County Line Virtual Crop Tour

We had no trouble social distancing during our County Line wheat tour.

This year, because of Covid-19, the Wheat Quality Council substituted a Virtual Wheat Tour for its usual in-person variety. After the abbreviated version with volunteer scouts was completed the week of May 18, the final report estimated a potential Kansas wheat harvest of 284.4 million bushels. That was below the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s most recent estimate of 306 million bushels.

The virtual tour was not meant to fully replace the annual Wheat Quality Council’s Hard Winter Wheat Tour that annually hosts 80 to 100 or more participants. In that tour, participants drive across Kansas for three days, scouting several hundred wheat fields the first week of May. This year’s tour was hosted by Kansas Wheat and Kansas State University Research & Extension, with support from the Kansas Department of Agriculture. The abbreviated tour May 18 to 21 was offered as a snapshot of the wheat crop’s potential, using a later-season formula from USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. 

We completed our own County Line tour on Thursday, May 28. It was not virtual for me. I had my own personal guide and scout.

My guide believes our wheat is the best its been for several years.

Last year, this field was totally in corn because heavy rains in the fall of 2018 kept us from planting part of our 2019 wheat crop.

The wheat in this field is a little taller.

This past month, we've had timely rains - about 4 inches of gentle, soaking-in rain spread out in regular intervals during the month. (The photos below were taken on May 7.)

 

We've also had cooler weather, which has aided in filling the wheat heads. In our fields, there's not evidence of diseases like stripe rust, though some has been reported in parts of Kansas.

 

We did find some freeze damage, particularly in low-lying areas. You can see the damage at the top of the head in the photo above. However, there is grain further down in the head.

While it's not "amber waves of grain" quite yet, we're well on our way to America, the Beautiful in wheat country. A general rule of thumb from the farmers at the coffee shop says that we should be cutting wheat about six weeks after it begins heading. That would put our projected start date in mid-June. You've heard of "old wives' tales." We'll see how accurate the "old farmers" are.

Our County Line tour wasn't exclusive to wheat. We also had some stops in corn fields.

 The rains have been beneficial for the corn, too, which we planted the third week of April.

 

It's grown a lot since these photos were taken May 1.

It's amazing what a little time and some rain will do!

The rains have also been beneficial to greening up our pastures to enhance our cow-calf pairs' summer dining experience.

We had quite an audience as we fished at the Ninnescah on Friday.

Our alfalfa got off to a slow start because of insects. It's taken awhile for it to rebound, but Randy hopes to begin our first cutting this week. 

Randy planted silage yesterday, and milo planting is also on the agenda this week.

This completes this edition of the County Line Virtual Tour. You are cordially invited to attend future tours right here at this web address.

My Personal Crop Consultant

We are always getting notifications by email, newsletter or farm magazine about the latest crop tours. I'm sure they are wonderful tours. But they can't compare to having my own personal crop consultant take me on a tour of the 2016 fall crops.

HAY, HAY!

Our first stop was a field to see the prairie hay that Randy had baled for a neighbor. (That's in the shot above, framed by my ride for the morning.)

Elsewhere, part of our third cutting of alfalfa was baled up and ready to be moved to the edge of the field. (Cierra got that done on Saturday.) With rain in the forecast on Friday, Randy didn't put down any more hay after he got this baled. However, more of the third cutting was swathed yesterday. So, yes, it will probably rain! If not, the guys will probably rake and bale tonight.

While those hay bales are on long-established fields, Randy also took me to the newest alfalfa field. We got a good stand of alfalfa, though there is also some crabgrass coming up in the field. Turnips are also coming up in the field, but that was by design. Randy planted turnip seeds along with the alfalfa to help with cover and prevent wind erosion as the new field is established.

SUDAN

Photo taken August 1, 2016

We planted sudan in late July and early August.

After a week or so, it was up and growing.

Sudan grows fairly quickly. I took the planting photos on August 1. By August 19, it was ankle height.

Taken August 19, 2016

We usually swath and bale a portion of the sudan. We also leave some of it and fence it off. It will be a fall buffet for some of our cattle.

MILO

It's been a few years since we have grown milo on the County Line. I am glad to see it back. With our abundant rains, it's done well this year.

It's already turning color on its march toward harvest. Kansas has become the Number 1 producer of sorghum, another name for milo. Our acreage devoted to milo won't add a lot to those numbers, but we will add a little to the totals.

SILAGE

The crop towering over my model is silage. This fall, we'll have a crew come in and chop it for silage. It will go into a trench silo, and we'll pull from that "stash" to feed cattle this winter.

This year's rains have helped the silage grow to 12 feet tall. Yes, we got a tape measure and checked!

The well-established brace roots help keep the tall plant upright. 

The planter goofed up right here, leaving a swath that didn't get planted. But it made for some interesting light and shadows between rows.

 CORN

This corn is way past corn-on-the-cob stage! Corn was the headliner in a blog earlier in the week. Click here to read about that crop's progress.

Thanks for coming along on the tour. You didn't even have to leave home!