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Wisconsin farmers still dealing with wet fields, but making progress

Wisconsin’s farmers are still dodging raindrops to get fieldwork done.  Many, including Professional Dairy Producers President Mitch Breunig of Sauk City, Wisconsin had to shift their priorities and work on first crop alfalfa while the quality is high.  “We parked our planter and started doing hay and I think we’re in a good place.  I just had a scissor clipping from my seed person.  The 26th was the date on it, and it said we were still at 200 relative value, so I felt good about that.”

Breunig’s Mystic Valley Dairy raises its own feed, and Breunig says there are still unfinished fields to get back to.  “We’re 95% planted.  Some of our neighbors have some lower, marshy ground that they haven’t been able to get into, but I did see they worked it today.”

Even though Wisconsin has seen rain during 4 of the last 7 days, Breunig says he’s optimistic.  “The corn that we did plant seems to have emerged really well.  Our soybeans are up.  They’ve emerged really well so I feel a lot better than I did two weeks ago, let’s put it that way.”

The USDA National Ag Statistics Service says Wisconsin’s first-crop hay is 22% complete.  Corn planting is now 77% complete, and about 47% of it has emerged.  45% of the soybeans are in with 12% emerged, and more than 90% of the oats are planted. Almost all of Wisconsin’s potatoes are now planted.

The state’s topsoil moisture is still rated 63% adequate and 37% surplus.