View from the Cab: Planting begins...and stops

By Kent Casson

I actually have some planting progress to report this week.

Ahead of all of the recent wet weather, we were finally able to get in the fields to begin our 2024 planting season. Just when we had a good start, more rain fell. We have plenty of ground left to cover and it definitely doesn’t appear we will get done in record time like last year when we were finished planting by May 1.

When we were out there, field conditions seemed decent and all of our equipment was working properly. This is good to know because when we hit it hard again, there won’t be much stopping. It’ll be full steam ahead for the foreseeable future. We run two planters on our operation so one person can be planting corn while the other is working on soybeans. This helps us get across more acres faster since Mother Nature often gives us short weather windows.

I don’t know how to feel about those seeds already in the ground since they received some cold rain, but hopefully they will be alright. We often hear the agronomists caution against planting when conditions aren’t quite fit. Though it has been cool and rather wet, that didn’t stop many local growers from putting corn in the ground. In fact, just the other day I noticed several cornfields already planted to the west and south of Fairbury.

Grandpa and the other old timers used to say if the asparagus is ready, then it’s time to plant corn. Well, guess what? The asparagus has been ready so that means we should have plenty of corn planted by now. I guess those guys were rarely wrong about things as they always managed to get a crop planted in the spring and harvested in the fall.

With the arrival of May comes spring allergy season for some of us. As I’m out there loading the planter or mowing roadsides, I’m usually sneezing too. I am mainly allergic to the grass molds so May is my worst time then I get better as the spring and summer go on. Some aren’t so lucky as they sniffle all year long.

I may look like some sort of monster when mowing in the spring as I wear the heavy-duty sunglass goggles with a dust mask, but it is worth the effort. Otherwise, I’ll be scratching at my eyes until June.

Hard to believe we are already saying goodbye to April. It was a month of up and down weather and fieldwork. We look ahead to the brand-new month of May with hope. We will see if those April showers really did bring May flowers. Everyone is getting ready for Mother’s Day and graduation season. Plus, don’t forget about the unofficial start to summer at the end of May with Memorial Day weekend.