Race against the rain

All Aboard Wheat Harvest Laura HaffnerBurkburnett, Texas/Clinton, Oklahoma—Just like any line of work, it seems like everyone has their own reason for joining a harvest crew. In my time with our crews, some of the reasons I’ve heard have included adventure, travel, big equipment, increasing/diversifying agricultural experience, lots of hours/pay or a combination of all of the above. For the guys who want lots of hours, now is the time. Crews in our area have been working lots of long hours lately to bring in the harvest. Conditions have been right so when we can roll, that’s what we must do. I’ve been told that harvest has historically wrapped up in this area by now, but because of the wet conditions in May, the area was only about 50 percent complete as of earlier this week. We have a chance for rain every day through Monday starting tomorrow, so we’ll continue to do everything we can to get as much out as possible today with hopes of minimal weather delays in the days to come.

Barbed wire fought the header but the header won (after the crew fought the dust and heat to untangle the mess). We sure didn’t need that hiccup. Yesterday the temperature was over 100! Luckily today was a few degrees cooler!

Crew member Westin Ellis sent this shot in from near Burkburnett, Texas.

Thankfully no augers were hurt in the making of this photo! Photo by Westin.

 The Oklahoma crew wrapped it up in Roosevelt, Tuesday night and were able to move yesterday. Mark just reported that they’re running in the Clinton, Oklahoma, area with three combines. It is a little slow at the moment as they are fighting some wheat that went down with the flooding. He says it appears that the field is going around 40 bushels per acre but they’ll have a more accurate idea a little later on. They are under the gun too as far as weather goes for the next several days. The National Weather Service currently isn’t forecasting anything less than a 50 percent chance of rain starting Friday through Monday. We don’t ever want to wish away rain, especially after the drought we’ve experienced, but we need to be able to make progress so we can move some machines to Kansas as soon as possible as they’ve starting cutting in the southern part of the state. However, it looks southern Kansas is forecasted to receive some rain as well so maybe it will time out in the end? That’s one thing about harvest and agriculture, nature is always willing to give you a challenge! It is never a dull moment!

The photos above were contributed by crew member Marnus Meyburgh.  The crew was cutting near Roosevelt, Oklahoma. 

Photo from Mark, near Roosevelt, Oklahoma.

Jill Tustin contributed this photo of our crew cutting near Clinton, Oklahoma, today.

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

6 Comments

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.