By the Numbers: Wheat Harvest 2017

Wheat Harvest 2017 is now in the rearview mirror.

Photo taken June 22, 2017

We finished up the afternoon of June 28 after starting on June 12. This year's start to harvest was pretty consistent with the past eight years. (I have good records since 2010 because I've been blogging that long). Our start dates are:

2010:  June 18
2011:  June 10
2012:  May 26 (an anomaly and the earliest harvest, by far, we've ever had)
2013:  June 21
2014:  June 17
2015:  June 20
2016:  June 15
2017:  June 12

It took us 2 weeks and 3 days to bring in the 1,341.7 acres planted to wheat. Some years, we have a custom cutter harvest a portion of our wheat acres. However, we bought a new-to-us combine at a farm auction in the spring of 2016, and we're still paying off the loan for that. Plus, the wheat prices don't leave a lot of margin for profits. So we decided to cut it all ourselves.

Photo taken June 22, 2017

Our overall average was 50.84 bushels per acre. We had a low average of 30 and a high of 80 bushels per acre. After a dry winter and early spring, Randy was thrilled with the totals. Some late spring rains came at just the right time for the filling of the wheat heads, and we are thankful! 

Wheat Harvest 2017 actually started with Wheat Harvest 2016. (Notice how I capitalize Wheat Harvest. It's a "Big Deal" to our farm. By far, wheat is our biggest crop.)

Photo from June 16, 2016, blog post

Each year, we plant some certified seed, which we use for seed wheat for the following year. Randy binned KanMark (a K-State release) and WB 4458 (a WestBred variety) to plant for seed wheat for our 2017 crop. During the 2016 harvest, we binned the seed wheat in on-farm storage.

Then, last July, we took the wheat to be cleaned to Miller Seed Farms. (See blog post: A Kernel of the Process: Cleaning Seed Wheat.)

 

In late September and early October 2016, we began planting wheat for our 2017 crop. 

Planting into the sunset, October 2016

See blog post What Goes Around Comes Around Again: Wheat Planting,"  

21 - 17 - 0.  I refreshed my memory on the Farm Wife Secret Code as I hauled fertilizer tanks from the Zenith branch of the Kanza Co-op to the field and back again.

  

By mid-October 2016, the wheat was emerging and was off to a good start. See blog post: And So It Begins Again.

 

In February 2017, the Kanza Co-op applied nitrogen fertilizer and Finesse herbicide.

 

In early April, we were thankful for Sunshine and Muddy Tennis Shoes - some rain after a very dry winter.

By April 21, we were Heading Toward Harvest. The wheat was heading, and according to an old wives' tale, we were 6 weeks away from harvest. It turned out to be about right.

 

By early June, we were at that "awkward stage" - the wheat ... not the "model."

This year's overall average of 50.84 bushels per acre made it our second best crop ever. Our 2013 crop averaged 52 bushels per acre and proved the theory that wheat has nine lives.

Yield averages in the past few years have been:

2010: 37.2 bu/acre
2011: 36.7 bu/acre
2012: 45.5 bu/acre
2013: 52 bu/acre
2014: 24.5 bu/acre
2015: 50 bu/acre
2016: 48.5 bu/acre
2017: 50.84 bu/acre

And that, as they say in show business, is a wrap.

THE END ... until a new beginning for Wheat 2018.

Harvest Rhyme Time

At one Kansas farm, it was time to cut wheat

Two young girls, Grandpa Randy did greet.

They arrived with their mom, to the field they did go.

But upon their arrival, winds started to blow.

The skies became dark, though it wasn't at night.

All the lightning around gave Grandma a fright.

No picnic for supper. No stopping to eat.

Get into the combine: It was time to cut wheat!

Off they did go, as the thunder did rumble.

But even before the rain started to tumble

A belt on the combine, it split right in two.

Oh no! Now just what would they do?

A ride in the semi, to Zenith they'd go.

At harvest time, you just go with the flow.

Grandpa would drive them away in a truck.

Before the storm came, if they had any luck!

They rolled into the co-op. The trip it was fine. 

They came to a stop at the end of the line. 

Other farmers had the same plan, it did seem.

Beating the storm was part of their scheme.

The girls waited patiently for their own turn.

Waiting with Grandpa, there was much they could learn.

He answered their questions; he considered each one.

One question? Two questions? No, they were not done!

Then it was time to pull onto the scale.

It was the next spot on the wheat's market trail.

A probe dipped into the semi truck bed.

Took a sample of wheat from that farmstead.

