29 Jul Laura: Finally feels like summer

Wallace County—Temperature wise, it really has been a lovely summer. Sure, there have been some hot days, but not like we normally experience. And certainly not the never ending dry heat that consumed us these last few summers of drought. In fact, the National Weather Service of Dodge City’s Facebook reported that Dodge City had only seen 100 degrees for a second time in 2023 on July 18.  

This week is going to change all that with high temperatures and heat indices. It should dry things out quickly and allow us to run hard. We can almost hear the Montana crops ripening from here. They have maintained a more normal maturity schedule unlike their southern counterparts.

Last week saw some decent cutting weather early in the week. But then, the rains were back across a broad swath of northeast Colorado and western Kansas. Luckily, we were able to finish one of our Kansas jobs, just prior to the weather, and headed a crew out to northeast Colorado. Preliminary yields are coming in very strong, there, but the field hadn’t been totaled at the time I was writing the article.  Protein is around 11%.

Storms have been continuing to pass through Northwest Kansas. There were some serious ones, yet again, this past week. Buildings in the area were damaged or blown over and some crops were completely mowed. It is heartbreaking to see. Everything has been looking so great which has been a long time coming in the face of the drought. Say a prayer or two for the affected farm families because some just can’t catch a break right now. Rural folks try to stay positive in the face of adversity, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t hard and they’re not feeling it on the inside. It’s been such a strange few months for many living on the Great Plains.  

Couldn’t be any more beautiful than this.

Laura Haffner can be reached at laura@allaboardharvest.com.

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