News

Missouri farmer glad to be replanting corn

A southwest Missouri farmer who’s seen rain after rain is glad this week is dry. Kyle Kirby replanted 300 acres of corn on Tuesday and hopes to get 200 acres in today. He tells Brownfield Ag News, “Now, the wind’s blowing and the sun’s shining and it’s supposed to be 90, 22, 93 degrees the next couple days so things have definitely changed.”

But, Kirby chuckles, saying, after thinking they’ve dodged the wet weather, “There’s an 80% chance of rain tonight. We’ll have to miss that but we’re going fast and furious as much as we can replanting corn and starting to plant beans.”

Kirby says a lot of his replanted corn will be for sileage because he’s planting it every which way, going around water holes and just getting it in where he can.

“A lot of times when we have hot weather come in after it’s been so rainy, you know, it’s just muggy and you just sweat like crazy to do anything. But that’s not really the case this time. We’ve got some really dry air and things look pretty good for farm work right now.”

Kirby says his April corn stands aren’t great (60 to 80% up) but the charts show that’s better than a 95% stand planted in June.