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May 14, 2025
Carter County - Michael Hansen
Well I believe this is the first report since we started that we have went seven days without moisture. That being said the gumbo is still quite wet. Got caught back up on the burn down spraying only left big ruts in a few places. Sprayed some of the winter wheat as well while I was waiting to seed. It certainly doesn’t reflect ask the moisture we’ve had which is disappointing, but it seems farming is just one disappointment after another. Got the barley seeded and if we can dodge the soft spots and keep the drill from plugging should finish the oats today. Depending on which weather place you listen to it may rain for a week or the wind will just blow. But it certainly needs to change from what this last week has been 90 degrees and 25 mph winds in May no matter how wet you are is not a good sign. Also got the heifer pairs branded once they get healed up we’ll get them to summer pasture.
Moisture conditions have been good.
Planting Winter Wheat, Durum, Barley, Garbanzos, Oats, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the tillering growing stage. Barley is in the germinating growth stage.
Cascade County - Steve Sheffels
We are caught up with our farming activities. Seeding spring crops finished on April 27th. The winter wheat got sprayed the next week. We are continuing to ship grain to town as we got a bit behind while we were seeding and spraying. The next major tax will be to spray the summer fallow. It is still looking pretty clean although some volunteer is starting to be more noticeable.
It was very dry up until last weeks good soaker. We got 1.2" of sorely needed moisture. Another quarter inch this Sunday at the shop didn't make it to the south end of the farm. Moisture is OK right now, but the spring crops will need more frequent rains until they get established.
Moisture conditions have been fair. We have received .25 inches of precipitation within the last week.
Soil moisture isn't great. We need those spring rains to be a bit more consistent.
Planted Winter Wheat, Barley and Peas this growing season.
Fergus County - Boyd Heilig
We just finished spraying the winter wheat. Things are still looking good here. This past weekend warmup really pushed the crops. Was able to start top dressing the spring wheat yesterday (5/13).
Moisture conditions have been fair. We have received .15 inches of precipitation within the last week.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Barley, and Canola this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the tillering growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the 3-leaf growth stage. Barley is in the 1-leaf growth stage.
Fergus County - Brandon Udelhoven
We finished seeding May 2nd. Had great seeding conditions after the first ten days of the season due to things being on the dry side. We were fortunate to receive a nice gentle rain this past week to help even up emergence for a real nice stand of spring crop. Winter wheat looks good as a whole but needs a good drink soon. Have spent the last two weeks living on the sprayer trying to get chemfallow and winter wheat sprayed. Between LOTS of wind and little showers that don’t amount to anything, it’s made for a real tough go. Chemfallow is sprayed and we are 2/3’s done on winter wheat. First seeded peas will need sprayed soon as the wild oats are coming in thick in places and lentils will need rolled in the next week or two depending on the particular field. Wish we could roll behind the drill but our heavy clay (gumbo) soil is extremely prone to crusting and compaction if done before emergence. Praying for a good soaking rain soon as the heat and wind last week made the last rain disappear much too quick. Also finding lots of freshly hatched grasshoppers, will need to start spot spraying and edging fields as soon as possible.
Moisture conditions have been fair. We have received .10” between a half dozen showers within the last week.
Need a good rain for the advanced recrop winter wheat or stuff will start going downhill fast. Concerned that we seem to be on the edge of every storm system.
Grasshoppers are showing up in too large of numbers for this early in the season.
Kochia, prickly lettuce and wild oats. I’m sure there are plenty of feral rye patches but they haven’t shown their ugly mugs yet.
As for dieseases, too dry for much disease concern at this point.
Planted Winter Wheat, Peas and Lentils this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the tillering growth stage..jpeg)
Fergus/Wheatland/Judith Basin Counties - Paul Bradley
Finished seeding and working on spraying winter wheat.
Moisture conditions have been good. We have received 1 inch of precipitation (snow and rain mix) within the last week.
Japenese Brome grass is coming with vengeance.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat and Canola this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the tillering growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the 2-leaf growth stage.
Fergus County - Robert Bold
We had 3/10 inch of rain. Not soil building, but it keeps the leaf evaporation down. Wheat crops looking really good. Winter wheat looking to start jointing. Looks to be an early harvest. Early harvests are not normally a big harvest. Not done spraying winter wheat yet...half done. The chem fallow is holding, the other half is getting a little hairy. I see the wheat market is playing Limbo. How low can it go?
