Hot and Dry Out Here

[Bruce Day]

Two inches of rain so far this summer in SW Kansas. Normally the CRP weeds in this quarter section are head high, but look at it now.

There is another photo with stunted corn in the background. That will get picked but some fields will be left to stand and planted over next spring.

Bird numbers could be a problem this year.

Was up in Ness City to see a PGCA member, same situation there. Too many days of 100 to 108.

[AmarilloMike]

Same story in the Panhandle of Texas.

Here is a link to the National Weather Service drought monitor map:

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

By rightclicking you can enlarge particular areas of the map.

Now that I look at the website address I don't know if it is from the NWS.

Best,

Mike

[Bruce Day]

Thankful that oil wells are unaffected by drought.

[Duckman]

That small area of southern Colorado that shows as "exceptional drought" is, unfortunately, exactly where I live. Waterfowl hunting in the San Luis Valley will, no doubt, continue its downward spiral. Will probably have good dove shooting for the couple of weeks they stick around.

[Rod N. Gunn]

We got 16 bushels of wheat per acre in Pawnee County this year... And felt lucky. My cousin turned 640 acres of Reno County corn into silage last week. It's bad.

[Bruce Day]

Folks might not know that the average plains wheat yield is 40-60 bu/acre. Not a good year in western Kansas , OK and Texas, it is spotty and many areas of the country are doing fine.

A lot of farmers are going to be relying upon crop insurance this year, but insurance doesn't pay full rates of what the land would normally produce.

An interesting statistic: .6% of the US population is directly involved in agricultural production, farming/livestock, and feeds the US with a surplus that is stored and much that goes world wide. That kind of productivity is unheard of in the course of mankind, where throughout human history, where we as humans have usually been involved in hunter/gatherer activities daily to survive. I'm not a farmer, and in semi retirement, my sole remaining work activity is involved in supporting those who support farmers, but hug your farmer today for what he/she does.


No rain out of this one, but it was turning and trying to start down. I sped up and was trying to get past in a hurry.

Dave, did you come back for the harvest?

[Richard Flanders]

Well western folks, I hate to tell you this but out of the two months I was at the mine we only had 6-8 rain free days, and it's the same up here in Fairbanks lately. Poured buckets yesterday and has rained nearly all day today and is supposed to continue so for days on end. I'm reloading 5-gal buckets of 12ga target loads in anticipation of it drying out at least a bit. That field looks pretty sad Bruce. Can't be a good bird year with drought like that. I agree on your hug the farmer idea. What an unpredictable living.

[Rod N. Gunn]

I did not come back Bruce, tending to my crops here in Oregon (4 acres of Pinot Noir) i prefer to come back an walk through the stubble in Nov with my shotgun. My cousins back in KS do the real work. God bless them.

[Jeff K.]

I must count my Blessings. Here in northern Indiana we have been getting plenty of rain. With the exception of my sunflowers and sweet corn, my crops are very good. I replanted my dove field three times and it pretty much drown out each time.

[Blind Dog]

Jeff, Yours looks very much like ours here in North Central Ohio. With the cold, wet "Spring", we didn't get ours in the ground till June 5. Then with the unusually warm weather and the right amount of moisture, things really took off. Hope we finish up with same good fortune.