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Opportunities to apply fertilizer few and far between

Farmers are struggling to find opportunities to apply fertilizer.

AV Roth, who grows crops and runs a farrow to wean hog operation in southwest Wisconsin, says wet conditions dating to last fall have limited the windows for spreading manure.

“Like last fall, fall is usually the dryer time. And this year we’ve just been cleaning out the pit a little and need a couple more fields so we can finish up where we didn’t get done. I know of some dairy farmers in other places where they really needed to get some going, but that’s everywhere.”

With manure pits that can hold about a year and a half’s worth of storage, he tells Brownfield he has more flexibility than some.

“Being a CAFO, I need to print off a weather sheet saying what the weather is going to be for the next 24 hours. And there can’t be more than .25″ of rain coming in the next 24 hours. So that’s pretty much the deciding factor there.”

Roth says while most of his ground is fertilized, he hasn’t started planting yet because it’s been too wet.