From The Fields: Reflecting Back on 2024
By Craig Rogan
The 2024 planting season in several areas of Wisconsin will be memorable for the spring rains that limited planting and hay harvest windows. Farms in these areas focused on obtaining enough tonnage for cattle feed through several different methods. Working with their nutritionist and agronomist to calculate the number of acres necessary to be planted for corn silage was a vital process. These meetings allowed for operations to calculate the number of acres they would need to harvest for the necessary tonnage of feed for there cattle. Knowing your carry over inventory and daily usage is important to these calculations. In many cases the farms knew they would end up needed to purchase dry corn then raising their own dry corn or HM corn. Others planted what they could and took prevented plant on several acres while working out contracts with local grain farms to obtain corn silage. The versatility of farmers is amazing on how they navigate through uncontrolled circumstances to feed their cattle.
A steady increase in milk throughout the year 2024 eased some of the stress that was being added to our dairy farmers from a cash flow standpoint. The decrease in crop inventories will have negative effect earnings when reviewing 2024 financials.
November is one of my favorite times of the year and most notable during the Wisconsin deer hunt, but more importantly the comradery that a deer camp provides. The gathering of hunters to tell stories of previous hunts, discuss current time and the future of the hunting camp. Now is the time to get together with your farmers and discuss history on the farm, current operation and what it entails for 2025 and the future of their operation.
Wishing you all the best as we near the start of 2025!
Rogan is vice president – agricultural banking officer at Nicolet National Bank in Stevens Point. Rogan also currently serves as the Immediate Past Chair of the WBA Agricultural Bankers Section Board of Directors.
