By JAMES BELL
Hays Post

Slowly but surely, the winter wheat harvest around Hays has begun, with early reports showing potentially high yields, due to recent cool and overcast weather following a mild winter.

Midland Marketing in Hays had two loads come in Tuesday night and three more Wednesday morning, according to Brian Witt, Hays coordinator at Midland Marketing.

“We are just getting started. There are only a few guys that can actually cut,” Witt said.

Grain that came to the elevator in Hays had been cut late Tuesday, according to Witt, with nothing being cut on Wednesday as rain threatened to hit Hays.

Through the day, however, rain would not materialize over the area — good news for farmers waiting for fields to dry from heavy spring rains.

But so far, wheat delivered into Hays is showing encouraging yields.

Moisture was running from 11.5 to 12.5, Witt said, with test weights in the lower 60s.

“Sixty-one has been the lowest I have seen so far,” Witt said, “which is really good.”

Protein tests are also on the low side at 10 to 10.5.

“The kernels currently look great,” Witt said.

The elevator in Yocemento was also reporting good wheat numbers, according to Clint Pfannenstiel, Yocemento coordinator at Midland Marketing.

“So far, we have had about 5,000 to 6,000 bushels come in,” he said.

“That wheat is testing 62 to 62.5 test weight,” he said, calling the yields “excellent.”

“Some of it could be 60-70 bushels an acre,” Pfannenstiel said. “It looks really good.”

While wheat is coming in around Hays, the harvest is not yet progressing to the south.

“South of Hays, around McCracken and Brownell, (we) did not take any grain,” Pfannenstiel said. “We are progressing quicker than they are south of here 20 or 30 miles.”

This year’s harvest has been delayed from normal, which is likely to push harvest completion into mid-July.

“Normally we say Father’s Day weekend is about an ideal consistent start,” Witt said. “Anything before or after that is either or late, at least in this area.”

The late start might be unusual, but likely welcome as the conditions that have delayed the harvest are also contributing to the exceptional results.

“The later your harvest is, the better your yield. The earlier it is, the more stress it has been through, or things have gone wrong so it dies off and doesn’t have as much growing period,” Witt said. “With cool weather and overcast skies, the wheat wasn’t drying down, which is actually good. … As far as increasing your yield, you get larger kernels. Everything generally produces better.”

Now with warm windy weather in the forecast for the weekend, both Witt and Pfannenstiel expect harvest to be in full swing by Monday at the latest.

“We want to get these couple of days of hot and windy,” Pfannenstiel said. “Another day or two of that and we will be going strong.”

While fields around Hays were generally spared from damaging storms during the spring, a few instances of crop loss were being reported in the area.

Witt said he heard reports about a strip south of Victoria where a few fields were lost, as well as a field or two southwest of Hays.

Pfannenstiel noted reports of some damage to the southwest as well.

“In that area, it was probably hit twice, with two different storms, probably 15 to 20 days apart,” Pfannenstiel said.

But it could have been much worse.

“We have been very fortunate considering how many storms we have had come through this year,” Witt said.