19 Jul Six Million Loaves!

Hemingford, Neb. – I apologize for not posting on here for a few days but man, what a few days it has been. In my last post, I let you all know that we were leaving our beloved St. Francis to move on into Nebraska. We pulled into Big Springs on Friday, unloaded and started up right away. We struggled to find an elevator that was both open and had space for more wheat and ended up hauling to Frenchman’s in Chappell. The wheat did alright; about 35 bushels and had test weights at 60 pounds. We finished our 250-acre job on Saturday, loaded up and are now at our last stop on the harvest run – Hemingford, Neb. I told you we could kiss summer goodbye after our first stop. Where did the summer go?!

This area has not received the rains that western Kansas did and the crops are suffering because of it. Many farmers in the area have been baling their wheat rather than cutting it at all. Farmer Steve told me today that he wouldn’t have minded if his wheat would have gotten hailed out and we all know any farmer saying those words is the rarest of the rare. The wheat is doing about 25 bushels but the test weights are 61-62 pounds. Protein is a bit low, about 7.8 for content.

Last year we buried the combine in Farmer Steve’s field. Brandon was surveying the area the other day and found that his ruts were still there from this event. No surprise, really – it took two wreckers to undo that mishap. With the lack of rain this area has, we did not anticipate getting stuck to be a problem. How very wrong we were. While leaving the field last night with its last load of the night, the Peterbilt found itself to be flush with the ground. This morning, we found ourselves digging small trenches underneath the traps of the hopper bottom in order to fit an auger underneath to empty out the truck into Purple. Nothing like some excitement, right? I told Farmer Steve this field is cursed. Shout-out to the Phillips people for helping us out and loaning us some of your toys to get out of the hole we made.

Bread Count – 6,107,375.82 loaves

Quote of the Day – “I couldn’t tell you what’s going on on the other side of the terrace.”

Some of our farmers from St. Francis! From left to right; Mitch, Randy and Spencer.

Dad and Farmer Randy.

Loaded up.

Group selfie before departure!

Farmer Clinton in Big Springs, Neb.

Lounging.

Unloading into Purple.

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Enjoying the view.

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Quite the excitement.

Trench for the auger to fit underneath the trap.

Thanks to the Trent for the help and bringing out his little toy!

Getting unloaded so it can get unstuck!

Sunset on Purp.

Lovely.

All Aboard Wheat Harvest™ is sponsored by High Plains Journal and New Holland Agriculture. You can contact Steph at stephanie@allaboardharvest.com.