Cattlemen see silver lining in wet weather

Although this spring’s wet weather is a headache for grain farmers, it could turn out to be a boon for local cattlemen.

Cole Camp farmer Bryan Von Holton thought he might still have time to get seeds in the ground, but last week’s rain put a damper on his plans.

He planned to plant 930 acres of corn on his 2,365 cropped acres this year.

“We got, I guess, about 550 acres of corn planted,” he said.

“This is the first time it’s just not going to happen,” he said, adding he will instead “accept my defeat and plant beans, I guess.”

It’s a long way from where he thought he’d be by this time in the year.

“I thought ‘this stands to be the best year of my farming career,’”  he said. “It’s very humbling.”

The Cole Camp farmer’s not alone in his disappointment.

“In general I would say the corn is struggling,” said Julie Abendroth, regional agronomist for the University of Missouri Extension Service.

Abendroth’s Richmond office covers West Central Missouri.

“The earliest planted corn is doing fairly well and on target,” she said. “With the later planted corn there’s going to be issues with the delay.”

At this point in the season, corn planting percentages are no longer reported, but as of the last report on June 2, 81 percent of the planned crop was in the ground.

And the delay isn’t the only problem. Nitrogen, vital to good corn growth, can be lost during a particularly wet spring. And the wetness leads to shallower root systems that can wreak havoc on a field in a dry summer.

“The main concern would be just right now, that a lot of the corn crop wouldn’t be able to weather stress should we receive it,” Abendroth said.
Soybeans are not looking much better for farmers, Abendroth said.

As of June 15, 51 percent of the state’s planned soybean crop was in the ground, Abendroth said.  The average is typically 88 percent by this point in the season.

Those statewide averages are reported by National Agriculture Statistic Service, a part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Planting date often determines much of the yield potential, she said, with more yield the earlier the crop is planted. The plants also face the  risk for soybean rust, a disease that can cause massive yield reductions, because of the late planting date.

“I would say it’s definitely been a challenging year,” Abendroth said.

But not all of those in the agriculture business are suffering from the wetness.

“It’s beneficial, certainly in the fact that we’re going to have a lot of hay and a lot of grass,” said Larry Eckhoff, a Benton County cattleman.  “I’d rather see it too wet as too dry anytime.”

Moisture means more grass in the fall, meaning cows can graze later and reducing the need for hay and other feed.

And when it rains a lot, it lets ranchers like Eckhoff, 64, get caught up on often neglected tasks — like weeding.

“About every weed that’s come up in the past 100 years has come up this year,” he said.

The rains will affect him, with higher feed corn prices and shrt supplies possibly meaning less nutrition for his cows later in the year, but Eckhoff said he’s seen far worse situations than this in his 40 years of raising cattle.

“We’ve just been blessed not to have any tornados or floods like they’ve had in other places,” he said.

The years tend to ebb and flow for each branch of the agriculture business, Eckhoff said, and the cattleman has faith in the process.

“I’ve lived long enough to know God’s going to take care of me one way or the other,” he said.

Row crop farmers may yet have a good year, Abendroth said.

Other agricultural states like Indiana, Iowa and Illinois have also been hit hard this year, meaning higher prices for farmers everywhere. And the harvest is still long off.

“I think we still have a lot of season left, and a lot of the yield left to be captured,” she said.

As for Von Holton, while he felt this would be a great year for corn he’s ready to roll as soon as conditions are good for soybeans.

“It’s never over till it’s over; you just wait to see what happens. It could all turn out to be pretty good year,” he said. “The next two months will tell us a lot.”