BROWN COUNTY, Wis. — Inside the barns, everything is as it should be.
It's a typical spring day for the cows at Diederich Farms, but outside, things should be different. The desired fields of green are instead a muddy brown. Daniel Diederich said that some of his alfalfa plants are dying. The fields are too wet to work in.
"Our biggest issue is the cropping season is behind schedule," Diederich said. "The alfalfa has been slow growing, the terrible winter we had caused a lot of slow growth and winter kill, and we're still waiting to see what the result of that is."
He needs warm and sunny, not cool and rainy.
Amber o'brien, uw-extension calumet county ag agent 23:25
"As of right now, farmers are just playing the waiting game," UW-Extension Calumet County Agriculture Agent Amber O'Brien said. "The lower ground throughout the county, a lot of the crops are dying in those low areas and farmers aren't able to get into the fields to go and replant them, and a lot of farmers haven't budgeted for that extra seed."
Diederich said that he should be planting and hauling manure.
"It compounds our issues in terms of doing field work," he said. "Things that we wanted to get done last fall we didn't get done like planting cover crops didn't get done timely. And now this spring, we aren't planting yet, which we should be doing."
