October 18, 2024

From the Fields: We need rain

By Berkeley Boehne
Berkeley Boehne checks on the pigs in his feeder to finish barn on his farm in DeKalb County in north-central Illinois. He custom feeds hogs for local people on two sites that together have the capacity for 10,000 pigs.

Berkeley Boehne checks on the pigs in his feeder to finish barn on his farm in DeKalb County in north-central Illinois. He custom feeds hogs for local people on two sites that together have the capacity for 10,000 pigs. (AgriNews photo/Martha Blum)

For planting corn, we had three weather windows and overall the planting looks pretty good. Looking back now, we should have been planting like crazy when it was cold, but we had a great February to get the manure application done and the tillage done early.

For the last two years, we’ve planted all our soybeans first. A lot of guys are starting to do that and it’s working. You can see it in the crops — the late-planted beans in this county are really struggling.

I feel our corn stands are off about 5%. With the cold weather, there were some problems with germination of the seed, so our stands are a little thinner. Overall, DeKalb County looks good, but we need rain.

CornScienceSoybeansSeedWeather
Berkeley Boehne

Berkeley Boehne

Shabbona, Ill.