Watered by 2 inches of rain so far in the past several weeks, the corn on Brewer Family Farm just outside Des Moise, Iowa in Dallas Center is building steam. Joe Brewer, who helps manage the mostly cattle operation with his wife, Brenda, and their extended family, planted the crop into initially dry conditions May 13.
"Everybody was ready to run early, and we got everything in at a timely manner,” he says, standing in a guess row surrounded by swaying stalks. Beyond a ridge, his 150 or so beef cows graze in a shaded stream. Brewer grows corn, soybeans and hay on about 350 acres. Land is expensive in Dallas County this close to Des Moines, so the farm focuses on adding value instead of expanding.
For that reason, Brewer Family Farm built a meat locker and sells beef directly to consumers via its website. The livestock business is thriving this year, but Brewer’s row crops have room for improvement.
“It was dry, and then it was cool. That kind of stunted it a little bit,” he says.
For now, the plants are looking better than last spring’s crop, which saw wet weather that delayed planting. After recent rain and a spate of hot, humid weather, Brewer says this year’s stalks are “trying to hit the nitrogen.” An upcoming heat wave should prompt them to "shoot up pretty good.”
Hopefully, that upward trend will continue into summer.
Right now, he’s focused on rolling sprayers into the field as soon as possible. Brewer controls weeds with cover crops — including wheat, triticale and tillage radishes — and a pre-emerge spray.
"We used to spray ourselves, but I mean, now it's $4 an acre to have it done. We don't have a huge amount of [row crops], and we have a lot of other things going on,” he says, referring to the cattle side of the business. “They were supposed to spray last week, but then it rained, and so we'll probably get here tomorrow and get these things knocked down."
Looking ahead, Brewer says harvest might be earlier than normal because the seed went into the ground early. He’s expecting a strong harvest, between 220-230 bushels per acre.
"I’m guessing two twenties, two thirties,” he says. “Harvest time will be early October."