MGGA Monthly Crop Survey
OCTOBER 3, 2023
Carter County - Michael Hansen
Finished seeding winter wheat on Wednesday. First fields are already up. Been fall spraying, hauling hay, and working on finishing the inside of one of the pole barns. Got another good rain two nights ago. Mosquitoes and green grass in October, whoever heard of such a thing. The picture of the sorghum is regrowth, we have already cut it once and got 2.5 bales to the acre on it. Moisture conditions are good receiving 5" of preciptation in the past week. Crops to be grown in the 2024 season are winter wheat, barley, durum, canola, garbanzos, hay and sorghum. Winter wheat is in the 1-leaf growth stage.
Fergus County - Robert Bold
Still seeding winter wheat. Where we live, we are in heavy ground. It is a silty clay loam with no rocks. No till has been a blessing for us. Welcome to developed and developing technology! Including seeding equipment. The soil holds moisture and nutrients very well. Our soil has its own problems like all other soils do. With the moisture we have been blessed with, we are working ahead of the drills with a vertical tillage super coulter. We are running the straight wavey blades and harrows. It just needs to move the surface soil some, to dry it a little, so that there is a good flow of soil behind the drill openers and before the press wheels. We seed winter wheat shallow, so there needs to be a good soil flow. One would think that after 3 years of drought, 3 inches of fall rain would not give you any problems. The other thing we have noticed is the drop in our organic matter due to the drought years. The shorter crops, less root mass and lower foliage production has lead to the decrease of organic matter. The calendar is getting against us for winter wheat establishment going in the dormancy. However, we hope to be done by the week's end. Soil temperature is still in our favor. How about those Bobcats? Actually, all of Montana's college football teams are preforming well. Good luck to each team! Not bad to have so many high ranking teams in a state of only a million. Moisture conditions are excellent receiving no precipitation in the past week. Crops to be grown in the 2024 season are winter wheat, spring wheat and barley.
Hill County - Eric Hanson
Fall is upon us, and a beautiful one we’ve had thus far. We received some rain over the last week or so, totaling around .5”-.7”. May not seem like much to some, but to us, it was critical. We’ve been living on timely rains for the last 10-12 months (arguably longer) and will continue until we get enough to build back some reserves in our soil profile. A lot more winter wheat went in than I initially had thought might; and there are still drills going today. Our winter wheat we planted on the 9th-13th of September in dry, marginal conditions looks great and owes it entirely to cool temps and rain that showed up after it was sown. We have yet to frost, but a light one looks to be coming this week. The volunteer has greened up the recently harvested fields, which is actually good to see. We haven’t had enough moisture the last few years to get anything started. We will start going over that this weekend and getting things cleaned up. Other than that, we will continue on cleanup, repair, and winterization around the farm until weather no longer permits. The murmuration of blackbirds around here is a good sign of a season on the change. Hoping markets can find a few days of upward movement after continually falling into the deep abyss. Moisture conditions are fair receiving .5-.75" of preceipitation in the past week. Crops to be grown in the 2024 season are winter wheat and spring wheat. Winter wheat is in the 2-leaf growth stage.
Hill County - Trevor Wolery
Sunday night brought us .45 in precipitation with an additional .11 coming earlier on Saturday. HRW has a great start with 90% of ours being emerged. Stubble acres will need one more cleanup pass before winter settles in. High school football, fall cleanup projects and freighting cheap commodities to town is on the agenda for the immediate future. Moisture conditions are good receiving .59" of preceipitation in the past week. Crop to be grown in the 2024 season is winter wheat.
Judith Basin County - Greg Mathews
Still a few combines moving. Seeding is done to some just starting and new seeded wheat is up, germinating to just put in the ground. Calves are starting to be weined and shipped. Some hay moving up and down the road. Some third cutting being put up, while some second also being put up. Have not had a killing frost yet which is not normal. The country is still somewhat green and looks great. Supposed to rain this weekend, which seems to be the normal this month as it rains almost every weekend. Got 0.98 last weekend. Still quite a lot of grain in the Shields Valley to be combined. Moisture conditions are good receiving 2.21" of precipitation in the past week. Crops to be grown in the 2024 season are spring wheat, barley and hay.
Teton County - Mitch Konen
Spent last week finishing up seeding winter wheat after a bountiful rain of over an inch of much needed moisture. This last weekend brought another inch of rain, so the newly seeded winter wheat should be in good shape for a good start. All of the machinery has been put away for the winter slumber, but they might still see the light of day soon as repairs and modifications are made for next spring's work. I do have some winter wheat that needs to be hauled to town along with winterizing pivots, cleaning the feed yard for some freezer beeves, and general pre-winter prep work. The never ending task of cleaning of the desk and data entry into the farm software program is at hand resulting in further analysis of the year. And now the meeting season starts as well with a listening session today and a board meeting tomorrow. Look forward to seeing you all in the near future. Moisture conditions are poor receiving no precipitation in the past week. Crops are winter wheat, spring wheat, barley and hay. Winter wheat, spring wheat and barley are harvested.
