impact of drought

B

benelli-banger

Well-known member
With the corn likely to be burned up, and not worth waiting to harvest, what will likely happen? Cut for silage? Just trying to anticipate what things could look like come fall given the bad shape the crops are in, which I hope isn't how things end up. I suppose this could give the farmers extra time to disk fields as well if they chose to? I am (selfishly) trying to anticipate how things will look from the hunters point of view, which I know is petty compared to the farmers situation. It sounds like things are getting very, very dire in the parts of SD where I hunt--SE, E central, mainly. Pray for rain!
 
It has gotten bad for sure crop wise. Some around here will no longer benefit from rain. 3' tall and brown, no tassels. Sad year for the farms. Wild life seems to be fine however. I hear much will be chopped. And some silage. But they only need so much silage too. Dust bowl days seem to be sneaking back.
 
Fools that spent $5-$10,000 per acre for crop land are about to learn a expensive lesson. Many are plowing under the corn and hoping to plant some small grain and hope for rain. Desperation is setting in for many
 
Hopefully the non-fools would have stock piled some earnings from the last 2 years to get them thru a lean year.

I call this a correction from the last two years. It is a drought though because even in the areas like southern MN and Iowa that normally see good rains and moisture are not this year.
 
UGUIDE said:
Hopefully the non-fools would have stock piled some earnings from the last 2 years to get them thru a lean year.

I call this a correction from the last two years. It is a drought though because even in the areas like southern MN and Iowa that normally see good rains and moisture are not this year.
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I agree. :thumbsup: Certainly not a good year for the farmers but they have had quite a few years with above average yields and great commodity prices. Tough to feel too sorry for them if they have a down year. Besides, with crop insurance and federal subsidies they should be fine. Thank you Mr. Taxpayer! :)
 
I don't think anybody needs sympathy, but remember the cattle guy has to keep animals alive and there is no insurance check. Please don't get too upset if they decide to let a guy cut part of his CRP. It is the cheapest incentive for CRP enrollment there is. Cattle guys provide wonderful winter habitat.
 
haymaker said:
I don't think anybody needs sympathy, but remember the cattle guy has to keep animals alive and there is no insurance check. Please don't get too upset if they decide to let a guy cut part of his CRP. It is the cheapest incentive for CRP enrollment there is. Cattle guys provide wonderful winter habitat.
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So true, and i remember another thread I said history has a way of repeating it self. The dust bowl days will return, and land value plummet. This is the sort of thing that is what I was talking about. The US gov needs to see it again I guess in order to keep our grasslands. The whole nation just simply, can not, have dirt showing. It never worked before and will never work ahead. It may make them think harder about ways to enroll more acres. Unless they are truly that stupid. The farms as a whole have been doing just fine with the acres 5 years ago farmed. Ethanol needs to die.
 
If things continue there will not be a lot of corn left in the field on the opener. If they have a use for silage it will be cut, if not disked under for the nutrient value. Farmers will have some extra time on there hands. The real danger is that with the end of direct payments, which people love to complain about, goes away any penalty for draining or tiling sloughs or wetlands. I predict the the tiling will continue and we all will be wishing for the days of direct payments again instead of using them as a tool to lam-bast producers.
 
Little known fact that bird numbers in the state were the lowest on the 10 year trend in 2002. Lower than 2011. The lowest of the 10 year average. In 2003 they skyrocketed and ended up even higher than 2011.

2003 saw a hot dry summer with surface and subsoil moisture well below the norms and crops were impacted negatively.

It will be interesting to see what this years brood count survey shows. As long as there are hoppers and other bugs around the broods could thrive in these incubator like conditions.

http://gfp.sd.gov/hunting/small-game/pheasant-brood-trends.aspx

http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics...Annual_Statistical_Bulletin/2004/ab04011c.pdf
 
FCSpringer said:
I hope many chop and don't till. Everythig tilled will be a huge mess if it does not turn around. If it is chopped and left for spring tillage they will at least keep some top soil protected.:eek:
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If guys end up chopping it for silage more than likely it will be disked ripped, a form of deep tillage, this fall. If you are concerned about leaving some residue it would be better off if they just disked it.
 
