26 Aug Jada: Wheat or Canola…. What shall we cut today?!

Hoffman Harvesting continues to work in Regent, North Dakota. My posts are probably making you dizzy wondering what we are cutting…. is it canola or wheat today? Besides a couple of quick changes the combine operators need to do- change the rotar from 2nd to 1st gear because canola needs a lower threshing speed and change the sieves settings so we don’t throw any of the canola over- it is pretty easy to be switching back and forth between wheat and canola. We have to cut what is ready and that determines what type of crop we are cutting. Here are some photos of our day which included harvesting both wheat and canola.

James comes to the end of the field to test the moisture.

Since all the combines had different moisture readings, we decided to test it the old way. Pictured are James and Oak testing the canola which was too wet to cut at the time. We allowed it 2 hours to dry and thanks to the nice sunny day were able to start cutting later in the day.

We get back in the field after a break to allow the canola to dry. The moisture needs to be at 10% for us to be able to harvest canola.

Canola offers a different scenery than wheat. The stubble is green and the seeds are black.

Here is a photo of Oak dumping on the truck.

Johan holds up some of the canola seeds to show what canola looks like once it’s harvested.

Here we are on wheat again. Regent has many buttes which make an interesting scenery from the field.

A lot of the wheat is still changing. Here is a photo of  some wheat yet to be harvested. If you look closely, you can see there are still quite a few green heads in the field. You might be asking how can some wheat be ready to cut while another field is so green still? The answer is the weather. The spring was wet making rough conditions for farmers to get their crops in. Some fields are behind because of a waiting period inflicted by rainy weather while some were re-seeded after floods prevented the crop from growing. There can also be quite a difference in yields in the area. For instance, one field can be yielding 40 bu/ac versus while a neighboring field is yielding only in the teens. The only explanation can be the varieties used. Normally conditions are dryer here so farmers typically use varieties that grow better in dryer settings. The weather with the combination of these types of varieties explain the low yields some farmers are receiving. 

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