Moisture conditions have been fair. The cool temperatures is what is making things work...but the wheat is loving this weather!
There have been some Facebook pictures of multiple hopper hatches just north of here.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the jointing growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the 3-leaf growth stage.
Gallatin County - Dale Flikkema
Small grains are in. Working on cor sunflower and alfalfa.
Moisture conditions have been excellent. We have received 1 inch of precipitation within the last week.
Pea weviel is present at this time.
Planting Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Peas, Canola, Corn, Oats, Sunflowers, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the 4-leaf growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the 1-leaf growth stage.
Hill County - Eric Hanson
Another week has gone by with no additional precipitation. What we did have was 3 days of heat—84, 88, and 78 degrees—along with a handful of high wind events. We were able to get some chemfallow done between the wind, and hope to get finished up by the end of the week. We got all our pulse crops rolled, which is a bit nerve wracking with the lack of rain and high wind events. Hauled some wheat. Patched some edges and bare spots. The winter wheat is starting to do the two step. It needs some moisture. The spring crops are ok for now but some rain certainly wouldn’t hurt. The grass is already trying to head out or is drying up. Mowing the yard feels like July, not May. It’s pretty discouraging to have all the work and inputs in and already watching potential slip away with no substantial rain in the forecast. Looks like most the state is supposed to get good moisture in the next 7 days except in our area...but that can all change, and hopefully it does soon or it’s going to be a depressing summer!
Moisture conditions have been poor. We have not received any precipitation within the last week.
Concerned about drought.
Planting Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, and Garbanzos this growing season.
Hill County - Trevor Wolery
Mixed bag of emotions from the cab of glass today. Cool temps has been our only savior the last couple weeks on this winter wheat crop. Town of Rudyard had a nice shower last week but not a measurable drop of precipitation at the farm twenty miles north. Truly a punch in the gut having your home rained on and not your farm. Grinding thru the days and going thru the motions tackling herbicide passes in this winter wheat that is on borrowed time. Spring crops look good but will need a rain soon as well. Yard and ditch grass beginning to have a late summer look to them. Wind is constant and markets are continually down but hang on to hope and don’t lose your faith, better times ahead!
Planting Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Lentils, Garbanzos, and Mustard this growing season.
Judith Basin County - Greg Mathews
Sprayed the SF last week just ahead of the big storm and got 0.78 inches of moisture, form of rain and snow, it was welcomed, but need more. Neighbors to the north, east and south received an inch or more. Crops seemed to jump from the moisture. Got .03 inches on Saturday before Mothers Day. Total 0.81 inches for the month. Got the barley all rolled before the rain on Saturday. Hope to get the alfalfa in this coming week.
Moisture conditions have been fair. We received .22 inches of precipitation within the last week.
Planting Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Barley, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the 4-leaf growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the germinating growth stage. Barley is in the 1-leaf growth stage.
McCone/Dawson County - Trevor Schock
We finished up seeding on Mother's Day. We also have our 1st round of chem fallow done. Mainly working on getting a May spring wheat contract hauled into the elevator right now. We are also getting set up for in crop spray applications. We will start with our peas then on to the wheat. So far things have been progressing ahead of schedule but the weather has also been feeling more like late June than the middle of May.
Moisture conditions have been poor. We have received less then .05 inches of precipitation within the last week.
It has been very dry this spring. Essentially no measurable precip so far this month. There have been a few stray thunderstorms in the area that have given a little moisture to small pockets (not on us so far). The picture i have is from a front that pushed through. I thought we might get some rain out of that but was only a wall of wind and dust from freshly seeded fields. This morning 5/14 we were supposed to start getting an all day rain but after a very light sprinkle it appears to be done. A stretch of 90 degree days has everything really stretching out and growing but will soon outgrow its water supply if more rain is not received very soon.
Mustard, kochia, and thistle are present at this time.
We have not had any insect issues thus far. Mustard, kochia, and thistle are present at this time.
Planted Spring Wheat and Peas this growing season.
Spring Wheat is in the 2-leaf growth stage.
