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Recent rains improved fall tillage conditions

A northcentral Wisconsin farmer says last week’s slow and steady rain greatly improved field conditions.

T.J. Draeger tells Brownfield he had over two inches of rain a little at a time, which softened the soil.  He says early attempts at fall tillage in the hard and dry ground were challenging. “We were wearing out plow teeth and it was very hard to get a plow into the ground. Then after the rain, fields dried up and it went perfect, went very nice.”

Before the rains, Draeger says the ground was like concrete. “I was dropping the plow in six or seven inches and it was still hard. The ground was literally brown when you were dragging it up, so it didn’t get that dark color you see typically, so I would say it was deeper than six, seven inches.”

Since the rain, Draeger says fall field work is back on schedule. “We typically haul manure out here right before deer season and get that worked in, so we’re right on par with that. As far as fall crops are going, we’re going to be wrapping up corn here in the next week or so.”

Draeger raises soybeans, hay, and corn for silage and grain on his family’s dairy farm near Marathon City, Wisconsin.