What would you think if you spotted this scenario: The soybean field is nearly ready to harvest, with 90% of leaves dropped on most plants. However, in a 3-foot-wide band running along the side of a grass waterway across most of the field, soybeans are just now turning yellow, with green leaves and green pods still on some plants.

What could cause such a phenomenon? And does it make a difference in final yield for the field?

“We can answer the second question first: No, it doesn’t make a big difference,” says Steve Gauck, a regional agronomy manager for Beck’s, sponsor of Soybean Watch ’24. “We’re talking a very small area.

“However, whenever you see something unusual in a field, the natural tendency is to try to explain it. And that’s the right thing to do. In some cases, it could reveal information that might be helpful in future management decisions for that field and other fields.”

Solving the puzzle

Careful observation is the first step to explaining field patterns, Gauck says. “In this case, when looking more closely, stems on those plants along that 3-foot edge were nipped off,” he observes. “In some cases, they were just stubbed off. In some cases, a second branch formed, and both branches had a reasonable number of pods.

“It looks like deer came along the grass waterway and fed as far in as they could reach, likely at multiple times during the season. In cases where plants branched out from buds after feeding injury, feeding by deer likely resulted in more total pods. But that wasn’t the case with every plant.”

Related:Big soybean yields need more than water

DEER FEEDING BENEFIT? Allowing deer to graze your soybeans isn’t recommended. However, agronomist Steve Gauck found this soybean plant, which grew two branches from buds likely after deer feeding.

There may be other reasons why the outside 3 feet was delayed in maturity, but this explanation is plausible, especially because plants display evidence of feeding. Sometimes soybeans growing near streetlights or other areas lit up all night stay green and don’t mature.

“There were no lights out here,” Gauck quips. The field isn’t surrounded by woods either, but there are enough woods in the vicinity, on both sides, that it makes sense that deer could travel across the grass waterway.

From the field:
Another soybean season in the books

Here is how the season unfolded in Wisconsin. Thanks to Joey Heneghan, a Beck’s field agronomist there, for providing insights all season long, and for this wrap-up of the soybean growing.

“To summarize the Wisconsin growing season for soybeans, I would say that the soybean crop is pretty good. However, it was limited in two major ways: too wet and too dry!

“The wet start made for slow early growth. Based on observations now, it looks like in many areas it ultimately impacted nodulation and canopy closure on the toughest soils.

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“Late in the season, most of the state experienced a dry stretch of weather that hit at a critical time and negatively impacted soybean seed size. Even in the best soybean fields where yields are still very strong, individual bean seeds themselves are on the small side. I believe there was more potential there that was unrealized. We had good pod counts in those situations.

“In the tougher fields, pod counts were lower, and the seed size was small too. Those yields were disappointing for many growers. To top it all off, we harvested most of our beans at grain moisture levels of 8% to 11%. So, we missed out on the ideal harvest moisture level and gave up some water weight in our yields.

“As is often the case with soybeans, water was a big influence on the season. Disease and insect pressure were present, but were a distant second and third, in most situations. Overall, many areas had a very respectable crop.”

Editor’s note: Harvesting at lower-than-ideal moisture levels was reported across a good share of the Corn Belt. Besides resulting in up to 2 or more fewer bushels realized per acre, shattering at the head likely also forfeited some extra yield. Harvested fields green with germinating soybeans before a killing freeze indicated that a sizable number of beans were left behind in many cases.