By Emmy Powell
Communications Specialist

Timely rainfall helped Central Texas corn farmers produce a generally good crop this year despite freeze damage early in the growing season.

Williamson County farmer Mark Prinz recently completed harvest with an average of about 130 bushels per acre.

“We saw some yields better and some worse,” Prinz, a Williamson County Farm Bureau member, said. “Temperatures were a little worse on us than what we had anticipated.”

A freeze at the end of March affected the crop more than he initially anticipated. Some fields produced as little as 40 bushels per acre, while others averaged in the 60s before yields climbed back into the 100-bushel range.

“As a whole, we had a very good corn year,” he told the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network.

Prinz grows dryland corn, so his crop relies entirely on rainfall rather than irrigation.

He received about 18 inches of rain during the growing season, and much of it came when the crop needed it.

“It was very timely this year,” Prinz said.

The rainfall also helped fill stock ponds and benefited the pastures on his operation.

While rainfall was beneficial, too much moisture in some areas contributed to quality concerns.

He said areas around and north of the U.S. 79 corridor experienced ear rot, which he believes was associated with wet conditions that persisted too long.

“We had a very good crop this year. The aflatoxin levels were low, and we had a very good bushel weight as a whole. We really can’t complain about our crop,” he said.

Prinz wrapped up corn harvest in late August.

About half of his corn is sold for deer feed in the western part of the state, and the remainder is sold to poultry farms within about 70 to 80 miles of his farm.

And Prinz has already turned his attention to next year’s crop.

“A lot of the land’s tilled up and ready for another good year next year,” he said.