Teton County - Mitch Konen
Finished seeding this past Friday (5/9). Now on to spraying. The neighborhood most favored mode of transportation has been sprayers. Our snowpack has disappeared. The reservoirs are not full yet. Water wells in the neighborhood are struggling if they haven't already given up. The town of Fairfield is still on water restrictions. Sounds like the irrigation district is going to send water down soon to recharge the aquifer. Irrigation water deliveries will be delayed most likely until June sometime. It will be a short irrigation season. The last rain was only a $1k rain. So far all we have received for the last week is wind and no moisture. The summerfallow wheat is looking great. The terminated grass drilled to winter wheat last fall is struggling. The barley is emerging at this time.
Moisture conditions have been fair. We have not received any precipitation within the last week.
The little shot of rain we received over a week ago sure greened up the grass and started the crops, but it is drying up quickly.
Wild oats are present at this time.
Planted Winter Wheat, Barley, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the 4-leaf growth stage. Barley is in the 1-leaf growth stage.
Valley County - Tony Fast
Finished seeding early.
Moisture conditions have been poor.
Not all crop has emerged do to dry conditions. Blowing dirt has cut off leaves.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Durum, Peas, Garbanzos, and Mustard this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the 4-leaf growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the 2-leaf growth stage.
May 7, 2025
Carter County - Michael Hansen
Well another muddy week in the southeast corner. Three different rains this week with another inch for the total. Obviously still too wet to do any farming; since the twelfth of April we are now at 4 inches. There have been more days of it being muddy than dry around my yard. Horse trailered the replacement heifer calves out of the feedlot part way to summer pasture then trailed in the rest of the way. Still water standing in some fields; not sure what we are going to do about the farming, but I guess better than the alternative.
Moisture conditions have been excellent.
Planting Winter Wheat, Durum, Barley, Garbanzos, Oats, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the 4-leaf growth stage. Barley is in the 2-leaf growth stage.
Fergus County - Boyd Heilig
We were able to finish up the spring crop planting last Wednesday. Its always a good thing to finish here by the first of May. On Thursday (5/1) we started to spray the winter wheat crop. Things look good and will be helped by the storm that showed up on Sunday (5/4) night. Very thankful to receive just at an inch of moisture.
Moisture conditions have been good. We have received 1 inch of precipitation within the last week.
Planted Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Barley, and Canola this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the tillering growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the 1-leaf growth stage. Barley is in the germinating growth stage.
Fergus County - Robert Bold
What a welcome rain! We were getting on the dry side. I read April was in the top 10 driest Aprils. Luckily it was not a hot April. North of us, ranchers are already buying hay. Dry land hay crop not going to be very good. In a few locations north of us, the winter wheat is shooting up a flag leaf. It would be nice if the US had a drought resistant gene in our wheat like Argentia has and Australia gets next year. But the US is limited by non tariff trade barriers from primarily a small handful of Eastern Asia countries that block the US from introducing genetic traits in our wheat--with no scientific data to back up their marketing barriers. While Argentia has a trade agreement with the second largest wheat importer (on most years) the US is locked out of that market should wheat traits be introduced. The fore mentioned Asia countries have no problems importing US gm corn, soybeans, canola, alfalfa, fruits and vegetables...but not wheat. The US trade realignment talks have more non tariff trade barriers to hammer out than tariffs. In 90 days? Letters of Intent at best. We need to get winter wheat sprayed, but it keeps freezing at nights, including last night (5/6). The broadleaf weeds are slow coming. Chem fallow is holding up fine. Last fall's spray job still holding for the most part. Hope everyone got a good rain; have a good week ahead and a good Mother's Day this weekend.
Moisture conditions have been good...about 1 inch rain. Rain gauge has a hole in it above 8/10th...frost damage.
Planted Winter Wheat and Spring Wheat this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the tillering growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the 1-leaf growth stage.
Hill County - Eric Hanson
Crops are progressing nicely up here, and the main reason being the moisture we received at the start of the week. Things were starting to look pretty rough after 86 degrees and some days of wind. Got the last of the urea out before the rain, which sure felt like a gamble, but glad we did. Now we’ve been spraying crop and will quickly move into chemfallow, as every weed in the county decided that rain was rejuvenating and time to bolt. Keep the rain coming!