Got a call from a neighbor today who runs a feedlot or at least a heck of a lot of cattle on his place. He was very interested in buying some hay off my CRP ground if they open it for emergency haying and grazing.

I have always looked at this plan as a opportunity to get strips cut in some very large tracts of CRP to make them easier for the hunters to find birds.

Not sure what I should do. Would like to be able to help my neighbor out.

Here's what is stupid. The guys that have to cut their CRP on the 5th and 10th year are still going to have to burn their bails in front of NRCS employee.
 
UGUIDE said:
Got a call from a neighbor today who runs a feedlot or at least a heck of a lot of cattle on his place. He was very interested in buying some hay off my CRP ground if they open it for emergency haying and grazing.

I have always looked at this plan as a opportunity to get strips cut in some very large tracts of CRP to make them easier for the hunters to find birds.

Not sure what I should do. Would like to be able to help my neighbor out.

Here's what is stupid. The guys that have to cut their CRP on the 5th and 10th year are still going to have to burn their bails in front of NRCS employee.
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That is being looked at. There is no way to know if it will get changed or not. It might help if sportsman were to support changing it to a more practical method.
 
If I recall correctly '02 was a VERY hot dry year which may explain why bird #'s were down so much...I fear for the young birds right now. checked the old farmers almanac and in july of 2002 there were only 5 days that weren't at 90 degrees or more around Mitchell...there were many days at 100 or more...3 or 4 where the highs were more than 105, with two in a row at 109+....
 
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Birds are still okay. They like dry conditions and there's still water out there. Rain and cooler temps would be good of course.

As of now bird numbers are going to be good this fall.;)

I've brought this up before so forgive me if you're tired of hearing it; Baja Mexico is hot and dry. The average high temp is 107 degrees yet their wild birds do well.

wild birds in Mexico http://youtu.be/rwTePCOv3-s
 
Pheasant really do quite well in dry areas. As long as there is enough grass/weed growth for cover.

Pheasants by now know where the water is and how to get at it. Dew is enough most of the time.

I haven't seen the drought area, you guys make it sound bad. These guys have crop insurance, besides that, it will become a disaster area. They will take the 100% loss and disk. With the 100% loss there will be no salvage, or silage.

Drought stressed corn without ears is not going to make very good feed. Grain in good silage makes up 90% of the nutrients rest is basically filler.
Then there's the nitrate poison.

Is the corn so bad that it won't pollinate?

For whatever reason We're getting good rains and often up here, talking record crops? Some say 250 bu corn. :eek:
 
mnmthunting said:
Drought stressed corn without ears is not going to make very good feed. Grain in good silage makes up 90% of the nutrients rest is basically filler.
Then there's the nitrate poison.
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Corn with 0 ears still has 70% plus of the feed value as corn with a normal yield in silage. In some ways drought corn makes better feed. Zero bushel corn used for silage has higher protein and digestibility than a normal field. It does lack the energy, which will be expensive to make up.

Our insurance allows us to salvage corn for silage.

30 to 50 percent of the nitrates go away after ensiling. Most guys cut it higher as most of the nitrates are in the lower portion of the stock in order to cut down on nitrate problems.
 
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mnmthunting said:
Pheasant really do quite well in dry areas. As long as there is enough grass/weed growth for cover.

Pheasants by now know where the water is and how to get at it. Dew is enough most of the time.
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We haven't had dew in the mornings in a very long time. Stock dams are drying up or have dried up. It is so dry we are having a light mist right now and the it is still only 49% humidity! I am starting to worry about the pheasants a little. Seeing a lot of hens with only 1-3 chicks. The wheat here was good and the corn doesn't look terrible yet. This week is really hitting it hard though. We are supposed to be over 100 degrees through monday. If we don't have significant rain fall this week at least 50% of the corn will be cut for silage.
 
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