10 Aug Christy: Didn’t know we hired Rattlesnake Wranglers

Drake and Reagan with their rattler and the first rattler Patrick came by.

Fort Benton, Montana—We encounter a lot of wildlife in the field, and of that wildlife, rattlesnakes are my least favorite. You see them down south in Texas and usually most places we travel to they are around. If you leave them alone, they’ll leave you alone—supposedly. The old nope ropes have been in unusual abundance this year in Montana. Our crew has decided they’re starting a collection of rattlers to see how many they can get. The first one, I believe Patrick ran over with a pickup and while the body was pinned down with a tire, they severed the rattler. The next one, Drake was working on greasing his semi in the field and happened to notice one not a foot from him. That one they didn’t have a gun or knife, so they actually stoned it. They were trying to figure out how to get the rattler when Paul came up and said, “It’s still moving, you need to at least run it over with the truck.” And last but not least, all Josh had was a Gatorade bottle and a jack to bring an end to the snake that got close to him. They are everywhere this year, and hopefully we don’t end up with someone getting bit.

Josh with the rattler he cut off.

Harvest is moving along at an accelerated rate. We are moving through acres so quickly that there’s a good chance we could see some down time in our future between winter and spring wheat. Patrick’s crew working by Carter, Montana, finished winter wheat this week and moved over to help Paul’s group by Highwood. Overall, the winter wheat by Carter averaged anywhere from 30 to 50 bushels per acre. I believe we will still need to head back over to Carter for some spring wheat as soon as it’s ready. It’ll be nice to be completed over that way so it’s not so far to travel during meal delivery.

Five machines working by Carter, Montana.

Moving over to the Highwood area, Paul and Gary have been working between wheat, field peas, lentils, and barley. The wheat is doing much better in this area averaging in some spots as high as 80 bushels per acre. The field peas and lentils haven’t averaged very much, they just didn’t produce with the dry conditions this year. Barley hasn’t fared as well either, but still well enough to cut. This is a lot of the reason we’ve been able to move over acres so quickly. All winter I’ll have a long list of places to pray for rain.

Haden loading a train by Highwood, Montana.

Finishing up an 80-acre field at the foot of the mountains by Highwood, Montana.

Coming up, it sounds like North Dakota won’t be ready for us still for another couple of weeks. I think I’ll be able to help get most of our crew moved over before Zoey and I leave to get her back in school. North Dakota has also had an abnormal year due to weather and getting crops planted so late. It could be pretty late by the time we finish up wheat harvest. Or it could go quickly as it has throughout the run this year. We’ll see when we get there.

Christy Paplow can be reached at christy@allaboardharvest.com.

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Paul’s view from his combine. Down in this field it takes a while for the trucks to reach.