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.

Harvesting the Sky

To see the Summer Sky
Is Poetry, though never in a Book it lie –
True Poems flee –
~Emily Dickinson, c.1879

 

"A harvest sky yields bounty to the eyes and weary soul."

Kim Fritzemeier, Kansas farm wife

That wasn't on the Quote Garden list of "sky" quotes. Maybe Kim Fritzemeier, farm wife, could be added to the likes of Emily Dickson and Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.

OK ... maybe not. But some days, the harvest sky has made the seemingly endless trips to and from the field and the emergency parts runs a little more palatable.

The sky is the daily bread of the eyes.

 ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

 
Good old Ralph probably didn't know much about wheat harvest, but as we do our part to bring that "daily bread" into reality, I thought his quote was appropos. Sunsets are much more interesting with clouds. There's a lesson there somewhere, I'm sure.

Last Friday, I'd made two trips to Hutchinson to pick up parts at Case. That brought my 24-hour total to three trips.

That evening, instead of riding with Randy in the combine as is my usual modus operandi, I opted to stay behind to take photos of the shifting skies as day turned into evening.

It was a glorious show.

And, unlike the parts runs, it was totally free of charge.

It was almost as if Randy were harvesting the sun itself as the sun dipped toward the horizon ...

... and he emptied the combine after yet another trip down the field.

Wheat dust always makes me a little itchy. But I'd have to say it was worth a little discomfort to witness a particularly beautiful sunset.

I've had a few other favorite sky shots from this harvest. One dramatic sky heralded the arrival of Jill and the girls on the evening of June 15.

They arrived about the same time as the storm did.

Dark clouds become heaven's flowers when kissed by light.

 ~Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds

We got a rain shower during the night, but I hope it wasn't enough to prevent one more day of harvest. If we're able to cut, we should get done today. Here's hoping!

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!