Moisture conditions have been fair. We have received .3-.5 inches of precipitation within the last week.
Planting Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, and Garbanzos this growing season.
Judith Basin County - Greg Mathews
Just the alfalfa left to seed but waiting due to breakdowns. Had an inch for the month of April. Storm due today May 4, hopefully its a big one. It is getting dry here and need some rain and NO WIND. WW is progressing nicely but there is some fields not looking very good, with poor stands and some winter kill. First seeded spring crop took a month to get out of the ground, not mine but a neighbor. Top dressing of WW is mostly done in the area and spring crop looks like half done.
Moisture conditions have been fair. We received .22 inches of precipitation within the last week.
We need a good soaker!
I have seen some over wintering grasshoppers lately, hard to believe they survived the below zero weather.
Planting Winter Wheat, Spring Wheat, Barley, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the 4-leaf growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the germinating growth stage. Barley is in the germinating growth stage.
McCone/Dawson County - Trevor Schock
Its been a busy month or so spring work so far. We should be done seeding in a week or so. Have about 1000 acres of wheat left to seed. Fertilizer has been spread on all the fields except for a second pass on fields for a split application. Most of the preemergence spraying has been done and we have started on our chem fallow too. I also just started on hauling in some spring wheat to the elevator for a contract...this has to be in this month.
Moisture conditions have been poor. We have received less then .2 inches of precipitation within the last week.
We had roughly 1" of rain in April which is below normal. It came kind of spaced out well to keep to ground in a nice planting condition for most of the month. The last few chances of rain (including yesterday and today 5/5 & 5/6) have been a bust. As the temps crept up into the 80s the ground has been getting harder and dustier. Hoping that this weather pattern improves in May.
We have not had any insect issues thus far. Mustard, kochia, and thistle are present at this time.
Planting Spring Wheat and Peas this growing season.
Spring Wheat is in the 1-leaf growth stage.
Sheridan County - Terry Angvick
We just finished seeding yesterday (5/6). Had a few breakdowns and delays, but pushed hard to stay on top of it. The county as a whole is in full swing. Most pulse crops are in, and the durum seeding is going full blast. I would estimate that about 40-50% of the county is seeded. This is durum country. No winter wheat, and very little spring wheat. A lot of peas and lentils.
Moisture conditions have been good.
Limited rain so far. Surface moisture has been good for planting, but fields are drying fast with higher temps over the weekend and high winds. We have fairly good soil moisture in the top foot, but subsoil moisture is lacking.
Winter annuals, kochia and russian thistle are present at this time. Volunteer cereals as well.
Planted Durum, Peas, and Lentils, and Hay this growing season.
Spring Wheat is in the 1-leaf growth stage.
Teton County - Mitch Konen
We were going strong seeding until the more than welcome rain came. Only a couple 100 acres of barley remain to be drilled. It has been going smoothly. Hopefully should be finished by the weekend. The fallow winter wheat is looking good. The terminated grass winter wheat is very ugly. Not sure if it will be revived by this rain as it is showing some signs of life now. It was just too dry earlier. The first barley seeded is emerging and rowing up nicely.
Moisture conditions have been fair. We have received .6-.74 inches of precipitation within the last week.
We will need a bit more rain to completely break this lingering drought.
Wild oats are present at this time.
Planting Winter Wheat, Barley, and Hay this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the 3-leaf growth stage. Barley is in the 1-leaf growth stage.
Toole County - Klayton Lohr
Finished seeding, now working on spraying winter wheat.
Moisture conditions have been poor. We have received .05 inches of precipitation within the last week.
Lots of heat and wind, no rain to speak of.
Tansy mustard and kochia are present at this time.
Planted Winter Wheat and Durum this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the 4-leaf growth stage. Barley is in the 2-leaf growth stage.
Yellowstone County - Chad Conover
We have started seeding. It’s going good but having rain delays.
Moisture conditions have been excellent. We have received 1.4 inches of precipitation within the last week.
Little tan spot on lower leaves for a diseases issue.
Planting Winter Wheat, Barley, Oats, and Sunflowers this growing season.
Winter Wheat is in the 5-leaf growth stage. Spring Wheat is in the germinating growth stage.