SD Brothers See Drier Spring Planting

SISSETON, S.D. (DTN) -- As Aaron Frerichs planted soybeans in late May on his northeast South Dakota farm, he found it was easier to do than in recent years when he dodged water in low spots on his fields.

This spring, he drove his John Deere tractor and planter right through some of those spots in this Prairie Pothole region.

"It is kind of nice not having to plant around them," Frerichs told DTN.

While wet conditions seem to plague the Northern Plains every planting season, this spring was cooler than normal and not very wet, with less snow than in past years.

Frerichs, 35, farms with his 29-year-old brother Jason near Wilmot, S.D., The brothers farm about 7,000 acres of corn, soybeans, spring wheat, pasture and hay. The brothers also have 180 cow/calf pairs.

The Frerichs' soybean acres, roughly about 2,000 acres, are planted to seed soybeans for Monsanto and the duo also does some custom farming. The brothers are helped by their mostly retired father, Kent, and younger brother Ryan, who has a job off the farm. They also have some hired help.

This extra help is especially useful when the South Dakota Legislature is in session from January to March as Jason Frerichs is the South Dakota state senator for District 1 which encompasses Brown, Day, Marshall and Roberts counties in the northeastern corner of the state. Frerichs is the fourth generation of his family to serve the people of this district.

The brothers finished planting May 30 this year, although they still will plant and replant some spots into June.

"We were not as delayed this spring planting as we were last year," Jason Frerichs said. "We are in the area between guys being slowed by the weather farther north in North Dakota and those who are already done farther south."

The planting season was slow to start for the Frerichs with freezing weather well into May. Once the temperatures increased in mid-May, the planting actually progressed along nicely, he said. Planting went better than when they had to deal with wetter fields last year, which led them to plant their last corn field in May, but their last soybean fields in mid-June 2013.

Because of the drier field conditions this spring, the Frerichs estimated they will have fewer prevented planted (PP) acres than in past growing seasons. They will still have some areas of certain fields that will not be planted but they will not have entire fields under water like they have in the past.

Lows temperatures and much rain in recent years have led to prevented planting acres being a major issue for Northern Plains' farmers.

In 2013, just over 12,000 acres of the Frerichs' home county were PP acres, according the Roberts County FSA office located in Sisseton, S.D. While this may seem like a lot of acres, it doesn't compare to years like 2010 when that county saw nearly 26,000 acres not get planted because of wet fields.

GROWING THE OPERATION

The brothers have significantly added acres and cattle to grow their operation in the years since they returned to the family farm. Both brothers had attended South Dakota State University to study agriculture. Both managed their own farm acres in high school; this practice continued through college and the two have increased their acreage since they returned home.

Their father, Kent, started teaching ag and FFA in Wilmot in 2000 as the school went through four agriculture teachers in three years. His move to teaching brought the sons back to the farm full-time, which was a nice transition, according to Jason Frerichs.

To cover the increasing amount of acres they farm, the brothers invested in newer and larger farm machinery. This enabled them to cover more ground in a shorter amount of time, which is especially helpful in a region where weather sometimes considerably delays planting.

They use mainly John Deere equipment and plant corn with a 24-row 30-inch planter; they plant soybeans with this planter, as well as a 36-row 20-inch soybean planter. After the beans are planted, and before they emerge, they run a land roller over the fields to push the many rocks back into the soil. This helps improved soil-to-seed contact, as well as makes it better for harvest time.

Because of the many different types of soils they have, they plant their crops at variable rates, with corn from 26,000 to 36,000 seeds per acre, and soybeans 150,000 to 170,000 seeds per acre.

Modern technology helps the family farm more efficiently. For example, their precision agriculture technology has hydraulic row cleaners. With a simple turn of the dial from the cab, these Dawn row cleaners on the planter can be adjusted, depending on planting conditions.

"I really like these row cleaners, as I can make them more aggressive in no-till situations and less in fields where we do till," Aaron Frerichs explained while planting.

The Frerichs use RTK auto-steering technology, as well as have specific planting and swath-control plans developed with the help of outside consultants.

At harvest time, they harvest beans with a 40-foot draper head on the combine in the fall; the brothers' seed beans are harvested and stored separately from the non-seed beans. The combine is cleaned thoroughly before seed beans are harvested to assure they are kept as clean as possible.

Being fairly young farmers, Aaron and Jason Frerichs said they are both very excited about the possibilities the future holds for agriculture as a whole and specifically their own growing farming operation. They said they would like to continue to build upon what has been done already in their farming operation.

As for Jason Frerichs, he hopes to be an advocate for agriculture in his farming operation, as well in the South Dakota state senate.

"I ran for the legislature because I wanted to make sure agriculture was represented in (state capital) Pierre," he said. "Ag is the state's largest industry and there are only five of us out of 105 senators and representatives from farm/ranch backgrounds. Someone needs to watch out for agriculture."

Russ Quinn can be reached at russ.quinn@dtn.com

Follow Russ Quinn on Twitter @RussQuinnDTN

(PH/GH/ES/SK­)

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