A wetter, cooler April results in later start for South Dakota planting

South Dakota farmer Lee Lubbers has finally started planting his corn and soybean crops for the 2024 season. XtremeAg farmers in Arkansas and Maryland continue to make progress with their respective crops.

Matt Miles - McGehee, Arkansas

Matt Miles is a fourth-generation farmer in southeast Arkansas. Miles farms 3,500 acres of corn, 3,500 acres of soybeans, 1,500 acres of cotton, and 1,500 acres of rice.

We are headed home from Huntsville, Alabama. I had planned on talking this week about the field days. Chad Henderson’s was definitely a big success and the best part was almost all of us got to make it. That’s definitely an anomaly and probably won’t happen again this year, but it made this one special. 

A couple of weeks ago, I was driving around checking fields and I shot a video about the importance of residuals on crops and how important a pre-plant pre-emerge is behind any crop. We had some fields that didn’t get that application because of the rains and when it was dry enough to go back to the field, the crop was already emerging, so we opted out due to crop injury. Those fields were almost taken over with weeds a week later. A couple of them did get sprayed with a contact herbicide and no residual and had grass already coming again. This will eventually cost you extra money and you never really catch up. Unfortunately, sometimes I have to relearn the hard way of what I thought I already knew. My advice would be, always run a pre-emerge when it’s warm to control the weed seed bank even when you don’t think you have to. 

Temple Rhodes - Centreville, Maryland

Temple Rhodes is a fifth-generation farmer in Centreville, Maryland. Chestnut Manor Farms operates 3,000 acres of soybeans, 1,500 acres of corn, and 1,500 acres of wheat. His family also runs a hunting operation.

Recently, in the past few weeks we have been trying to wrap up planting. The early planted corn and soybeans have a near perfect stand. It all looks great. Planting is about 80 to 90% finished around here. The last few weeks we have been in less than perfect for planting. Rain has kept us out of the fields. We are thankful that it is not a cold rain, but none the less, it is still rain.

The wheat looks like it will be less than an average crop due to the amount of rain we received from January to April. I would say we will have an increase in vomitoxin in the wheat if it was not treated on time. I will update during the next blog in a couple of weeks with how it is looking. 

This past week I got to attend Chad’s Henderson’s field day and it was a blast! It was a great time getting to see all of the guys in one place and being able to educate as well as learn new things. I am grateful I had the opportunity to leave the farm for a few days and go down to attend.

Lee Lubbers - Gregory, South Dakota

Lee Lubbers is a fourth-generation farmer in Gregory, South Dakota. Lubbers Farms includes more than 17,000 acres of dryland soybeans, corn, and wheat. Lubbers says he is always trying to learn and challenge himself.

Planting time is finally upon us! It has been a later start for us this year than normal with the cloudy, colder, and wetter weather we have had in April. Thankfully, we got our last freezes before Mother’s Day weekend. We started planting corn during Mother’s Day weekend, and we started our no till soybeans at the same time. With the cold temps and cloudy days, the ground wasn’t drying out enough to run the planters and was too cold to germinate seed any earlier than Mother’s Day weekend.

We’ve been dodging showers as we go. Small pop-up showers have knocked us out multiple times this season. It has been making it a challenge to spray our winter wheat as well. Just when we thought we could spray, the ground froze up again, then got too wet and rainy to spray, and then after that, days of heavy wind hit.  

Our wheat has exploded. It is growing so incredibly fast this year. We are almost 10 days ahead of the normal growth pattern. If it stays at this pace, we will get an earlier wheat harvest.

We are also moving some corn with basis tightening up this month. There is a lot going on now that the weather is nicer. The pace is hectic, but we’re keeping our heads straight and paying attention to what we’re doing. Safety first, always. Happy planting everyone!

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