THE LAND — JULY 8/JULY 15, 2022
www.thelandonline.com — “Where Farm and Family Meet”
PAGE 9
Hay crop ‘really good;’ corn up to your chin
Matt Erickson It’s fair time! The Land spoke with Matt Fertile, Minn. Erickson on July 7 as he reported the Polk County fair is in full swing with daughters Catie and July 7 Sidney showing their 4-H cattle. Although the fair
has been a family tradition for the Ericksons, he has seen the number of fair attendees grow over the years. “It’s gotten to be really popular.”
The storm which hit Johnson’s farm on June 20 resulted in damaged grain bin roofs, but the crops seemed to have fared just fine. “In the last five days, even some of the toughest fields look good.”
Taking a break from all the fair fun, Erickson likes what he sees in the fields. “I got all the sorghum and millet planted.” He also started cutting his first-crop hay last week. “It was a really good crop.”
“The corn is past my chin,” Johnson said. Thankfully, the growth of corn has brought some relief. “It’s pretty marvelous what this crop can do. Optimism on the corn is sky-high. The farm received half an inch to one and a half inches of rain on July 4 weekend.
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“Corn looks really good.” It’s anywhere from knee-high to waist-high. The crop has grown quickly, which is a relief to Erickson as he planted two weeks later than usual. “It’s pretty miraculous.” Likewise, the soybeans are starting to fill the rows and doing just fine. “We just need to keep getting timely rains.” v
FROM THE FIELDS
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The cows are all out to pasture. “The pastures are just tremendous.” The grass is so long that it can be tough to see the calves. But Erickson is happy to see all that grass. On July 4, Erickson vaccinated around 175 calves with help from his son, Emery.
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Erickson seeded alfalfa on June 14. Strong winds followed, so he was unsure how the crop would do. So far, though, it’s coming up and looking good.
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“Crops looks good. We could use some Bob Roelofs Garden City, Minn. rain shortly.” The Land spoke with Bob Roelofs on July 1 as he reported the fields July 1 are flourishing. The corn is waist-high. “It
really shot up. It really pulled moisture out of the ground.” The last substantial rain was three inches, which fell three weeks ago. There’s a chance for rain early next week, which would be great news for the crops. Roelofs is starting to spray soybeans. He estimates that 50 percent of beans in the area have been sprayed. He has hired two high school helpers and is hoping to hire one more by mid-summer. They will help with a variety of tasks, which includes assisting in some hog site remodeling. Roelofs has been on the Mapleton police force for the past few weeks and the transition back See ROELOFS, pg. 10
“It’s been annoyingly busy.” The Land Leah Johnson Evansville, Minn. spoke with Leah Johnson on July 7 as she reported that all her soybean fields had been July 7 sprayed.
“The beans have struggled with the timing of rain.” Johnson walked fields last weekend and had difficulty finding flowers in the later planted fields. “We’re going to have fields that are never going to canopy.” That is a problem when it comes to weed control. “We definitely won’t see fantastic yields.” Comparing corn and beans, it’s a tale of two different yield potentials. “The corn looks so good; it makes the beans look less good.” Johnson is closely monitoring the fields for signs of pesky plants. “We can’t let the weeds in.” v “We finally finished getting the old machine Scott Winslow Fountain, Minn. shed down.” The Land spoke with Scott Winslow on June 30 as he reported that the shed, damJune 30 aged in a December 2021 storm, is now gone,
making way for the new shed to be constructed in the next few weeks.
While storms have stayed away from Winslow’s farm these past few weeks, misfortune has not. “No big storms, but we did have a disaster.” The co-op that sprays Winslow’s corn and soybeans forgot he planted conventional corn and sprayed the field on June 17. That resulted in 70 acres of dead corn. “We had to scramble to find some seed.” He found the earliest seed he could find, 91 and 92-day. Winslow was able to get the corn in the ground that day and finished planting on June 18. There’s a significant difference between the corn planted in May and the crop grown just a few weeks ago. “I have corn that is a little over waist-high and a little over knee-high on a dog.” See WINSLOW, pg. 10
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