CROPS: SO FAR, SO GOOD
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 -- 1:01 PM
We don?t want to jinx it, but it?s been a good growing year so far."Most of the crops are pretty much in. What I've seen coming up looks real good," says Richard Halopka with Clark County UW-Extension. "We've had some moisture here in the last couple weeks to give it a shot in the arm."
His only complaint: it could be warmer.
Halopka has been keeping track of the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growing_degree_day]Growing Degree Days[/url] (GDD) for the region. May had 274.6 GDDs. While this is the first year these records have been kept for Neillsville, he figures that?s about average, if not a touch below.
Central Wisconsin had been extremely dry the past few years, but we had above average moisture in the month of May.
"The the first time we've been above average in, I believe, almost a year. We've gained a little in reserves, but we still need some timely rain to keep going with this crop," says Halopka.
Farmers will be cutting hay this week or next. So far, the quality of the alfalfa crop looks to be excellent.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.