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Timely rains benefitting southeastern Illinois farmers

A southeastern Illinois beef producer says adequate rains are keeping his pastures in good shape this summer.

Cliff Schuette, who raises cattle in Clinton County, tells Brownfield…

“We have plenty of grass at this point.”  He says, “Overall, we’re above average on rainfall so when you have rainfall, cool season grasses grow pretty fast and get a lot of tonnage.”

He says the rain has also benefited the crops, but he’s somewhat concerned about another dry fall.

“A lot of these last few years the fall has been quite dry, so it’s been hard to grow stockpiled grasses to carry you through the winter.”  He says, “And also for cover crops, the rain’s not been there in the fall to get much crazing off them. So we’ll start to stockpile here in August, but we just need them September, October rains.”

Statewide, the USDA says 59% of the corn crop is in good to excellent condition, with 86% silking and 30% in dough stage, while 57% of soybeans are in good shape with 81% blooming and 50% setting pods.  The Illinois winter wheat crop is 98% harvested.

AUDIO: Cliff Schuette – Illinois farmer