BROWN COUNTY, Wis. — It's been one extreme to another for local farmers this year, who say it's been an challenging season for their crops.
"it's been many years, probably a decade or more since we experienced a growing season like this," dairy farmer Amber Horn-Leiterman said.
At this weekend's Brown County Fair we talked to farmers about what it all means. A cold and rainy start to the year delayed planting.
"Crops are slow," DenMar Acres' Jeff Zirbel said. "They're all a month behind I would say."
Then came help from a July that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says was the hottest month ever recorded on earth.
"The crops have done pretty good with the warm weather," Horn-Leiterman said. "They've grown nice and tall."
They still haven't totally recovered from the early cold. Zirbel estimates he'll lose a third of his usual yield.
"If you're down a third of your yield, a third of those acres could have went for grain - you could either just cash out on it or you'd have grain to bring to the mill for later," he said. "That will all end up just for silage feed, we won't have any surplus."
He and other farmers now need the warm weather to stick around.
"We're hoping for a longer growing season, we're praying for a longer growing season," Horn-Leiterman said.
"If we get an early frost or something - because everything's so late, that would hurt," Zirbel said. "That would really hurt the whole industry."
Their season is already pushed back. An early frost could set up delays for next year too.
