COPE, SC (WIS) - Jim Traywick owns Frog Level Farms in Cope. He's a seasoned farmer.
"I've been farming since I was a little boy," he said. "For about 40 or 50 years."
This season has been the wettest in recent years. Excessive summer rains have helped his corn and cotton tremendously.
But there was a small loss early on. A six-inch rain event back in June affected his cotton.
"5% to 10% of our cotton acres were impacted," said Traywick.
It was minor setback.
"It can hit the back pocket," he said.
Since growing season is over, it's now time to cash in on the crops that survived. But there's one thing standing in the way this week--the chance for rain.
"If we got a couple of inches that would be bad," said Traywick. "We need to dry up the cotton plant. The cotton is opening up on the bottom a little bit now. It's gone rot if we get substantial rainfall in the next month."
Traywick says farmers don't need any more rain. It's harvest time. He wants to pick dry cotton.
"And the peanuts are hard to dig when the ground is wet," he said.
When he tried to collect the rest of his corn last week, Traywick's tractor got stuck in the mud.
He hopes Mother Nature will produce fewer rain drops and more sunshine this week.
"Hopefully it won't be too bad," he said.
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Cotton that is too wet to harvest
