19 May Jada: Hoffman Harvesting Arrives in Texas

Hoffman Harvesting is in Texas harvesting. Last week, Leon and 5 guys headed down to Kiowa to retrieve our combines and get them set up and ready for harvest. Three of them proceeded on to Texas to start the wheat harvest while two came back up to get the crew trailer and Kaidence/ my camper/ I. While this isn’t the typical way we move, it needed to be done this way as three more of our guys had to stay in South Dakota to finish getting our crop in and get the cows out to the pasture. They will join us at a later time.

Andreas gets ready to take off to the bins.

Leon makes a quick stop to chat with Mike.

Adam walks the combine through a small gate.

Adam walks his combine through the gate with the help of the tilt option.

Johan moves the pickup to the next field.

While driving through the country the wheat doesn’t look wonderful, but what especially affected me was when we drove through the  Snyder, OK area and saw cows grazing a wheat field that was not worth cutting. With that and all the gossip about how awful the crop in Texas was, my expectations on the harvest were lowered considerably. However, to my surprise, things are better than anticipated. Farmers are receiving yields anywhere from 5 to 20 bu/ acre. While the yields aren’t what most farmers would wish for, I would have to say that some crop is better than no crop. Chances of rain are in our future but in the meantime we will keep our headers in the wheat and our hands on the hydrostat.

The boys enjoy supper in the field.

Kaidence styles Kelly's hair, or at least attempts to. 🙂

A view of the Texas wheat.

The Campbell family converses in the field.

Fun Fact: Being a Northerner, coming from cool spring weather that has barely breached the 50’s to 90 degree weather can take awhile to get used to. Especially this spring where we had a blizzard at the end of April. However, when we arrived things were kind of chilly (for Texas). In fact, one night we even turned our heater on. This is the first time I remember EVER having to do this.

What I am digging today….. Olney’s new ice shack! You get twice the ice for the same price. Customers have the choice of a bag or bulk which deposits ice directly into your cooler. I chose the bulk method. While I undershot where the ice would fall and got the bottom of my shorts all the way to my feet wet, I would have to say this is a wonderful invention for harvesters who need ice daily. Plus, the song “Ice, Ice Baby” plays while your ice is being dispensed. What could be cooler than that?!

The new ice shack!

Jada can be reached at jada@allaboardharvest.com. All Aboard 2011 is sponsored by High Plains Journal and DuPont Crop Protection.