Montana: Big Field Country

23 Aug Montana: Big Field Country

Posted at 10:14h in 2016, aawh, All Aboard, Crop Updates, harvest, High Plains Journal, HPH, Laura, Photos, stories, wheat by Laura Haffner 2 Comments

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Cut Bank, Montana: Montana is known as “big sky country.” However, Ryan also likes to refer to it as “big field country” and it is these large fields that help make up for lost time.

It’s been a little hard on the guys as they’ve been out of commission due to the weather or wet wheat for much of the time over the past several weeks. However, for better or worse, that is part of the game we’re in and the way it goes some of the time. On the days they couldn’t run, they filled their time with a trip to Glacier National Park, played pool and rested. Mark reported that some of the guys went rafting at the park and the scenery was great. He definitely recommends it and would enjoy going back when he had some more time to partake in the park’s activities.

Harvest is in full swing now. As I mentioned above, the large fields have really helped with efficiently due to not having to move equipment as often from field to field. The field the crew is currently on is over 800 acres and they are hauling to the farmer’s bins, so one truck can almost keep up. Mark says that about three-quarters of the acres we’re cutting have been hailed with around 50% loss. The yields are around 30-40 bushels per acre. The remaining non-hailed acres, are yielding 60-80 bushes per acre.

The end is in sight and if everything goes well, they should complete their portion of the 2016 wheat season early next week. It will be just in time too as its nearly time for corn harvest back here in Kansas!