# NC corn crop is worst in the nation



## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. - A dry, hot summer is cooking North Carolina's corn crop. In fact, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says our corn is in the worst shape nationwide. About 30 percent of the state's corn is in poor to very poor shape...........

http://myfox8.com/2015/08/24/nc-corn-crop-is-worst-in-the-nation-local-farmer-sees-best-and-worst-of-it/


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Yeah, I have seen a lot of corn that doesn't even look worth harvesting......just over waist high with a few little nubs every couple stalks. That's the worst of it but even the best doesn't look good around here. Those that have the option of chopping it for silage are chopping everything. In the past 2 weeks we have gotten more rain here than the past 3 1/2 months combined.


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## Bonfire (Oct 21, 2012)

It's really dry here. Our last good rain was over the July 4th weekend. It's hit and miss. Five miles away got an inch one night last week. O grass and fescue is dormant.

Started mowing beans and corn today for baleage. It looks bad. The corn and grass under poo irrigation is green as a gourd. That corn is getting baled this week end.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Hope yall are checking it for nitrates before going to the trouble to bale it... or have a means to mix it with low-nitrate feed to safe levels for your livestock...

Hate to think that after a bum year, bale what's left, and then it kills your cows from nitrate poisoning.

Later and best of luck! OL JR


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

As far as hay and rain, we've been lucky. In June we got 1.57", July 3.61" and so far in Aug. we've had 2.94". All these came in small amounts, the largest being on July 3rd 1.2". It came too late for the corn, the corn has done all it can do and is fair to poor at best. May was the killer month for us getting only 0.25" of rain and temps in the 90's. It's been one hot Summer that's for sure, I'm ready for Fall.

Neighbor down the road sprayed his Soybeans with something and they are testing too high to do anything with, not sure what he put on them, just something his sister told us about at church. He has crop insurance not sure how they handle something like that.

It's amazing how spotty the rain has been around here, you can go 3 to 4 miles south of here and it looks like dang desert.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Wow... we were just in NC about a week ago... (well, week and a half now). We went with the wife's college friend and her son to Hampton Roads for junior olympics that he was in... and did some sightseeing along the way (Outer Banks and DC). We drove back through NC and up through the Smokies to Knoxville and on back to Nashville where here friends live... Things didn't look TOO terribly bad that I could see. We spent the night at Rocky Mount and drove back through Winston-Salem and all that along the freeway... Good cotton field and other crops down around Rocky Mount not far from our hotel...

Course, that's like Texas... some years it'll rain enough to make stuff a few miles east or west look "normal" and we burn to a crisp, or vice versa... Sure gets aggravating when you're burning up and can SEE it raining off in the distance, and it moves right around you...

Later! OL JR


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## Bonfire (Oct 21, 2012)

luke strawwalker said:


> Wow... we were just in NC about a week ago... (well, week and a half now). We went with the wife's college friend and her son to Hampton Roads for junior olympics that he was in... and did some sightseeing along the way (Outer Banks and DC). We drove back through NC and up through the Smokies to Knoxville and on back to Nashville where here friends live... Things didn't look TOO terribly bad that I could see. We spent the night at Rocky Mount and drove back through Winston-Salem and all that along the freeway... Good cotton field and other crops down around Rocky Mount not far from our hotel...
> 
> Course, that's like Texas... some years it'll rain enough to make stuff a few miles east or west look "normal" and we burn to a crisp, or vice versa... Sure gets aggravating when you're burning up and can SEE it raining off in the distance, and it moves right around you...
> 
> Later! OL JR


In Rocky Mount, did you see Lowes just off 64 to the south on the 301 bypass? During hurricane Floyd, that was all under water. Lowes had two feet of water in it. 36" of rain in 24 hours.

NC has got some of the smoothest roads in the country. You probably didn't get on it but 264 between Raleigh and Wilson is the smoothest road I have ever been on. You can travel for miles at 70 mph and never feel bump or a dip.

Did you notice what kind of grass they had planted in the medians?


