Hopefully by the time this goes to press everyone reading this has had some decent rainfall. Before we get into crop conditions, I’d like to make everyone aware of a few Extension programs coming up. Our regional Beef Cattle Conference is coming up Tuesday, August 9th from 10 AM to 1 PM at the Gray County Annex. This is a short program that I would like to make an annual event. This year we are teaming up with Purina and Central Life Sciences to address Starting Calves off the Right Way, Fly Control Options, Factors Affecting Optimal Calving Season and Cattle Market Outlook. There are many hard decisions that are going to be made due to drought soon…we hope some of this information will help make a more informed and less emotional decision. I also have a Range Tour planned for the end of September.
Crop conditions look better than expected. Most irrigated cotton is really enjoying the heat units and depending on fertility and irrigation applied…may be self regulating growth in some varieties. Corn is looking good as well and ranges from blister/milk to some early denting corn. We were pretty hot during pollination, which is no different from any other year, but on fields that were shedding heavy pollen during the 105+ degree weather we could see some missed or incomplete pollen which may result in shorter ears or more “tipping back”. The silver lining to the drought is the lack of humidity we have had, which has allowed corn plants to recover some from the heat overnight. In lower humidity situations, the plant is able to recover from heat and moisture stress and as the sun comes up the plants are going to have more viable pollen than in high humidity situations.
