Do not be surprised if you encounter tractors, manure trucks and other pieces of agricultural equipment on the roads this week as Mother Nature has allowed farmers to get into their fields. According to the USDA Crop Progress and Condition Report, Wisconsin farmers had 4.1 days suitable for fieldwork last week thanks to a reprieve from wet weather.

Farmers in Door and Kewaunee counties were about a day below that average at 3.2 suitable days for fieldwork, allowing them to complete spring tillage, manure spreading, fertilizing and planting where field conditions allowed. Better field conditions also mean more traffic on area roadways and more equipment moving in and out of fields.

Deer Run Dairy owner Duane Ducat says it took awhile for farmers to get out due to the eight-plus inches of rain fields took compared to the usual one to two inches they usually do. He reminds everyone to watch out for one another on the roads because, whether you are a farmer or not, everyone has places to go and needs to travel safely.

The planting of corn, oats and soybeans remains slightly behind the five-year average, while winter wheat and other cover crops used for forage continue to progress. Although field conditions are expected to remain mostly dry over the coming week, temperatures will struggle to climb out of the 60s, causing soil temperatures to warm more slowly than needed.