This year’s harvest is mixed bag | Agriculture | victoriaadvocate.com

Lots of You’ve in all probability noticed the astypement of farm gear shifting up and down the extremeways. Some might have even Discover your self to be irritated at having To attend as a farmer tries to get his gigantic harvesting machine throughout A critical extremeway in Victoria County. I typically smile and wave to the farmer And look at out and permit them the time and room to maneuver their gear. I understand how troublesome It is to be a farmer in right now’s trendy world the place solely 2% Of usa residents are farmers and most Do not understand how primary manufacturing agriculture contributes to An space financial system. As prolonged as There’s An excellent deal of meals out there On the native grocery retailer, Nobody seems to care.

In case you ever questioned about agriculture in Victoria County, A lot of the cropland in Victoria County is located south of U.S. 59 to the Calhoun County border. Victoria County presently has roughly 70,000 acres in crop manufacturing. These acres are damaged down as 2,000 rice, 22,000 corn, 16,000 sorghum, 21,000 cotton and 5,000 soybeans. Everytime you Assume about hay manufacturing as a forage crop, You’d like to add anfullly different 10,000 acres That are additionally being harvested or baled Inside these scorching dry circumstances. You can’t drive anythe place Inside the county with out seeing fields Full of spherical or sq. bales as ranchers are baling An limitless slicing of hay from the monsoonal rains.

Crop yields So far have been under common to common for our county As a Outcome of of flooded fields and poor drainage. Corn yields have commond 70-150 bushels/acre and A lot of the corn has been harvested. Grain sorghum harvesting is about full with poor to truthful yields. A lot of the harvest rotted Inside The sector earlier than combines get might to them. Yield reviews for grain are 1,000-5,000 kilos/acre. The cotton harvest Shall be getting started later in August and September. Harvest yields will Most probably be decrease than common with the crops drenched in standing water for days to weeks. Soybean yields are common at roughly 30 bushels/acre. Hay yields have been much above common. I’ve heard reviews of ranchers slicing 5-6 tons of forage/acre/slicing. A imply spherical hay bale That is 5-by-5 foot in measurement will weigh between 800 and 1,000 kilos Counting on Pretty a Little bit of issues collectively with moisture content material, tightness of bale And Sort of grass, amongst fullly different elements. Subsequently, it appears like we Could have a surplus of hay Inside the brief time period. Cattle numbers are remaining fixed And prices are extreme and anticipated To maintain extreme. Demand is extreme in home and world markets as anyone can see by The prices per pound we should pay for beef at retail retailers.

From yr to yr, I proceed to be amazed On the drastic variations in yield and worth for farmers and ranchers. My hat is off to these working non-cease in agriculture in good occasions and dangerous. The subsequent time you go to your favourite grocery retailer and see A good deal of current meals out there, thank a farmer or rancher. Actually, they feed the world.

Matt Bochat is a County Extension Agent – Ag/Pure Assets Victoria County Texas A&M Agrilife Extension.