From the Fields: ‘Wheat was exceptional’

LELAND, Ill. — Wheat harvest is complete on Riskedal Family Farms and cover crops have been planted that will be grazed by cattle starting in September.

“It was good wheat, but we don’t know the yields yet because we haven’t run it all across the scale,” said Stephen Riskedal, who farms together with his dad, Brad, and his grandfather, Steve.

“In general, talking to guys in this area, wheat was exceptional,” Stephen said. “We harvested our 140 acres, and we custom harvested two fields.”

Stephen planted a 12-way blend cover crop on the wheat acres on July 4 and is working on building a fence in preparation for grazing cattle.

“I’m doing a five-wire high tensile electric fence with wood corner post and poly T-posts,” he said. “The nice thing about the T-posts is they are self insulating.”

Cattle will start grazing the cover crops about Sept. 1.

“That will give the cover crop about two months of growth and we’ve had the most beautiful July to grow cover crops,” Stephen said. “I plan on grazing the cattle to about mid-December.”

Stephen is looking to purchase cattle that are trained to a hot wire fence.

“When I put them out there, there’s going to be a lot of green standing corn,” he said. “If they go for a run, it will not be a fun day.”

Spraying for the corn and soybean crops is mostly completed for this growing season.

“There will be some biological spraying and I’ll do a little bit of trial on the cover crops for the cattle,” Stephen said. “For the guys we cooperate with, we have a little more spraying to do on double-cropped soybeans and sunflowers.”

Insects and diseases have not been a problem for the Riskedals this year.

“We’ve seen some Japanese beetles, but the pressure has not been significant compared to some years,” Stephen said.

“I really haven’t seen much in the corn, so we’re looking pretty good, but I know there is disease in the area,” he said. “Tar spot is always a big concern, but I have not seen any yet.”

Tar spot is likely to be in their cornfields, Stephen said, the question is when and how much.

“If it sets in after black layer, it’s probably not going to affect much besides standability,” he said.

“I pulled some ears and it looks like pollination was good,” he added. “I know there were issues with tassel wrapping, but I was spraying our corn with some biology about the time of tasseling and I did not see any tassel wrapping.”

Stephen will be focused on taking cover crop orders during August, as a farmer dealer for GreenCover Seed.

“I will be meeting with farmers who have tried cover crops to be a resource for what to plant and what rates to plant,” he said.

“Shipping is a big cost, so when I can put together full semi loads, that makes it more economical for everybody,” he said.

“Cover crop prices for the most part have dropped mostly because of great production,” Stephen said. “Cereal rye has dropped 20%, and a lot of the clover prices have dropped, which is something you don’t see often.”

Sweet Corn Patch for Kids

This is the seventh year the Riskedal family has planted a sweet corn patch for kids.

“We started in 2019 when we had 85% preventative plant,” Brad said. “We could not have any revenue from crops or it would cause insurance problems, so we planted sweet corn and gave it to charity.”

This year the donations from the sweet corn patch will go to the Red Raiders Christmas.

“It is a complete donation — you can come and take all the sweet corn you want and make a donation in the drop box,” Brad said. “There is going to be a QR code this year if you don’t have cash.”

The Red Raiders program is led by Felecia Rasmussen.

“It’s a kids program in the Earlville region that is coordinated by Felecia,” Brad said. “She also has a Red Raider Closet in the basement of the Lutheran Church in Earlville.”

“Her goal is to make sure kids have access to hats, gloves, jackets and snow boots,” Stephen explained. “And also have some presents under the Christmas tree.”

The half-acre patch includes three of four hybrids and it is expected to be open about Aug. 15 through Aug. 30.

“The seed is donated and I have three or four hybrids out there,” Stephen said. “The seed is bred so the corn will last longer before it is overripe.”

The goal for the u-pick sweet corn patch is to be the last one for the season.

“A lot of stands try to be the first to market and we don’t want to compete with them,” Stephen said. “Hopefully people will come and get their last dozen of sweet corn for the year.”

Special events will be held on the weekends.

“We have had an antique fire truck and a DeLorean,” Brad said.

“I generally build a teddy bear out of straw bales and last year it was Smokey the Bear,” Stephen said. “I’m not sure what it will be this year, but it is fun for kids to climb on and take pictures.”

“It catches people’s eye on the way by,” Brad said. “This is the third year we’ve had it right by our shop on Route 23.”

In past years, some car clubs have come out to pick some sweet corn. Last year the Jeep Charity Riders visited the patch.

“That group works with kids who have cancer to help get them to and from doctor’s appointments,” Stephen said. “It was fun to have 30 Jeeps roll into the yard.”

“Any group can come and spend a couple of hours, pick some corn, take pictures and 100% of donations go to the kids,” Brad said. “It’s not unusual to pull $100 bills out of the box and you know people didn’t haul that much corn away.”