A real-life survivor series

The weather this summer has presented challenges for many Wisconsin farmers. Across central Wisconsin, many fields have been left unplanted and hay harvests have fallen behind schedule.

“We finished first crop haylage last week and we’re still working on baling dry cow hay,” Ben Seehafer said. “Our second crop is ready to cut now too.”

Seehafer operates Seehafer’s City View Dairy near Marshfield. They milk 270 cows on his Marathon County dairy farm, located near the Wood County line, and farms 600 acres.

Seehafer admits he has lost track of how much rain has fallen at his farm since the abnormally wet weather began in late April, noting that the nearby Marshfield Research Station in Stratford documented 18.82 inches from April through June.

According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, Marathon County received 16.89 inches of rain from April through June, making 2024 the third wettest April-June in the past 130 years. Neighboring Wood County received 18.58 inches during the same time period, making it the wettest April-June period in the past 130 years for that county. A local television station reported that the Marathon County city of Wausau saw 5.87 inches of rainfall in July, nearly two inches more than average. August 1, Seehafer said he measured four inches of rainfall at his farm and heard reports of as much as seven inches received only a few miles away. Significant rainfall was expected to impact the area again on Aug. 5.

“It’s such a kick in the butt, every time it rains, it’s nearly an inch or more,” Seehafer said. “Going in, it was dry, scary dry. We had a busy spring. We hosted a tour for the local technical college and the local FFA alumni dairy breakfast in June. I thought we were going to hit it hard. I remember thinking, ‘I bet we’ll be done with first crop before the breakfast.’”

Reality was different.

“We didn’t start planting corn until June 10,” Seehafer said. “The last corn I planted this year was July 20. That breaks my previous record of July 17. We didn’t get everything in we wanted, but mainly what didn’t get done was hay fields we had planned to terminate after first crop. We just left those in hay. We planted around 300 acres of corn and had to replant over 30 of those.”

Seehafer’s corn crop this year runs the gamut from corn that looks exceptional to corn that has barely sprouted.

“Everywhere you go there is corn that looks bad — corn that should be twice as tall as it is and brown spots everywhere,” Seehafer said.

Nearly 26 miles due north, Bruce Gumz and his family milk 60 cows at Tri-G Farms near Dorchester in Marathon County.

Gumz farms 1,000 acres and has had about 26 inches of rain so far this growing season. Gumz said nearly 25% of his planned corn acreage — over 100 acres — remains unplanted. Also, he only has 30 acres out of a planned 500 acres of soybeans planted.

“What we got in is up and down,” Gumz said. “It’s green but you can see it is really suffering from compaction, it’s just not doing well. It’s about two-thirds the size it should be, some is about three feet and some over six, all pushing tassels. I would say about 40% of what is planted is maybe okay. Our (brown midrib) corn for chopping looks rough. If we get an early frost, it’s going to be bad.”

Gumz said the lack of stalk height will affect tonnage, and, at this point, he’s hoping what is there will put on good ears.

“Even if it’s short but puts on good cobs, the starch might be okay,” Gumz said. “We won’t know that until we start chopping.”

Both farmers said they feel confident that between the remaining feed stores from 2023 and the high volume of first crop, they will have sufficient feed for the upcoming winter.

“We had a good stock of both corn silage and haylage from previous years,” Gumz said. “We’re just finishing up feeding up corn silage from two years ago. We’ve got plenty of feed with the heavy first crop.”

Seehafer said his first crop haylage filled two of his largest silos — something he’s never done before. He began feeding that right away.

“The quantity is good, but the quality is short,” Seehafer said. “Some of the tests are coming back at 16% protein, which is better than I had thought it might be. I’m mixing it with last year’s third crop. We’ll be chopping every bit of our corn this year — we won’t even get the combine out. I have more round bales made than I ever have before.”

Both farmers say that while they had an abundant yield of first-crop hay, their second crop came in significantly lighter.

“It’s only about 60% of what it should be; every wheel track is stunted,” Seehafer said. “Five, six days after it was cut, you can see all the brown areas — it should be getting green again. I wish I would have waited with more of my first crop. It probably would have dropped down close to 13% but with less damage to the fields and there would have been more second crop coming back.”

Gumz’s experience is similar.

“Second crop was super light and we had lots of issues with wheel tracks and ruts,” Gumz said. “The second crop was maybe half of normal, while the first crop was double normal. We ended up square baling and wrapping a lot of it, hoping to blend first crop from the silo with second-crop bailage in the mixer.”

The biggest fear that Gumz and Seehafer share is the long-term damage that has occurred to the health of the soil.

“The corn came out of the ground and looked okay, then it just turned yellow and died, Gumz said. “Mid-May, the soil just died. We’re basically starting over with soil health — the tracks, the compaction, the anaerobic state. How do you start over with alfalfa when the soil is wrecked?”

Seehafer agreed.

“There is so much damage in the fields from trying to make hay,” Seehafer said. “This was all new seeding last year, with peas and triticale as a cover. It was the most beautiful seeding I have ever seen, partly, I think, because it was so dry last year. It was so rich and thick, with zero weeds. Then the rain wouldn’t stop, and we couldn’t make it. By the time we did make it, we ruined it. You can see how uneven it is, nothing much is growing on the headlands.”

This year has been a rough one for farmers, Gumz said.

“It’s depressing, it’s the only thing people talk about,” Gumz said. “You can’t get away from it, it’s in your face, all the time. You pull out of your yard and there’s your lousy crop. You go the other way and it’s bare fields.”

Seehafer agreed.

“It’s such a mental battle,” he said. “You’re sitting here — you know it needs to be cut, it’s getting old, falling down. Then you walk out into the field and the water squishes around your boots, and it just keeps raining. You keep telling yourself next week will be better, but it hasn’t been.”