Our Lawn Is Getting That August Brown Look

Our lawn is getting that August brown look.  It almost always happens.  I can't remember a year in 11 summers here it hasn't but a few were greener than others.  2004, 2009, 2011 and even 2013 comes to mind.

If you mow all summer you usually have good crops here.  Even if we quit mowing in August we have good crops.  2012 we quit mowing in June and the crop showed it.

My weekly rain report from Spatial Rainfall Consulting showed one of the driest weeks since October 1 last fall, only .1 inch here.  This is the time when a farmer would like to see a good one inch soaker or two but we have had so many in the past months, they are running out of gas.

My friend Reed Carey had 3.5 inches in the last two days just up the road but the last 2 inches came in less than 2 hours and he figures he lost an inch of it.  Still, he upped his predicted corn yield average to 225 and I told him the beans may even fair better.  August rains are the key to soybean yields and that is why the record yields usually come from irrigation.

Good crops are one things but farming is all about management.  I can focus on the agronomy so much I forget the marketing aspect which can make you or break you.  This is the year it paid to sell as much as you felt comfortable with before the crop was even planted.

We got to talking about standability in high yield soybeans this week.  I have not seen a better standing soybean that the semi dwarf's that Dr. Richard Cooper bred some time ago.  The Apex soybeans we grew were really sturdy but you must set yourself up to shave the ground at harvest as they bottom pods are low to the ground.

3.5 inches of rain would make any soybean perk around here but a tenth or a half inch, not so much.

Do I want to mow or not mow?

That is the question.

Ed Winkle