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Most fieldwork getting a slow start in Wisconsin

Tillage and some planting activity is picking up in parts of southern Wisconsin, but most of the state is too cool for anything but fertilizer applications.

Zeb Zuehls raises beef and row crops near Montello in central Wisconsin.  He tells Brownfield with no-till and cool soil temperatures, his planter is staying in the shed for two more weeks, but one nearby farmer has been out planting soybeans. “They put in 100 acres last week already. Everybody was scratching their head, all of the neighbors were, but they planted them so I guess we’ll see if they grow or not.”

In northern Wisconsin, Ben Augustine operates a dairy and crop farm near Sheldon, and he tells Brownfield not much is happening yet. “A lot of them are still waiting, very little movement. Some guys are out. Manure hauling kind of started here a bit with the drag hose and that.”

Augustine says it might be a while before farmers in his area can plant. “Last week, I was digging worms for fishing and I still had frost in the field. You dig down with the spade shovel and all of the sudden it would just be solid.”

Amy Penterman and her husband grow crops for their dairy operation near Thorp. “I see that there’s manure going in those fields. Not a lot of real tillage going on quite yet but it’s just starting. It’s just starting and I think everybody is gun shy from last year’s spring.” She says, “May 10th is usually a good time to get rolling just to be safe. You know, you always worry about that frost coming in at the end of May or beginning of June.”

Meanwhile, potato planting in the warmer and dryer central sands region has been in full swing for just over a week.