Northwest Kansas received a much-needed rain Sunday evening, which may have delayed harvest a day or so, but also rejuvenated farmers who have grown weary of drought-like conditions.
Hays area farmer Lance Russell says yields in Ellis County ranged from single digits to 50 bushels per acre on dryland farms, depending on whether the crop was continuous or summer-fallow. Better yields were reported north of I-70. Test weights range from 52 to 62 pounds per bushel and average 56; Russell says his best variety was the AgriPro variety PostRock.
In Wallace County, the harvest is mostly finished, according to David Schemm, KAWG past-president from Sharon Springs. Schemm has a day’s worth of cutting left. He has been surprised at the ability of wheat to yield 20 to 25 bushels per acre despite the drought; test weight averages about 60 pounds per bushel and proteins range from 13 to 14. He received about an inch of rain Sunday night.
Yields are varied throughout Frontier Ag’s 33 locations in western Kansas. CEO Brad Cowan says the company’s Oakley location has yields ranging from 30 to 35 bushels per acre, while near the Colorado border many of the wheat acres have been abandoned due to drought. Those acres that remain in the cooperative’s western locations will average between 8 and 15 bushels per acre. Cowan says that company-wide, he anticipates taking in about 55% of a normal crop.
Harvest is winding down in Smith County, according to Linda Reed at the Central Plains Co-op in Smith Center. Area yields range from 18 to 70 bushels per acre and average 30; test weight averages 59 pounds per bushel. Proteins average 14.5. Reed says the elevator will take in about 50% of a normal crop.
The Eastern Kansas crop was very good, according to Kansas Wheat Commission vice chair Jay Armstrong, who farms near Muscotah. Armstrong says his crop averaged better than 70 bushels per acre and had 60 pound test weight. His farm was planted to the Kansas Wheat Alliance variety Everest.
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.