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## ARD Farm (Jul 12, 2012)

.and we got a ton of rain early on so the corn is poor here too. Lots of fields will be chopped I suspect.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

luke strawwalker said:


> Wow... we were just in NC about a week ago... (well, week and a half now). We went with the wife's college friend and her son to Hampton Roads for junior olympics that he was in... and did some sightseeing along the way (Outer Banks and DC). We drove back through NC and up through the Smokies to Knoxville and on back to Nashville where here friends live... Things didn't look TOO terribly bad that I could see. We spent the night at Rocky Mount and drove back through Winston-Salem and all that along the freeway... Good cotton field and other crops down around Rocky Mount not far from our hotel...
> 
> Course, that's like Texas... some years it'll rain enough to make stuff a few miles east or west look "normal" and we burn to a crisp, or vice versa... Sure gets aggravating when you're burning up and can SEE it raining off in the distance, and it moves right around you...
> 
> Later! OL JR


You were in the northern part of the state. The areas we've been in north of here look to have gotten about normal amounts of rain. We were in Asheboro, I know that's not the northern part of the state, about a month ago and everything in that area was as green and lush as anything I've ever seen. Wife and I took a day trip last week, drove up through Winston-Salem and up through Stuart, VA to Mabry Mill and then down the Parkway to Fancy Gap. Visited some relatives and they sent us to a orchard off Hwy. 52 for some peaches. We got to talking to the guys that ran the orchard, one brother is running a 100 head herd of Black Angus. He said they've had plenty of rain but the heat had been extremely high for that area and stressed some of their fruit. He said he may actually have some extra hay to sell this year.


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## BWfarms (Aug 3, 2015)

I'm just east of Asheboro. Corn and beans have been fine, they got a great start this spring and July carried them. So they have covered the ground from being absorbed by the sun. Now grass on the other hand, if it ain't Sudan, it has gone dormant and thinned stands. I am barely going to make it to the fall green up to stock pile pastures. I have plenty of hay, sold plenty, but I've still got to make 18 more rounds to fill an order.

Here's a rule I follow, it may look great from the road, but I always walk it before I hook up the haybine. It is actually thinner than you think.


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## BWfarms (Aug 3, 2015)

Another problem to note, sure I got a lot of rain. Even multiple days of at least an inch average. Problem is the rains came so fast on hard ground that it just washed off the top into the creeks. I'm not a creek farmer so it doesn't help much. Now I have been blessed nonetheless so I take it as it comes.


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## BWfarms (Aug 3, 2015)

Hey Bonfire, I'd have to disagree, NC has crappy roads, then again a few years back 85 out of Richmond was complete crap, pot holes so large it would knock the cruise control off the truck, so I started weaving around the holes. Surprised troopers didn't pull me over for excess lane changes, it was bad. The smoothest I've been on, out in the Midwest like South Dakota, even the gravel roads beat the toppings they put on here.


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## Bonfire (Oct 21, 2012)

BWfarms said:


> Hey Bonfire, I'd have to disagree, NC has crappy roads, then again a few years back 85 out of Richmond was complete crap, pot holes so large it would knock the cruise control off the truck, so I started weaving around the holes. Surprised troopers didn't pull me over for excess lane changes, it was bad. The smoothest I've been on, out in the Midwest like South Dakota, even the gravel roads beat the toppings they put on here.


I'd agree on the 85 out of Richmond. Sometimes I think VDOT puts the new man on the grader smoothing out the road bed for asphalt out here in the county.

You need to get down east Carolina (other than 95). You'd start questioning your representative about road money.



Grateful11 said:


> You were in the northern part of the state. The areas we've been in north of here look to have gotten about normal amounts of rain. We were in Asheboro, I know that's not the northern part of the state, about a month ago and everything in that area was as green and lush as anything I've ever seen. Wife and I took a day trip last week, drove up through Winston-Salem and up through Stuart, VA to Mabry Mill and then down the Parkway to Fancy Gap. Visited some relatives and they sent us to a orchard off Hwy. 52 for some peaches. We got to talking to the guys that ran the orchard, one brother is running a 100 head herd of Black Angus. He said they've had plenty of rain but the heat had been extremely high for that area and stressed some of their fruit. He said he may actually have some extra hay to sell this year.


A long time ago, a team driver and I thought we could cut some time off getting from Franklin, Va to 81 (ultimately, we wanted to pick up 40 west bound at K town). We decided to take Hwy 58 to Hillsville and take 77 up to 81. Wow. Everything was fine till we got to Stuart. The vehicle length warning signs started showing up. We were just a run of the mill bull wagon. It switched to two lanes of switch backs crossing the mountain. Went past Lovers Leap (that is a really nice spot). Told the other driver never again. Go Woods Brothers Racing (out of Stuart, Va.).


