Christy: Still battling rain

Kiowa, Kansas—We have had a busy week. Paul and I have a crew here in Kiowa, Kansas, and Gary has the rest of the crew in Anthony, Kansas. It took a couple days before we could get started here by Kiowa due to wheat not being quite dry enough, but we got going and it’s a good crop here. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’ve heard there wasn’t a lot rain to begin with, but they’ve seen rain in this part of middle southern Kansas towards the end that’s been enough to produce yields.

The first few fields we’ve cut are seeing around a 28 to 41 bushel per acre average with most falling in the mid-thirties. The moisture was a little border line to start, but now can be as low as 12.6%. Protein is good around 59 to 62 pounds. The crop isn’t very tall, but the heads are pretty and full. It’s good to still be in well yielding crops. Farther up the line I don’t think we’ll continue to see the same.

Forty bushel wheat by Kiowa, Kansas. Not very tall, but good looking crop.

Anthony, Kansas is also seeing good crops. Yields are around 30 to 35 bushels per acre. That would be about what we usually see there.

The weather that hounded us in Texas has followed us up to southern Kansas. You get to combine, and then it rains. Dries up a bit, and more rain. Not little sprinkles either, its been a quarter inch, an inch, and then another inch at a time. It’s good to see rain, but we’d really like for it to wait a little so we can finish up. I hope after this last rain we won’t be fighting mud.

Crew waiting in the field for the wheat to dry so we can start moving.

A couple of nights ago we also had our first tornado warning. The sirens didn’t go off here, but they did in Alva and Anthony. I didn’t hear that any tornados touched down here, but I know they did in other areas. One of our usual stops, Perryton, Texas, was hit hard. We didn’t have a crop to cut there this year, so we skipped that stop. I hope they recover soon.

The only bright side to all the rain is all the extra activities we get to squeeze in. I took Zoey to the Salt Plains about 20 miles away by Cherokee, Oklahoma. She dug for selenite crystals. If we ever go back, I learned after the fact that you really need to dig about two feet down to see large crystal formations.

The first selenite crystal Zoey found. It was great fun.
Zoey’s haul from the Salt Plains.

Also took Zoey to Bradt’s Menagerie in Alva, Oklahoma—still just 20 miles away from where we’re staying in Kiowa. It’s a petting zoo. Everything from an Angus steer with five legs to camel rides. There’s not always many options for activities, so I’ve been really amazed at all the fun things we’ve done with the rain.

Who would’ve guessed you could ride a camel in Oklahoma?

Yesterday was Father’s Day. We were blessed with being able to spend the day with Paul’s dad and brother, and also Paul’s sister came to visit with her kids. We loaded up and went to Wichita, Kansas, for a great lunch and go-kart racing. All our guys joined in, and I’ll be honest and say I’m really surprised we didn’t get kicked out. There was a lot of extra bumping and spin outs going on. Hope all dads had a great day being celebrated.

Heading into next week, we’ll hopefully see the forecast clear so we can wrap up around here and move up the road.

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

All Aboard Wheat Harvest is brought to you by Unverferth Manufacturing Co., Inc.High Plains Journal, New HollandITC Holdings CorpU.S. Custom Harvesters, Inc., Kramer Seed Farms and Lumivia Insecticide Treatment by Corteva Agriscience.

No Comments

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.