That's All, Folks!: Wheat Stats 2015

It may not be in the Farmers Almanac, but the guys at the coffee shop will proclaim it:  Wheat has nine lives.

That was certainly the case for our 2015 wheat crop. When all was said and done, our 2015 wheat crop averaged 50 bushels per acre. Our high was 70 bushels per acre, and our low was 36 bushels per acre.

We began planting the 2015 crop on Monday, September 22, 2014, and sowed 1,355 acres. We had a dry fall and little snow this winter, leaving the wheat looking for moisture this spring as it "woke" from its winter "sleep." As I wrote in April, it was "height-challenged" because of dry conditions, and, at that time, we didn't think the late spring rain would make a difference. But it did. More rains in May helped fill the wheat heads.

This year, we started harvest on June 20, and, after some machinery hiccups, had a good run. We got rain and didn't cut at all on June 26. When the end was in sight, our combine went down. Thankfully, our neighbor, Gary, was able to harvest the last 40 acres for us with his machine, and the last loads of wheat went over the Kanza Co-op scales on July 1.

We also had a custom cutter harvest 355 acres north of Stafford, and we didn't have the numbers from him until yesterday. Then, Randy was finally able to figure the statistics of Wheat Harvest 2015.

So how does our 50 bushels per acre average this year stack up? Last year, Harvest 2014, was not a good year, and we averaged 24.5 bushels per acre. Our best year ever was 2013, when we averaged 52 bushels per acre, despite planting into dust and several late freezes.

As the sun sets on our 2015 crop, we're thankful for God's blessing of a bountiful harvest. And, in late September, the journey will begin again with planting the 2016 crop. Such is the circle of life on a Kansas farm.

Being Short Is No Joke

Being short is no joke. Our 2015 wheat crop is "height-challenged," due to lack of moisture through the fall and winter.

And while we benefited from 3 inches to more than 8 inches of rain during the past few days, depending upon the location, the moisture likely won't make the crop a whole lot taller. The shorter crop means the combine header will have to stay closer to the ground, making it a little more difficult to harvest the crop when the time comes.

The rain came with some hail at one of our fields north of Stafford. Hail stripped part of the stalk, revealing the wheat heads in boot stage.

We must not have gotten hail on the west end of the same mile-long field. At that end, the head was still in the "boot," where Randy is pointing in the photo below.

Below, he used his fingernail to break the stalk and reveal the head. It won't be long before all the wheat will be heading out. 

The rains brought some relief to the state of Kansas, 93 percent of which has been classified in some form of drought. Some 70 percent of the state is listed in moderate to extreme drought.

As with most farmers in the South Central part of the state, we had enough moisture to get the wheat up after it was planted last fall.

Planting the 2015 wheat crop, September 2014

In fact, we had a nice 3.20 inch rain soon after planting, giving the crop a good beginning boost.

Early October 2014

However, we had very little snow or other moisture this winter, and the spring had been dry before the rains that fell, starting last Thursday.

“It’s definitely a million-dollar rain. Unfortunately, not everyone got it. One rain isn’t going to save the wheat crop. It is sure welcome, but this crop isn’t made yet.”

Kansas State University agronomist John Holman

in The Hutchinson News

The Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service reported last week that 28 percent of the state's wheat is in poor to very poor condition. The agency rates another 46 percent as fair and just 28 percent as good or excellent.

Time will tell.
We shall see.

Choose whichever worn-out axiom you'd like. But for now, we're thankful for the rain.

Blessings: Rain and Family

Peace Creek, taken from the bridge.

The rain dance evidently worked.

The cow didn't have to go around to the gate to get a drink of water!

Last Thursday, we got 2.5 inches of rain in the gauge. Then, we got another 0.60" of rain on Saturday. You could practically hear our 2015 wheat crop and the pasture lands gulping it down. The rainfall amounts varied dramatically in our area.

On Saturday morning, I took this reflection photo as we turned north to go to the Rattlesnake Pasture. There - just 6 miles away from home - they'd gotten 5.30" of rain in the same time frame. In the center of the photo is a metal corner fencing unit that they hadn't gotten planted yet. The reflection of the fencing unit and the telephone poles caught my eye as we rounded the corner. And, yes, we backed up to get the photo. My farmer is a patient man.

Only 10 miles away or so rain gauges overflowed with 8 inches of rain during a 24-hour period. All that rain upstream had the Rattlesnake Creek flowing well on Saturday morning. That's good news, since we'll be moving cows and calves there to summer pasture in a couple of weeks. The rain will also help green up the pastures.

After a dry winter, we'd never turn down moisture. But, truth be told, we were very thankful for our more moderate rainfall total.

Our Ninnescah River pasture also got a boost from the rainfall.

The rain did halt 2015 corn planting in its tracks. Some cattle chores are on the agenda for the next couple of days. We'll be sorting and hauling cattle this morning and tomorrow morning. It will a messy job, but that's OK.

The rain sure helped the scenery ... and the mood.

The mood also varied in Topeka. I was there a few days last week, giving snuggles to a sick little girl. Thankfully, Brooke is feeling better now and getting closer and closer to figuring out how to crawl. (All those brains make her head heavy. That's Grandma's assessment anyway!) We're all hoping that spring brings fewer germs.

Kinley was excited for costume day at preschool.

Her Daddy reports she was not the only princess there. Imagine that!

It's always fun to spend time with my girls - and Micky and Minnie, of course. Somehow, that doesn't make the viewing list here on the County Line.

