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Ellis commented regarding crops east of Independence in Trempealeau County in western Wisconsin; the soil tends to be sandy there. He saw some damage to the corn by streaked gophers; they affected the stand quality.

On his grandfather’s farm, one valley over, he noticed slug damage in high-residue areas of low ground. Because of problems the previous year in the beans, they ripped and soil-finished in the field to turn the soil completely over – which killed the slugs. This year they planted into the residue – and now are seeing some damage.

“I guess next year we’ll just have to dig more,� he said. “That’s the only way to kill the suckers unless you get straight sun and hot weather, which we haven’t had a lot of recently.�

With hot weather and rain in the upcoming forecast, the corn and beans should be shooting up in preparation for “knee high by the fourth of July.�

“The corn gets darker,� Ellis said. “It seems like every day, it’s a darker green. I haven’t seen too many wet spots or areas of stress. All the moisture we’ve been getting has been spread evenly and really soft.�

Pastures are doing very well. Ellis reports some re-emergence of pinkeye – which they had earlier in the month and now has returned. The cows move through the pastures; he mows them after they are finished, to even out the forage and control thistles. Then they send the heifers through to eat. He also added some chicken litter, usually at 3 tons to the acre. One pasture hadn’t been fertilized for several years and they bumped that up to 5 tons. The manure is broadcast in a 30-foot swatch.

Calving has finished. The bulls were checked for fertility and are ready to be turned into the pastures next month. They have 34 heifers to breed; the heifers will each be getting a hormone shot before exposure to the bulls to create a tighter calving window. The heifers will be in groups of 11 for each bull.

Ellis takes care of two chicken barns. He said he was running all 15 tunnel ventilation fans and the cool cells this week because the birds are ready for harvest. At this point the 53,000 birds in each barn are drinking 3,300 gallons of water per day, and eating between 9 and 10 tons of feed.

My travels this past week took me to Wells, Minnesota, a small town past Albert Lea in the southern part of the state. The crops there were on par with what we have here in Wisconsin. They have a mucky-type soil. There was a gentle rain that lasted about 15 minutes, resulting in standing water in the fields because the water is slow to drain into the subsoil.

This week we’ve having hot weather and rain. The corn is going to love it and we should be able to see rapid growth.

This is an original article written for Agri-View, a Lee Enterprises agricultural publication based in Madison, Wisconsin. Visit for more information.