hansen
Down to seeding the sorghum so we are back right on schedule. Pulled cdrs out of replacement heifers...they sure are looking good with all the green grass. Noticed that there are a few grasshoppers starting you show up. So the hope that they had left is now a thing of the past. Barley and oats grew a lot in the last week. Won’t be long and they will need sprayed. Durum is looking pretty good as well, just need some nice days. Was 90 degrees on Sunday and that is a little too hot for this time of year. Ended up getting a little shower in the night so still haven’t been able to roll the last field of chickpeas. Getting calves branded and fences checked so cows can get to summer pasture. Not many left to calve just a handful from each bunch. Won’t be long and will be thinking about getting the swathers and balers out. Matlock winter wheat is heading out so with a decent middle of June rain that will be a crop and without it’s going to be 80 bushel straw and 30 bushel wheat as it really tillered and will run out of moisture before it gets filled. But we are used to that. Willow creek is in the boot and will definitely make some bales. First seeded hay barley won’t be far behind it...also is looking good. Hayfields on the creek still don’t look very good; probably won’t be any hay on them as they are about six inches tall and headed out...which doesn’t make any sense as much moisture as we’ve had.
Moisture conditions have been good. We have received .25 inches of precipitation within the last week.
Planting Winter Wheat, Durum, Barley, Garbanzos, Oats, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the heading growth stage. Spring Wheat is the 2-leaf growth stage. Barley is in the 2-leaf growth stage.
Fergus County - Brandon Udelhoven
We have finally gotten caught up on in crop herbicide. All the crops have been sprayed with the last of the pulses getting done this past weekend. We have been on the edge of some heavier rains once again but have gotten enough to save the winter wheat crop for the second or third time. The recrop wheat has shown stress in double seeded headlands and corners and all the gravelly spots got pretty blue with last week’s heat. Received a decent but spotty shower Monday morning giving us .30” and .65” depending on location; between that and the cooler weather the wheat has really perked up, but will need a few more good rains to finish the crop. The peas and lentils are looking fantastic, tons of yield potential if we can get timely showers and stay away from heat during bloom. Lentils are filling in the rows, really starting to branch out, and the peas are starting to gain some height. Wheat is in boot and heading stages, peas and lentils are 10+ nodes, and could be blooming inside of two weeks. Will start hauling rest of old crop next week to start making room in bins…hope I’ll need all the storage, time will tell. Will also be spraying grasshoppers off and on as needed. Looks like a few whole fields have been plagued by recently hatched, otherwise still appears to be pressure coming from the native sod.
Moisture conditions have been fair. We have received .35 to .70 inches or precipitation within the last week.
Pretty dry here, been on the razors edge for the last two weeks. Timely rain has saved us, but heat will push us backwards fast.
Planted Winter Wheat, Peas and Lentils this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the booting growth stage.
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Fergus County - Robert Bold
Had a very nice slow, straight down rain Sunday. This morning (Tuesday 6/3) it was just gorgeous to hear the Canada geese, Sandhill Cranes, see the steam from the reservoir, and see the simultaneous frost glitter and water droplets on the grass...and no wind!! The winter wheat is loving this weather and shooting heads. The spring wheat is tillering and progressing rapidly. Both will need more rain to make a good crop. Our average precipitation for May is 2.71 inches. We did not get quite half. Just like April where we got about half of average...but the temperatures have been good and making up the difference. 4 years ago was dry as well, but it was record breaking heat. In '21 we had massive amounts of hoppers. This year there are a few around, but so far not threatening. We plan to start haying in less than a week. The hay is just at a standstill. If we move along fast, we will get what there is. As I said before, this area's hay crop will be okay, but below average. There is a lot of hay carry over in this area!
Moisture conditions have been fair. We have received .35 inches of precipitation within the last week.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the heading growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the 5-leaf growth stage.
Gallatin County - Dale Flikkema
Seeding finally finished.
Moisture conditions have been excellent. We have not received any precipitation within the last week.
Rain would be nice.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Peas, Canola, Corn, Oats, Sunflowers, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the jointing growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the 4-leaf growth stage.
Hill County - Eric Hanson
The heat cranked up this last weekend. Had a couple days over 90 and some pretty good wind. Changed the landscape as well as the local attitude. The poorer ground really started to show stress in the crops. Winter wheat went a whole new shade of blue. Simply running out of moisture. Then Monday came in with temps in the 40s and a drizzle most the day. Nighttime temp was in the 30s. Only ended up with .15-.25” in moisture but it sure seemed to help. I’ll take 46 degrees with a drizzle over 93 degrees and a sizzle any day in May. These little showers keep stringing us along while we wait for a big one. Winter wheat is fully headed out except in the low spots. Spring wheat is rooting down and jumping in size. Have some more heat in the forecast next week around 90 degrees so we’ll see how everything hangs in there. A little spring wheat spraying left to do and back to farm projects/repairs.
Moisture conditions have been poor.
Concerned about drought.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, and Garbanzos this growing season.
Hill County - Trevor Wolery
.23 inches came unexpectedly Monday night with some soft serve ice in it. Nice to see the moisture but will not be enough to boost this winter wheat crop. Winter wheat is 80% headed, along with it being short and thin. So much potential for it last fall but couldn’t get off the ground and running without any May showers. My hollow stem variety doesn’t warrant a swath bill nor a harvest bill but yet enough crop there to not walk away from. Replanted lentils are now emerging and will need some timely rains to materialize. Main concern now is to get enough growth for cover. Mustard is just beginning early stages of flowering. Bridger Chick peas look good and probably ten days or so away from flowering. It has been a test of patience to complete our fallow job due to winds and weather but we are half way thru our fallow, then onto a DNS herbicide application.
Take a minute and talk to your neighbors, check in with them because we are all in this together. Tough conditions weigh heavy on the heart and mind.
Moisture conditions have been poor. We received .23 inches of precipitation within the last week.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Lentils, Garbanzos, and Mustard this growing season.
Judith Basin County - Greg Mathews
No moisture last week and 2.14 inches for the month of April. Seeded the alfalfa this last week and will start spraying spring crops with a little wild oats and darnel coming and the typical weeds, fan weed, buckwheat, russian thistle and mustards this next week. Hopefully the big rain comes Sunday and Monday as forecasted the last of the month. Spring crops really grew last week and tired of the wind blowing too hard and drying things out. Grasses starting to head out, too early, making one wonder about how much hay there will be. Some have started putting hay up where there was cheat and others talking about starting this coming week, the first week of June... way to early. Hope to see every one at the MGGA golf tourney this coming week and reports of much needed rain for every one. Best to all and stay safe.
Moisture conditions have been poor.
Need rain!
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Barley, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the jointing growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the 3-leaf growth stage. Barley is in the 3-leaf growth stage.
Teton County - Mitch Konen
We have been staying rather busy out in the fields lately. Trying to get the spraying done between wind events. Also trying to get some ditches drug as we have also started irrigating. Have run the pivots to get some moisture in the ground as everything is getting really dry. Crops are hurting in the flood corners without water as we are trying to get to them with water. Irrigation demand has risen to the point that rationing has been implemented, which adds to the stress level of crops and human. We did receive some t-storm moisture last night with more in the forecast. Crops are advancing well in the tillering stage.
Moisture conditions have been fair. We have received .15 inches of precipitation within the last week.
Still remains rather dry and reliant on irrigation.
Planted Winter Wheat, Barley, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the heading growth stage. Barley is in the tillering growth stage.
