19 Jul Jada: Where’s the sun?

Hoffman Harvesting is currently at another standstill in Goodland, Kan. Earlier this week, we had to shut down our machines due to a sprinkle. Thinking it would be just for an evening, it didn’t faze us at all. Then, overcast skies moved in and haven’t really left. An overcast sky with a high of 60 degrees on July 17 had us thinking it was fall harvest.

Washouts from the heavy rains in the rural areas of Goodland have not only slowed us down when navigating dirt roads, it also has us seeking them out.

While operating the graincart, Alex snapped a shot of a washout in one of our fields. Thankfully we weren’t cutting there at night!

On July 18, the sun finally peaked out and temperatures raised to a more acceptable summer day- the high 80’s. This, however, isn’t a typical temperature for our harvest here- even that is cool. Despite this, our hopes soared that we’d finally be able to get a day of cutting in. We cut 40 acres, which enabled us to move to our last field and then that was the end of the day. Moisture held steady at 15% in the early evening hours.

A neighbor cutting nearby wasn’t so lucky. While navigating a section line to check out fields this washout wasn’t visible among the weeds.

The waits on the weather at this stop have allowed us plenty of time to visit with harvest friends. Here Leon visits with Eddie Popwell of Popwell Harvesting. We were admiring one of his new trucks.

That evening, we received even more rain. A lightening storm turned into a severe thunderstorm. Pea sized hail accompanied heavy rains. With forecasts of hail up to egg sized, several people sought out shelter for their vehicles. Gas stations, sonic, the car wash and anywhere that covered a vehicle was taken last night during the heart of the storm. Thankfully none of the larger sized hail- egg sized- fell in Goodland. There was some flash flooding from the rain falling so quickly. At the end of the storm, .09 inches fell. North of Goodland, 3 inches fell and they received the hail forecasted. This past week has us asking, “Where’s the sun?” Hopefully it will come out soon so we can play in the dirt.

Filling up Blue DEF in our service truck has been a requirement with our new machines.

Another result of too much rain falling at once in the Goodland area.

All Aboard Wheat Harvest™ is sponsored by High Plains Journal and New Holland Agriculture. Jada can be contacted at jada@allaboardharvest.com.