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Wisconsin crops, soil conditions vary
Wisconsin crop conditions vary, as the May weather affected planting and emergence differently around the state. As June begins, Janesville farmer Doug Rebout likes what he sees. “I’m looking out over the fields right now and they’re all looking nice and green, and right now, pretty clean of weeds.”
Rebout says his area missed out on many of the rain events, but that allowed him to finish planting three weeks ago. “We haven’t gotten the rains that they had a little farther north. We’ve had a few like a half-inch here and a half-inch there. We’ll definitely take the heat units, but we’ll definitely need some more rain to go with it at some point.”
Ben Augustine grows hay, corn and soybeans for his northern Wisconsin dairy near Sheldon. He says despite very little rain, first-crop alfalfa looked good on the fields seeded last year. He says some of the older stands didn’t yield much, and a couple of fields had severe winterkill. As for corn and soybeans, the dry weather allowed Augustine to finish planting a week ago. “It’s going to need some rain here pretty quick, like a two-day soaker would be just awesome.”
USDA says Wisconsin’s corn is 90% planted, with 70% emerged. Ten percent of the corn is in excellent condition, with 60% rated good and 25% rated fair. Sixteen percent of the state’s soybeans are rated excellent, with 64% rated good and 16% rated fair.
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