Jeff Utech is treading carefully, very carefully. He's trying to harvest his feed crop while the ground is still saturated with moisture.
"This hay got rained on and it just looks terrible, it smells bad, but I'm putting it in for feed anyway because we do need it,” said Utech.
Utech has been farming for 30 years on his 300 acres just north of Wausau he says his farm, along with most of the others in the area, has been hit hard financially from all the rain.
Deep grooves in the fields from the tractor's wheels show just how much moisture the fields have gotten. And Utech says it's that compacted soil that's killing the crops.
"When you're running the fields, you're making tracks and you're killing the live
plants that are in the soil and doing a lot of damage."
U.W. dairy agent Mike Wildeck says the heavy rains have caused other problems like an increased infestation of pests and soil erosion.
"It's been a real problem this spring for any establishment of crops, for seeding, to get them in the ground." but farmers say they'd still rather deal with
Too much rain than not enough. Because at least Utech has a crop to harvest, though a slightly soggy one.
