Janel: Full throttle

Western Kansas—The month of June is over and we’re on to July already and I’ve got my blue header on again. I have dreamed of having 100-bushel wheat to harvest again this year but when I got out west on June 29 I quickly noticed the wheat yields falling way short of last year. The wheat is averaging 30 to 70 bushels per acre and the test weights under 60 pounds per bushel. A freeze in April damaged the wheat crop and no rain has caused the lower results.

I do love it out west and enjoy being here. The land is pretty flat and the fields are nice to cut. It isn’t a walk in the park though. The badger holes in the fields could wreck a tire or damage the header if a combine operator isn’t paying attention. They are like speed bumps and there’s quite a few of them in the fields. It’s almost similar to crossing pivot tracks but can be much worse because they aren’t expected most of the time. One other thing I do love about the farming here is the towable pivot irrigation. The field is irrigated but the pivot is removed from the field before harvest time and so, I, the custom cutter doesn’t have to worry about cutting around it! It’s a great deal for a harvester! A farmer uses this type of irrigation because it’s cost effective and a money-saving deal.

We are full throttle here in western Kansas and it looks like we will be for a while. We’ve got wheat to cut and great cutting conditions. It’s been very hot with highs in the 100s. We’ve got a hot and dry forecast so we should be able to get the wheat cut here and get moved up the road once again to keep on cutting wheat along the wheat belt of the Great Plains.

All Aboard Wheat Harvest is sponsored by Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children, Unverferth Manufacturing Co., Inc, BASF, AgriPro, Gleaner and High Plains Journal. Janel Schemper can be reached at janel@allaboardharvest.com.

Schemper Harvesting

Miss Moo is such a pro!  Here we were cutting wheat June 27.

Schemper Harvesting

Miss Moo makes me laugh and makes the days of harvesting so much better!

Schemper Harvesting

Harvesting full throttle in western Kansas.

Schemper Harvesting

Harvesting irrigated wheat in western Kansas. See the pivot tracks but no pivot? That’s towable pivot irrigation.

Schemper Harvesting

I recently found this picture of Miss Moo from 2010 when she was just a pup! She’s had many combine rides. I wonder how many combine hours she’s gotten over the years!

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