(DTN) -- David Brandt of Carroll, Ohio, and Tom Tibbets of Minneapolis, Kan., have at least one thing in common -- both took off for Easter Sunday.

For Tom, taking the day off included Easter egg hunting with his three children. It seemed like the natural thing to do following a welcome half-inch of rain. That rain will help bring up the dryland corn he finished seeding last week. "You don't have to go very far from here to where they haven't been getting rain," he said. "It's pretty dry."

Tom's wheat is close to a foot tall. Flowering is probably still three weeks away. With decent but not excess subsoil moisture, he estimates it'll take another 2 to 3 inches of rain to finish the crop.

This week will be spent planting irrigated corn, but with cool temperatures, corn emergence may take awhile. "It'll take about a week, maybe a little more to finish. I'm not getting in any hurry with 50-degree soil temperatures at 2 inches," Tom told DTN. He also noted that the earliest-planted corn in the area has been in the ground for about two weeks. Sprouts in those fields are just now starting to spike through.

All the burn-down herbicide was applied to his no-till corn fields long ago. It has worked well in spite of cool weather conditions that might have slowed absorption. Secondary emergence of new weeds has been slow. Post-plant herbicide application is on hold for now. With temperatures this cool, there aren't many insects either.

Cow-calf pairs that Tom purchased recently have been worked and taken to pasture. Winter chores have been replaced by green grass, so there's time to think about selling and hauling grain to market. With both old and new crop left to price, Tom said catching a good basis move helps him decide when to pull the trigger.

Meanwhile, in Ohio, there was never any doubt about taking the day off on David's farm after more than 5 inches of rain fell last week from three different storms. "Nobody's turned a wheel here. There's high water everywhere," he said.

But rain was only part of last week's weather mix with big winds across the area last Tuesday. "Hundred-mile-an-hour winds took trees and barns. It sheared six, 6-by-6 timbers off at the ground and blew the end out of our canvas Quonset," he added. Luckily, no injuries were reported anywhere in the area.

David's wheat is about 11 to 12 inches tall. Cereal rye he uses as a cover crop is about 9 inches and growing.



None of David's cover crops have received burn-down herbicide applications. With "wet-weather springs" (places where water oozes out of hillsides) a common problem, and no tile in those fields to speed drainage, cover crops help dry out water-logged topsoil by withdrawing moisture for growth. That makes it easier to plant once weather problems subside.

It's not just row crops that are on hold, because weather this cool and wet makes it hard to plant and grow vegetable crops for consumers in the suburban Columbus area. More rain on tap this week may mean David's vegetable buyers will have to wait.

Advance sales for the 2011 crop amount to about 30% to 40% of David's corn, wheat and soybeans. He still has some of last year's corn, but he's in no particular hurry to sell as Ohio interior corn prices approach $7.50. Higher bids and planting delays have David going slow on additional pricing of this year's production, too. "More new-crop sales are strictly in hold" he said.

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