Swollen Wolf Creek near F Avenue/T53 east of Gladbrook pictured Friday, Oct. 2, as cows graze along the flooded creekbed following one of the wettest Septembers on record in Iowa. Gladbrook’s water tower is visible in the distance. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

IOWA – After one of the wettest Septembers on record, corn and soybean conditions are dipping slightly as farmers have had scarce opportunities to harvest, according to last week’s crop progress and condition report.

Corn condition rated 72% good to excellent for the Sept. 28 through Oct. 4 reporting period, a 3 percentage point decline from the previous reporting period. Soybeans rated 70% good to excellent for the period, marking a 4 percentage point decline from the week prior.

Iowa has had above-average precipitation levels for the past three reporting periods, two of which had fewer than two days suitable for field work. Last week’s report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed 1.2 days suitable for field work, meaning farmers have not been able to get out into the field to harvest even though 85% of corn acres had reached maturity during the reporting period and 81% of soybean acres were dropping leaves.

As of the last week’s reporting period, 7% of Iowa corn acres had been harvested, which is just a 2 percentage point increase from the week prior and is 13 percentage points behind the five-year average. Due to the government shutdown in October 2025, crop data from 2025 is not available.

Soybean harvest, as of the reporting period, was 5% compared to a five-year average of 38%.

Cows belonging to Tama County farmer Mark Flamme graze along a flooded Wolf Creek in northeast Spring Creek Township, Friday, Oct. 2. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

With the wet conditions, there is a concern for mold or fungus growth on corn and soybeans, according to Iowa State University Extension and Outreach professionals.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said farmers should be able to “make some progress in the field” this week as warmer, drier conditions are forecast.

“After a historically wet September, we finally got a stretch of dry weather,” Naig said in a news release. “The warmer temperatures and sunshine are helping fields dry down, though some of the wetter areas are going to need several more days before equipment can roll.”

According to the report, 45% of topsoil and 34% of subsoil had surplus moisture conditions.

State Climatologist Justin Glisan reported a statewide average temperature for the reporting period of 61.8 degrees, which was 4 degrees above the climatological average.

While the end of the reporting period had drier conditions, according to Glisan, the statewide precipitation average for the week was just under 2 inches and about 1.2 inches above the normal. Most of the state received 1.5 inches of precipitation or more, with Portsmouth in Shelby County logging the greatest precipitation for the week at 6.49 inches.

The view from Tama-Grundy counties

By RUBY F. MCALLISTER

GLADBROOK – Driving practically anywhere around northern Tama County and southeastern Grundy County late last week provided an excellent illustrated lesson in fall flooding as the area’s ditches, fields and creeks swelled due to midweek rainfall on oversaturated ground.

Last Friday, along Wolf Creek due east of Gladbrook, the flowage, which often floods in the spring and summer months, bolted its banks and spread well into nearby fields. Crossing the Wolf Creek bridge that morning along F Avenue/T53, Mark Flamme’s cows could be observed grazing in their creek-adjacent pasture that now looked more like a Devonian-era shallow sea than a present-day autumn creekbed.

West of F Avenue, along Iowa 96 just past Conat’s Cabin, Tama County farmer Craig Sash’s cows were navigating similar flooding. When contacted by the newspaper, Sash said flooding along Wolf Creek is hardly news, but conceded the time of year is somewhat peculiar.

“Wolf Creek can get angry at times,” Sash said in a text-based exchange Friday. “I don’t think it’s crested in Gladbrook quite yet (but) I don’t think it will be terrible. It’s just odd as I’ve never seen it in October. This is commonly more of a June-July problem.”

According to the newspaper’s weather correspondent, Randy Cooper of rural Toledo, more than 2.5 inches of rain fell in the area between Monday, Sept. 21, and Sunday, Oct. 4, with a half-inch alone falling Thursday, Oct. 1. Cooper told the newspaper he had heard some farmers had been out in the fields recently but that conditions were not feasible for harvest yet. “Mother Nature humbles us all the time,” he added.

For Sash, harvest is also a waiting game at this point, other than chopping silage.

“This has put us into an interesting situation with crops and flood waters. Insurance companies are trying to figure out what to do – if flooded crops are salvageable. We’re a little behind harvestwise, but I don’t see a need for real concern yet.”

In terms of Tama County’s cattle herd and the ability of many cows to just go about their business as if the near-record rains of September were just another day at the pasture, Sash said certain cows are just bred that way.

“People might think I’m nuts, but on those creek bottom pastures, you have to have ‘flood cows’ – (cows that) generally know what’s coming and where to get to and bring the herd with them. They train the young ones, it’s a cycle.”

A cycle that many area farmers hope will also soon bring with it drier weather.

“Hopefully, October will be friendly,” Sash said.