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This Yield Check Report has been made possible by Specialty Hybrids.
Harvest is picking back up in Michigan after rains kept farmers out of the field last week.
Now that the pause is over, Dan Cable, field sales representative with Specialty Hybrids, says farmers have to be strategic on their harvest strategies.
“Guys are deciding where they want to harvest because stalk integrity is not real good on some of these hybrids, especially if they didn’t get fungicide on,” he says. “The other thing is now with all the rain in the Southeast corner of the state, you could run on lighter soils that have good tile in them, but the heavy ground is going to take some time for the water to settle through so they can harvest without making a mess.”
Stalk integrity issues from tar spot have been plaguing farmers. As a result of last week’s rain and wind, Cable says a lot of stalks were knocked down.
“The rain came and makes the stalk heavier,” says Cable. “The integrity of the stalk is not what we want it to be because we didn’t get a fungicide sprayed on it or some varieties are a little more susceptible to tar spot than others.”
Soybeans planted in early April have had their fair share of struggles this fall because of setbacks from frost. Cable says the soybeans that were planted the end of April are doing quite well. In Southeastern Michigan, he’s heard of yields between 50 and 60 bushels.
“When this last rain came, [some soybeans] still had some color to them—it could increase that bean size,” he says. “We could have some really good bean yields before this year is over. A month ago we thought we were going to have a super big corn crop and average bean crop or a little better. The corn crop had quite a bit knocked out of it due to tar spot, and we could end up having some really good bean yields we didn’t necessarily expect.”