A brief Sunday afternoon downpour cooled off the corn fields just in time for the Star Courier’s annual “Knee High by the Fourth of July” measurement. The traditional adage was once used by farmers to gauge the progress of the crop, but corn hasn’t been anywhere near knee high in the nearly 30 years the newspaper has been taking the tape to the field. This year, we visited the Roseleib family farm just outside of Hooppole on Sunday, July 1, where Wes and Ronelle’s 18-year-old daughter, Bailey, did the honors as the 2018 “Knee High Girl.“ This year’s official measurement was 6 feet 8 inches from soggy soil to the tip of the tassel. Roseleib said the Wyffels 5516 variety was planted April 28. “We’re about 10 days ahead of last year,” Roselieb said, pointing out that tassels and silk began to emerge from the stalks and ears last week in many fields. According to the USDA’s June 25 Illinois Crop Condition and Progress Report, corn silking reached 2 percent, compared to 1 percent for the 5-year average. Corn condition was rated at 1 percent very poor, 2 percent poor, 14 percent fair, 54 percent good and 29 percent excellent across the state. The extreme heat stress caused protective spindling of the leaves but recent rains have relaxed the plants at a crtical time for corn pollination. Like most other producers in the area, Roselieb said he has some fields where hybrid corn varieties are a little taller, and some where they are shorter, depending on where the rains fell. The field used for the measurement is “about average.“ Bailey Roselieb is a 2018 graduate of Annawan High School who is enrolled at Black Hawk East this fall where she will major in ag business. She plans to continue her education at Western Illinois University. She has been showing hogs raised on the family farm since she was 8, her first year in 4-H. She showed at the Henry County Fair last month, will show this weekend at the Section 3 FFA Fair, as well as other area county fairs and at the Illinois State Fair in August. She has been an officer in both the Annawan All-Stars 4-H Club and the Annawan FFA Chapter, where she served as president this past year. Bailey has earned scholarships from the Henry County Pork Producers, River Valley Co-op, and, at commencement, she received two scholarships, one presented in memory of longtime Annawan ag teacher Gary Taets, and the other established in memory of local poultryman “Chicken Bob” Croegeart. In addition to her chores at home, Bailey has been earning extra money this summer tending to chickens and a cow for two neighbors who are away for the summer. One is a school teacher who, with their daughter, is spending time with her husband stationed in the military in Florida. Source - http://www.starcourier.com