Started in corn earlier this week, now shut off for at least most of today due to rain.
However, some definate patterns showing up. While more rain than last year, we started the year with almost zero sub-moisture, so dryland crops varied greatly depending on if we got a timely rain.
My dryland corn, will yield everything from zero, to maybe 100BPA on the (small) bottoms that caught snow and held enough moisture to last until the next rain. Overall, if I make 25, I will be surprised (not all done yet).
My brother, who farms not far from me, but caught about 2 extra inches of rain over the summer, but at just the right timing, made 60 on one field that got a little hail, and 80 or so on the other field. Dryland corn in our part of NE, 'averages' between 70-90, but for me, has ranged from under 20, to over 150.
Furrow irrigated corn, looks good, there are spots where the slope is a little steeper, and not as much water soaked in, that isn't as good as the even sloped places. We see it every year, but this year I think we see it more than most. I have not cut enough yet to tell if the steeper parts are below average, or the better spots are above average, but it looks like the irrigated will be above average this year.
The pivots around here, as long as they didn't have an extended breakdown to cause them to fall behind irrigating, look excellent. My pivot ground looks to yield very well. Maybe not an all time record, but maybe 2nd or 3rd best crop ever. Had we gotten a few timely rains to get the corners to yield better, it would have been right up there, with the most corn ever off the field.
From the looks of this, and what I see in my travels, the NE irrigated ground may very well grow a record sized corn crop. Very good yields, combined with a lot of acres.
