By Bob Streit
Columist, Farm News
November is here and we have gotten the first tastes of winter of winter with a killing frost and a skiff of snow. Having a week or ten days of temps 20 degrees below normal was a shock at first, but they were not killer temps like we have had in recent Dec and...
The month is now more than half over and in review a huge amount of progress has been made with the harvest and tillage in preparation for the 2021 season. It has meant long hours with many of those days being quite warm, very dry and extremely windy. The apprehension...
October has arrived and with it the shorter days of fall can definitely be seen and felt. It now stays dark until 7Am and begins to get dark shortly after 7 PM and warmer clothing now feels good at both ends of the day. The leaves on our many trees are turning their...
This should be the week where statewide harvest begins in earnest. There were combines operating in both corn and beans last week depending on the maturity group of bean planted while there were also corn fields being harvested where the drought stressed the plants...
After the 2018 and 2019 seasons when planting was delayed for most Midwest crop producers and rain washed out some of their best laid plans they were hoping for a ‘normal’ season where the planting season went well, the GDUs were adequate, and the rainfall came at the...
By now many people have seen pictures of this bin complex located on the west edge of Luther. It’s about six miles south of Boone, Hwy 30 and our farm place. We have heard of unofficial NWS reports of wind speeds as high as 164 mph, which is equal to a high F5 tornado...
For one to two months now we have peered into the western sky or onto a radar map to see when our next major rains would arrive. For a high % of the people involved in farming, other profession or activity directly dependent on mother nature to deliver our needed...
Typically, mid thru late July is the time for the county fairs, with their livestock exhibits and grandstand entertainment, leading up the state fair and finally the Clay Country extravaganza. But not this year. Already the county fairs, state fair and Farm Progress...
And a belated Happy July 4th to everyone. In most years many towns around the Midwest have their own small town parades and celebrations. Many floats, marching bands, patriotic floats, town queens, cake walks, bingo games, etc. are all things that many of us grew up...
The longest daylight hour day of the year is here and with it come a few benchmarks. The sun is supposed to rise at 5:45 and set at 8:49. At 42 degrees latitude that gives us 15 hours and 4 minutes of sun up conditions. The longer days will trigger soybean plants to...