By DEBORAH BEHRENDS

Indiana Correspondent

LAWRENCEBURG, Ky. — The first loads of corn and soybeans should roll out of the fields in the next week or so, according to Extension advisors for agriculture in Anderson and Garrard counties of central Kentucky.

“While we have not harvested yet, I have done quite a bit of scouting with my farmers, and we think our field corn is going to average close to 200 bushels per acre this year,” said Anderson County advisor Tommy Yankey. “That’s outstanding for us a county. Soybeans should average 65 bushels throughout the county.”

In Garrard County, advisor Jay Hettmansperger added, “Grain harvest is getting off to a slow start in the area. Soybeans are holding on to their green color, and corn is drying down.

“There are a few early planted fields being shelled. The corn looks good so far but the season is too early to tell if we have a bumper crop,” Hettmansperger said.

Both agreed tobacco harvest is going well, even though some areas have seen a bit of black shank, target spot and frog eye.

“Producers are very optimistic about the quality and weight of this year’s tobacco crop.  Weather conditions have favored good tobacco growth,” Hettmansperger said.

“Scattered rainfall has slowed some areas but most producers have continued to work through the raindrops.”

Those raindrops may have slowed hay harvest, but they have been a boon to the pastures in the area.

“In fact, older farmers have commented to me this week that they have never seen pastures this green this time of year,” Yankey said.

“Pastures have been lush this season. The biggest complaint I am hearing from farmers this season is that they are having a difficult time cutting hay crops at the correct stage of maturity without it getting wet before being able to bale it.

“And while that can be challenging I always look at the positive and say we are not in a drought, not forced to sell livestock or downsize the herd due to drought. And I think most farmers would agree,” Yankey said.

Hettmansperger said farmers also have been filling their silos with silage and early indications  show a good quality silage is going into storage.

“Silage chopping has made all the dove hunters happy,” he said. “The birds love to glean these newly-harvested corn fields, which brings in the hunters.”

Yankey said farmers in Anderson County are averaging 26-28 tons per acre.

According to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service’s progress reports for the week ending Sept. 17, Kentucky pasture conditions rated at 8 percent excellent and a whopping 68 percent good. Illinois was rated at only 1 percent excellent, 15 percent good; Indiana at 3 percent excellent, 35 percent good; Iowa at 1 percent excellent, 21 percent good; Michigan at 4 percent excellent, 31 percent good; Ohio at 9 percent excellent, 54 percent good and Tennessee at 13 percent excellent, 59 percent good.

As noted previously, grain harvest has not begun in earnest, but Kentucky and Tennessee have the highest percentage of acres with mature corn. In Tennessee, that’s 92 percent and Kentucky, 82 percent. In Illinois, 60 percent of the state’s corn acres are mature; in Indiana, 53 percent; in Iowa, 49 percent; in Ohio, 37 percent and in Michigan, 25 percent.

Corn harvested statewide for the six-state area is reportedly at 58 percent in Tennessee, 39 percent in Kentucky, 8 percent in Illinois, 6 percent in Indiana, 2 percent in Iowa and just 1 percent in Michigan.

As for soybeans dropping leaves, in Tennessee, that about 51 percent of the state’s acreage; in Ohio, 45 percent; Indiana and Iowa are both at 42 percent; Michigan is at 32 percent; Illinois is at 29 percent and in Kentucky, only about 23 percent of the state’s soybean acres are dropping leaves.

Hettmansperger noted the soybeans are holding on to the green leaves.

That should change with the warmer weather that moved back into the area late last week. Temperatures reached the upper 80s through the weekend.

Only four states in Farm World’s readership area are listed on the NASS report for winter wheat, and that’s off to a slow start, as well. Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio reportedly have planted acreage in the single digits in terms of percentage. Ohio is at 1 percent, Indiana is at 3 percent, Michigan is at 7 percent and Illinois hasn’t reported any acreage planted as of Sept. 17.