Springs work rolling in region
By Jerry W. Kram
April showers may lead to May flowers, but significant rain in the area in the last few weeks also means that farmers are also moving quickly to get their fields planted.
Mountrail County Agricultural Agent Jim Hennessy said that farmers in the southern half of Mountrail County are finished with 30 to 40 percent of seeding. By the end of the week, he thinks a lot of the larger operations in the region could be nearly finished with seeding.
"Especially the guys with bigger operations, they are getting a lot of acres done," Hennessy said. "If the weather stays like this for a while we might be looking at the last chapter of things by the end of the week."
Hennessy said the moisture in late April was badly needed. He said conditions look the best in the Plaza-Makoti area were fields were blessed with two or three inches of rain. Not everywhere in the county was as lucky.
"In the southern part of the county you’re normally earlier than we are anyway," Hennessy said. "But the rain we got down south has made a big difference. Up around Powers Lake we only got about five-hundredths of an inch. So especially in that Plaza area they’re planting in a nice moist seedbed but up here we are planting in the dust."
