22 Jul Christy: Finally, a break in the rain

Tribune, Kansas—We are going in short bursts. We haven’t had any long days, but we’re happy to be getting something done. After sitting for a whole week wheels started turning Tuesday, and even after a rain shower Thursday, we are still rolling somewhat everyday. It’s a much better feeling.

Wheat is averaging anywhere from 25 to 45 bushels per acre. Some fields are reaching as high as 62 bushels per acre, even with the weeds. There’s a lot weeds that have been pushing the moisture reading up, but our farmer said as long as the elevator will take it, we can combine it and take it in. This is proving to be really helpful since we really need to get finished here. I did notice while doing tickets that there were a few loads all the way at 17%-plus. That’s definitely a little too wet, but they took it. Test weight is a little lower than what we saw in Anthony and Kiowa at about 56 to 60 pounds average.

Here in Tribune, our fields are smaller so we’re moving around a lot, and the truckers may take only one load from a field or miss a field all together since some are only producing as low as two loads. With this, going through all the dump tickets is a task necessary each day. It’s easy for the guys to get confused when skipping fields. So it’s also important that we make sure all the field names are correct, and we have all the tickets from each field. For the most part, there have been few corrections. Though when a correction has to be made, we just run up to the elevator and have it changed, which is what I ran and did today. I caught a couple trucks unloading while I was there.

We’re not pushing through as many acres as we would like to per day, but I think we are making progress. The guys are working in two groups, one with four machines and one cart, and one with five machines and two carts. Hopefully a few more good days cutting and we’ll be able to finish up.

It’s looking like part of the crew will take off for Montana early next week. Looking at the pictures one of our farmers sent by Carter, Montana, the wheat looks amazing, and still a little green in spots. No weeds in sight. I hope all of it is that way. We’ve combined enough weeds for the year.

Before taking off, we will send a crew to Colby, Kansas, to do a little stripper head work. That’ll be the first time this year the guys have used stripper heads. There are not many acres in Colby for us to do. The crew that gets there should finish quickly and hopefully head on up to Montana as soon as possible.

As I’ve said, it’s been a really different year with all the rain. Good thing for Kansas, not so much harvest, but we’re getting through it and hoping for sunny days.

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

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