This Joint Is Jumpin'!

This "joint" is jumping. Well, the 2015 wheat crop is jointing anyway.

"Jointing" is when the leaf begins to elongate, forming a stem. Here's how it looks on the inside of the wheat stalk.

The joint is located where Randy's finger is pointing in the photo below.

 

Jointing is the time frame where yield potential for the wheat plant is determined, so it's a benefit if it has adequate moisture and nutrients available to it. We've done what we can about the nutrients. We top-dressed the wheat fields with liquid nitrogen. Now it's up to Mother Nature to supply the moisture we need and to keep the temperatures above freezing.

My Farmer says he'd like to order 3 inches of rain, slowly and gently falling over 3 days. If only it worked like that! We have the potential of thunderstorms and hail today. 

 

There are some areas in the field that are showing stress due to drought. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, we are in an area of moderate drought (the peachy color in the map below). But, for the most part, the wheat looks good in our area. 

 Kansas Agricultural Statistics reports that the winter wheat crop in Kansas is rated 44 percent fair, with 35 rated good. Both extremes of the crop -- the "very poor" and the "excellent" - make up 4 percent each, and 13 percent is rated poor.

The report also indicates that wheat jointing was at 15 percent at the end of last week, ahead of 5 percent last year, but behind the 18 percent average.

I guess this is one of those times when it's good to be average? 

My Crystal Ball Is Cloudy

There are dozens of sunrises and sunsets between now and Wheat Harvest 2015. Time will tell what kind of crop we'll harvest this coming June.

Last week, before the latest round of winter weather came through the area, some meteorologists predicted that a third of the nation's wheat belt would be affected by winterkill caused by sub-zero temperatures and wind chills.

Most of the Kansas crop was thought to avoid the damage. Winterkill was anticipated in eastern Nebraska, southwestern Iowa, northern and eastern Missouri, south central Illinois, southern Indiana and southern Ohio.

Adequate moisture this fall helped establish a good root system for our crop here in South Central Kansas.

We had snow cover on most of our wheat, which helps insulate it somewhat from the sub-zero temperatures.

The tip ends of the plant always show some damage from freeze burn, but as long as the main part of the plant has ample moisture below the surface, the wheat isn't damaged by the surface "burn."

The National Agriculture Statistics Service reports that 49 percent of Kansas wheat is now in good to excellent condition, with 42 percent fair and 9 percent in poor to very poor condition.

My personal crop adviser doesn't think our crop was hurt with the temperatures. He is, if you'll recall, one of the most optimistic people I know.

Two years ago, we had several episodes of freezing rain during April and figured the wheat crop was lost. Instead, Harvest 2013 was the best wheat we'd ever harvested. For our 2014 wheat crop, a dry fall, winter and spring negatively impacted our yields.

My crystal ball is a little cloudy right now. We'll see how things add up when the trucks cross the co-op scales next June.

Frosty Morning

For days, sunrise was a non-event. Overcast gloom had overtaken any hints of glow in the eastern sky. But Saturday morning, light yellow and pink streaked the horizon outside the kitchen window.

 

The multicolored Christmas lights draped from tree and mantel had some competition on Saturday morning, after days of gloom. I decided to leave the artificial lights behind for a few minutes to see God's light show.

The hay bales had a Christmas-cookie-like glaze on top.

 

Roadside weeds looked less like trash and more like jewels as the moisture-drenched leaves shimmered in the rising sun.

Frost on winter wheat fields glimmered on green.

Cows were black shapes in the damp, foggy morning, as they grazed on "Frosted Flake" wheat fields. 

Since the snow last Thursday, it had been overcast. We didn't get as much snow here on the County Line as some locations in Kansas.

But the wet snow clung to the winter wheat crop, giving it another boost of moisture, added to the 0.40" of rain we'd gotten earlier last week.

That's a Christmas present that you can't wrap up and put under the tree. But it's a blessing nonetheless. So was a frosty sunrise ...

Turn, Turn, Turn!

There are lots of twists and turns between planting time and harvest.

A tale of two crops is playing out across the road. In one field, the wheat we've planted earlier in the month is having a good growth spurt after unseasonably warm temperatures this past weekend.

And another crop - the sudan - is being swathed. (For more on planting the sudan and why we use it for cattle feed, click on this link: TDN? BMR? It's Alphabet Soup!)

The guys had begun swathing the sudan before we got 3.20 inches of rain. The moisture was beneficial for the wheat crop, but it didn't help the sudan that was already swathed and left to dry and cure. We are definitely not complaining about the moisture. It just demonstrates the dichotomy that sometimes happens in crop production. What's good for one crop is not necessarily good for the other. But since wheat is our "bread" and butter (so to speak), we would much rather have good moisture for it.

On Monday, the guys were able to get started with the swathing again after a two-week hiatus. They finished it up yesterday afternoon.

The sudan was really leaning in the wind on Monday.

Can there be a "harvest" without a complication? The guys ended up having to change the teeth on the swather since it wasn't cutting through the thick stalks. (We had other complications when we swathed a neighbor's sudan this summer ... always an adventure.)

Now it's hurry up and wait. The sudan will take several days to cure before it can be baled. Then it will be ready to be served up for "dinner" for the cattle this winter.

I keep thinking about the Byrds' song, "Turn, Turn, Turn." There is a season for everything. And sometimes the planting and the harvest happen simultaneously on The County Line.