Harvest update: Great weather to cut wheat

Farmers in Ellis and Trego County are enjoying beautiful wheat cutting weather this week. The harvest in the area is slowly winding down. Elevators across the

A truck delivers grain to the Midland Marketing downtown Hays location

region are busy but not working the long hours they did last week. North of Hays it’s a different story.

Stockton farmer Jerry McReynolds says yields are variable in Rooks County; they range from 30 to 65 bushels per acre depending upon the crop rotation; test weights average 61 pounds per bushel on summer-fallow, and 59 pounds per bushel on continuous wheat. The variety Armour is his best performer so far.

Dale Weeks, manager of the Wheeler Co-op Mercantile Equity Union in Cheyenne County says about 65,000 bushels have been received as of Tuesday. Test weight averages 58 pounds per bushel, and protein ranges from 11 to 14. Yields range from 17 to 40 bushels per acre with a 25 bushel average. Weeks says drought has taken a dramatic toll on the crop, which will only amount to about 35% of a normal harvest.

Harvest is about 60% complete near Grainfield according to Chad Miller, location manager for the Hi-Plains Co-op Association location there. The crop ranges from 25 to 60 bushels per acre, with a 35 bushel per acre average; farmers north of town benefitted from timely rains that farmers south of town didn’t receive, Miller says. Test weights range from 58 to 63 pounds per bushel, averaging 60 pounds. Protein is right at the 12% benchmark. Harvest should wrap up early next week.

Richard Fisher, general manager of the Farmers Co-op Union in Sterling, says this harvest has been above average for area farmers. Yields range from 30 to 60 bushels per acre and average about 50; test weights were 61 pounds per bushel prior to a rain event last week, and now are at 59 pounds. Protein ranges from 10.5 to 13. The area harvest is about 90% complete and should be wrapped up early next week.

Harvest is about 75% complete in the Salina area, where KAWG director Justin Knopf says this has been one of the best wheat crops he has seen. Yields range from 60 to 70 bushels per acre, with 62 pound test weights the norm. Protein averages about 10.5. A thunderstorm the last week of June did cause some lodging, but all in all Knopf is very pleased with the 2013 harvest.

The 2013 Harvest Report is brought to you by the Kansas Wheat Commission, Kansas Association of Wheat Growers and sponsors Kansas City Board of Trade, and the Kansas Grain & Feed Association.