Rains delay fertilizing, hay cutting and soybean planting in parish

Several days of rain delayed crop fertilizing, soybean planting and hay cutting in St. Landry Parish.
Vince Deshotel, assistant extension agent at the St. Landry Parish LSU Ag Center office, said, “I visited with rice farmers this morning (Monday), and many of them are behind are on their fertilizing practices, which are done before the fields are flooded.
“Most of the rice in the parish is planted, but we need sunshine for the rice to grow and to spray and fertilize.”
Deshotel said the wet weather has also slowed down soybean planting in the area.
“A small percentage of the soybean acres are planted, and most of the planting has not been done yet because of the wet weather,” he said. “The opportune planting time for soybeans is mid-April through the month of May. The planted corn and grain soygrum are in saturated soil conditions. The grain soygrum fields are probably struggling to get stands up.
“From here on out, we need dryer weather and dryer field conditions.”
Crawfish farmers are also having trouble running their traps in the inclement weather, but Deshotel said the rains are good for the mud bugs.
“The rain keeps the water in the lake fresh for the crawfish, but fishermen haven’t been able to fish like they want,” he said. “There has also been some softening of the market.”
Like crawfish farmers, hay farmers are also waiting on the weather to harvest their crop, but Deshotel said cattle farmers are reaping the benefits of lush green fields ripe with grass from the recent rains.
“Hay needs to be cut, but the rain has kept that at bay,” he added.
Deshotel continued, “Overall, we need better weather so we can continue with fertilizing and spraying. It’s almost the middle of the year. We had a good start to spring but it slowed with the rainfall, and we need dryer days and weeks.”