Post by kcm on Jun 28, 2012 18:13:45 GMT -5
I just watched a 12 week animation of the US drought monitor. It is very clear things have intensified over the last 4 weeks for most of the major corn and soybean growing areas of the USA. I am surprised the markets aren't reacting more, given this seems to be the real deal, and not just a bad forecast.
At this point my corn is probably going to do about 20% of normal, I figure since all of us probably have different yields it is better to give a percentage of average than a bushel figure. I will silo all of it. I was told my custom cutter started chopping today, I don't know if this is true, I heard it third hand. My corn is probably 10 days or more from being ready to silo.
Beans and milo are too early to call, but, 2 or 3 more weeks of this and I think they will simply die in the field. 10 day outlook is for no rain, so we are halfway to ruin I would say. So today the bean and milo yields are up in the air, but if nothing changes, they will be 0%, and not even big enough to hay or put into the silo. Well, the beans might make a third of a bale to the acre.
It is conceivable to me I might not put one hour on the combine this fall. No cattle sales in my area next week, week after I will look at pulling a few older cows off and selling them to stretch my grass as far as possible. Cull cows are a good price, for now anyway. My memory stretches to about 1975, if nothing changes hands down this will be the worse year I ever remember, BUT, I think crop insurance will keep nearly everyone from going broke. With all this corn going into the silo, forage shouldn't be a problem. Keeping cattle satisfied and watered for the next 3 months will be an issue. I expect more open cows next spring too.
At this point my corn is probably going to do about 20% of normal, I figure since all of us probably have different yields it is better to give a percentage of average than a bushel figure. I will silo all of it. I was told my custom cutter started chopping today, I don't know if this is true, I heard it third hand. My corn is probably 10 days or more from being ready to silo.
Beans and milo are too early to call, but, 2 or 3 more weeks of this and I think they will simply die in the field. 10 day outlook is for no rain, so we are halfway to ruin I would say. So today the bean and milo yields are up in the air, but if nothing changes, they will be 0%, and not even big enough to hay or put into the silo. Well, the beans might make a third of a bale to the acre.
It is conceivable to me I might not put one hour on the combine this fall. No cattle sales in my area next week, week after I will look at pulling a few older cows off and selling them to stretch my grass as far as possible. Cull cows are a good price, for now anyway. My memory stretches to about 1975, if nothing changes hands down this will be the worse year I ever remember, BUT, I think crop insurance will keep nearly everyone from going broke. With all this corn going into the silo, forage shouldn't be a problem. Keeping cattle satisfied and watered for the next 3 months will be an issue. I expect more open cows next spring too.