Some tests must be done, co-op workers have said.

They want to make sure it can be made into bread!

Into the elevator, it was a tight squeeze.

But Grandpa could do it. He did it with ease.

Now inside, it was time to dump wheat.

Once it was done, it was time to retreat.

Then the big semi was once again weighed. 

A ticket would reveal if the wheat made the grade.

Yes, it was fine. Yes, it was great!

Once made into flour, it could appear on your plate! 

Since rain sprinkles fell, we quit for the night.

We came to the house for some harvest bites.

The storm had made the girls late for their meal.

So they tore into supper with a great deal of zeal!

Because of the rain, harvest couldn't start soon.

Until the next day, it would be afternoon.

So Grandpa took two little girls to the pond.

Fishing with Grandpa can forge quite a bond.

Kinley had barely cast her line in

When a fish bit her worm, she started to grin. 

For Brooke, it took longer. She had to wait. 

But then she got one, and, boy, was that great!

The sun and the wind, they dried the wheat out.

"We're ready to help Grandpa!" They declared with a shout!

So off they went, down through the field.

Grandpa was hoping for a very good yield!

On the combine, there was a thing called a reel.

It turned through the wheat stalks. It was a pretty big deal.

All of the wheat goes through the machine.

From the stalk and the chaff, the grain then is gleaned.

When the combine tank was all full of grain

We could tell it was, too, through a big window pane.

Grandpa then let us push on some knobs.

The wheat came out of the bin in a pretty big gob!

An auger delivered the grain to the truck. 

Into each corner, the wheat soon was tucked.

When it was full, the truck driver did start

To drive to the co-op to do his own part.

 

It takes all kinds of workers to do all the tasks.

We all try to help Grandpa out when he asks!

Harvest is hard work, so hard that it seems.

A nap is in order. Hope for sweet dreams!

Then it was time for a good harvest meal.

We sat in the car. It was such a great deal.

Our time on the farm had to come to an end.

Until next year, more time we will spend!

The Murmur of the Wheat

At church Sunday, a friend handed me a bookmark she'd found stashed away. She knew I'd love the poem, and she was right. (Thanks Gerry Ann!)

The wheat has been doing plenty of  "murmuring" as strong southern winds blew Harvest 2017 right on into South Central Kansas. Here's Exhibit A, a video I shot last night after delivering supper to the field:

Admittedly, part of the sound is the wind rushing past the camera. But listen for the rustle, too. It sounds a little like the legs of corduroy pants rubbing together. (Not that I'd know that sound or anything!)

We started harvesting wheat Monday afternoon (June 12). The strong southernly winds dried down the KanMark variety first. So far, it appears to be an average crop, though test weights have been really good.

Brief rain showers brought the cutting to a halt Tuesday evening.

Randy likely won't be able to start cutting quite as early today because of the rain. (And the wind doesn't seem to be howling this morning for the first time in four days!)

But the clouds sure made for some pretty photos last evening. (You have to find the silver lining, I suppose, when you're stopped in your tracks when you've barely gotten started!)

We'll likely be back at it later today. When wheat fields near harvest, they seem to do more than "murmur" to farmers. They give a full out "siren song," enticing them to fire up the big machines and bring in the harvest.

Note: The bookmark was from the Kansas Wheat Commission. It doesn't have a year on it. Here are both sides. If you click on the photo, you should be able to read it more clearly.

And Happy Flag Day from the County Line!

At That Awkward Stage

What do ripening wheat fields and junior high students have in common?
They both go through an awkward stage.

A week ago, I told Randy that the wheat was at that ugly duckling, in between stage. Earlier this spring, the fields were vibrant, verdant green. Soon, they will be a striking golden sea of movement in the Kansas wind.

But, for now, they are a motley mix of green and gold.

On Saturday, against a blue sky, they were already making the transformation. Just like with junior high kids, you think that awkward stage will never end.

Then, all of the sudden, they blossom with newfound maturity. 

Still, the wheat has a little maturing to do. When Randy probed the kernels, they were at a soft dough stage. After a dry winter, we had thought that the harvest would be early. However, abundant spring rains and cooler temperatures have slowed down the march toward harvest in our neck of the woods. It doesn't look like we'll be cutting this week. That's good, since I'm scheduled to go to Nebraska for a church conference later this week.

Even with the mix of green and gold lending a kind of "grungy" look to the wheat head, it was pretty against a stormy sky as I came home from church meetings last Wednesday evening.

It was the very definition of beautiful, don't you think?

Montana isn't the only Big Sky Country!