LUXEMBURG, Wis. — With one swift motion Dale Uecker lifted a grouping of complete cornstalks out of the bed of his truck.
The Door County farmer was taking them to a UW-Madison Division of Extension corn dry down event at Rio Creek Feed Mill’s Luxemburg location.
What You Need to Know
- The latest state crop report splits the condition of the corn crop. Half is rated good to excellent, the other fair to very poor
- Kewaunee County and surrounding areas got off to a slow start, with virtually no rain from April into June
- Most of the state remains in a drought
“We bring the corn sample in to check the moisture,” he said. “For chopping it, we want it around 65% moisture. We get some idea of when we can start chopping. You don’t want it too dry, it doesn’t ferment well in the silo. You don’t want it too wet because then it juices out of the silo. You want to try to get that perfect moisture.”
Like farmers across the state, Uecker has seen a range of weather conditions this spring and summer.
“I would consider us pretty lucky in Forestville,” he said. “We’ve been getting rains, not a lot, but enough to keep everything going well. The corn looks good, but we could use some more heat units here to finish the drying process out.”
The latest state crop report splits the condition of the corn crop. Half is rated good to excellent, the other fair to very poor.
UW-Madison Division of Extension Regional Dairy Educator Aerica Bjurstrom is one contributor to that report.
“I don’t think I’ve reported any corn looking excellent this year. Everything is fair and good,” she said. “That really caught up the last few weeks from August into September. The corn is looking a lot better than it did earlier in the year, but I think we missed a lot of opportunity earlier in the year to get that corn to get more yield when we’re talking about corn silage.”
Kewaunee County and surrounding areas got off to a slow start, with virtually no rain from April into June.
“We’re seeing a lot of corn with the tips not filling to the end of the corn cob,” Bjurstrom said. “That just means it’s aborted kernels and not filling out the cob like we want to see it.”
Much of the state is still rated in some level of drought. Some areas in southwest Wisconsin are facing exceptional drought conditions.
Uecker said his corn crop is generally in good shape.
“Ten miles way you look at the corn cobs on the other fields, they’re not near the size we have out by us,” he said. “We’ve been more than fortunate. Lots of areas are hurting big time for moisture.”