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

BWfarms said:


> I'm just east of Asheboro. Corn and beans have been fine, they got a great start this spring and July carried them. So they have covered the ground from being absorbed by the sun. Now grass on the other hand, if it ain't Sudan, it has gone dormant and thinned stands. I am barely going to make it to the fall green up to stock pile pastures. I have plenty of hay, sold plenty, but I've still got to make 18 more rounds to fill an order.
> 
> Here's a rule I follow, it may look great from the road, but I always walk it before I hook up the haybine. It is actually thinner than you think.


I agree that sometimes things are a lot different once you leave the road and actually get into a field but when you leave a county where a guy just cut 1200 acres of silage that was only 3-4' high just to salvage something of a crop. Then you go a couple counties over and every corn field you see is 7-8' high and just tassling out it's kinda hard not to think those crops have been getting plenty rain. We talked to them Southern States and at Garner Seed just southwest of Asheboro and they all said they had been getting plenty rain but they didn't mention how hard and fast it came down.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

Bonfire said:


> I'd agree on the 85 out of Richmond. Sometimes I think VDOT puts the new man on the grader smoothing out the road bed for asphalt out here in the county.
> 
> You need to get down east Carolina (other than 95). You'd start questioning your representative about road money.
> 
> A long time ago, a team driver and I thought we could cut some time off getting from Franklin, Va to 81 (ultimately, we wanted to pick up 40 west bound at K town). We decided to take Hwy 58 to Hillsville and take 77 up to 81. Wow. Everything was fine till we got to Stuart. The vehicle length warning signs started showing up. We were just a run of the mill bull wagon. It switched to two lanes of switch backs crossing the mountain. Went past Lovers Leap (that is a really nice spot). Told the other driver never again. Go Woods Brothers Racing (out of Stuart, Va.).


Yea that Hwy. 58 is something else. I could tell it was a bit curvy on Google Maps before we left but we've been taking Hwy. 52 to Fancy Gap/Hillsville area for so long we just thought it'd be nice to take another route. My late parents used to keep a camper at Utt's Campground in Fancy Gap and my Aunt and Uncle still have one up there and they're getting on up in their years and we like go visit them a few times a year. Next time you're doing that run just take 52 and bypass the grade going up to Fancy Gap and head straight over I-77. You gotta watch that mountain pass going up I-77, got caught in a heck of storm going up through there one night, man my wife and I's nerves were shot by the time we got to the top. A lot of times you can hit dense fog going up through there too, just comes out of no where. The straight shot up Hwy. 52 I hear is one of the steepest grades on the east coast, I know it has about 5 runaway truck ramps for coming down the mountain, seen a few trucks sitting in those sandpiles over the years. I guess the sandpile ramps are better than going over edge out of control.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

Bonfire said:


> In Rocky Mount, did you see Lowes just off 64 to the south on the 301 bypass? During hurricane Floyd, that was all under water. Lowes had two feet of water in it. 36" of rain in 24 hours.
> 
> NC has got some of the smoothest roads in the country. You probably didn't get on it but 264 between Raleigh and Wilson is the smoothest road I have ever been on. You can travel for miles at 70 mph and never feel bump or a dip.
> 
> Did you notice what kind of grass they had planted in the medians?


Nope, we were actually hauling it out of there pretty quick-- my wife's friend who was caravaning with us needed to get home for work...

Beautiful state... Back when I was dating, I had a girlfriend over in Charlotte... pretty area around there as well...

Yall DO have better roads than Texas, for sure! Worst roads in the US I think are Lousy-ana... LOL Their roads will beat you to death...

Later! OL JR


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## Bonfire (Oct 21, 2012)

Road trip today to down east NC. Crops didn't look good at all. Beans were knee high and the tobacca isn't going to yeild the pounds it's capable of down there.


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## BWfarms (Aug 3, 2015)

Bonfire said:


> Road trip today to down east NC. Crops didn't look good at all. Beans were knee high and the tobacca isn't going to yeild the pounds it's capable of down there.


I was just down in the Southeast part last week. I saw late season soybeans that were short, just because they were obviously planted way too late. Pretty obvious the winter wheat was late coming out. All the tobacco I saw was tremendous. Saw a lot of fully harvested acres, but also saw a lot of phenomenal producing acres that had yet to be harvest because they were planted late season. The cotton looked bad that I drove by, closer to Sunset Beach. I took back roads meandering around Bragg on the way to the coast.


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## Bonfire (Oct 21, 2012)

I was down around Farmville/Greenville.


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