Recent reports have America's corn crop as being 90% in the ground by June 1st but I find myself wondering what that may really mean exactly. Why I can't bear witness to what is going on in other parts of the country my eyeballs tell me that around here it means farmers have planted all the corn they could and then made plans for something else.
As near as I can tell only one field near me was sown in corn and only about half of that field actually got planted. That is less than 10% of the corn that is usually planted near my daily haunts. Last years corn crop... well there wasn't a corn crop around here last year except for what was turned into silage. Anyway the guys near me usually plant half corn and half beans mixed randomly with some wheat from time to time. At this point I am guessing they gave up on planting corn and are aiming for soybean as I saw many of the fields being worked today.
Make of it what you will but it's looking to me like feed corn is going to be even more expensive than it already is and that means meat is going to go up more as well.
Here is a good article about what's going on right now around here.
After Drought, Rains Plaguing Midwest Farms
Unlike the drought though all this rain isn't bad for everyone. The bees may have been so devastated that they didn't swarm much (so far) this Spring but they are certainly building up fast. Or some of them are anyway. The hives I had that survived Winter are booming (except for the one that almost died) and two of the swarms I managed to catch are coming alone nicely, one seems to be dragging a bit. Most of the strong hives have massive amounts of honey stored but I guess the humidity is making it a bit harder for them to get it capped off which is understandable.
The swarm traps just are not making any sense this year though. Almost all of the Northern traps are covered in bees during the day to the point I would swear a swarm has moved in but when I go and open the top they contain maybe 50 to 100 bees. It isn't like the bees are really in there robbing the bait comb or anything either. I can't figure out what they are doing to be honest I have never seen them act like this before. In the past if I saw that many bees coming and going from the entrance holes there WAS a swarm in there. Not so this year.
With this much rain though I may push the normal swarm catching into July a bit just to see. It very well could be that with the drought and all and the harsh Winter some hives may wait until July to actually swarm. Every year at least one of my hives has kicked out it's own swarm and I am 99% positive none of them have done so this year.
Just very odd.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!
Maybe the harsh winter causes the robbing of the swarm traps? The hungry bees are looking for the easy food, and it is in the traps.
ReplyDeleteThere are a number of links at the below site that note problems. But they do also have the report with the 91% number.
ReplyDeletehttp://cornandsoybeandigest.com/corn
I have noticed around here that all the corn was planted first and then the soy beans. I have only seen one field with wheat. The corn is about 3 or 4 in high. A couple of farmers have already cut hay/alfalfa. I did see a large bee hive colony on the edge of a field with woods behind the hives. I am smart enough not to go near those hives.
ReplyDeleteWe are getting lite scattered rain today. The sun comes and goes but the temps are getting in the mid 70's.