The 2008 Kansas wheat harvest is underway and has been for about a week in southern Kansas. Test cutting was going  on one farm near me today. I would say my wheat will be ready by the end of this week if it does not rain. Weather has slowed the progress in many parts of the state.  www.kwch.com  has several videos about it, click through the choices near the top left hand side of the screen.  www.kake.com has a video about neighbors who will harvest for a widow tomorrow barring bad weather. 

Hi Kansas

Good luck with harvest, don,t forget to check for coons befor you start your harvester . 

regards Jim

Jim:  Don't worry, I leave the ladder down to remind me to look before I start it.  Shouldn't be a problem, the dog killed several before his demise, and a friend trapped 100.  My all out war on coons seems to have paid off.  Now the problem is pigeons.

It is raining as I type this, came out of nowhere.  41 acres of alfalfa down.  All I can say is dammit.

In spite of what I have been saying, I am told there is some very good wheat in the area.  It will not be mine,but I heard of a couple guys who cut Sunday and thought their wheat made 50 bushels,about a ton and a half, just under using your 2240 pound tons. 

      Best wishes for the harvest Kansas. If it makes you feel any better I had 20 acres of winter barley flattened with rain on Saturday night; having just had one of the driest May and June months that I can remember. That 20 acres will be a big problem now but I have another 20 acres of it for my malting contract. 'Hope you get a good wheat yield and good weather to bring it in.

I did cut some wheat today, what a joke.  Thanks to all the rain we got scab, and vomitoxin.  In the elevator now are an assortment of 5 gallon buckets with wheat in them and all of our names(local farmers) on pieces of paper in the buckets, to go to the State Dept of Ag for testing, to determine what dock we will get, or if it is even sellable. 

Big rain forecast Friday night now.  Leaves me scratching my head what to do, that is a lie actually, the wheat can go to hell, we are going to try to finish planting beans, if the hard south wind forecast for tomorrow and Friday will dry us out(at 95F it dries fast now).  In our area, most of us hire the elevator to do our spraying, they have been running fast and furious to catch up, and are as cranky as the farmers are.  They even missed church tonight, very unusual for them. 

AllyR:

20 acres of it for my malting contract

Could it be Ally that I drink some of your produce?

kansasfarmer:

try to finish planting beans

Some friends from Kansas City Mo, are over at the moment and enjoying the Broad Beans that they say they simply cannot get in the US. Could this be the golden goose for Mrs KF?

They call them fava beans Peter. Hannibal Lecter seemed to be able to get them!

I am sure you are just as tired of hearing about the weather problems here as I am of telling them.  Rained 1.75 inches on my farm last night, now it is thundering and we are going to get hit again.  Farther south about 5 miles it was pushing 4 inches and at our county seat of Eureka Kansas the report is of 8 inches last night, whilst at Cassoday west of us about 25-30 miles they got 6.1 inches according to the radio.  I would very much like to see this one blow past us,as our newly planted soybeans do not need more rain right now. 

One tractor had the AC blow up while mowing alfalfa, I took it to a shop 8 miles from here and noticed lots of hay down.  Everyone is just about to go crazy over the weather, and any chance of no rain sparks hay being cut.  Wheat in our area I would guess is now half cut, wheat harvest is very short in this part of the world, 3 or 4 good days will get most of it cut on most farms.  The corn is getting big enough that it can use all the water, and unless it is in wet spots it looks quite good.  The early corn is starting to tassle, I have corn all the way from tasseling and silking to knee high.  If all our N has not washed down to the Gulf of Mexico, we will probably have some really good corn in our area.  I have read that at silking and filling corn can use about a half inch of rain a day, we seldom get that so we seldom have really outstanding corn.

Talked to the crop insurance man on the phone this morning.  He told me(and this is just one mans opinion) that the acres of soybeans in trouble in this nation are massive compared to the acres of corn in trouble, he put it at 20 million either unplanted, planted late, poor stand, massive weed infestation, or flooded.  I know alot of fellows are backing out of double crop beans, I still want to plant one field if we can ever finish cutting the wheat off of it and it gets dry.  I keep telling myself that 15 bushel beans at $15 are about as good as 50 bushel beans at $5. 

Had I been posting in 2006, you would have heard about our excellent wheat crop, and conditions so dry that soybeans planted in May did not come up until mid to late June.  If I am still posting next year I expect the situation will be totally different from today.

           

Peter Wells:

Could it be Ally that I drink some of your produce?

  

           It is certainly possible, Peter, as all our Spring Barley goes to malting. The maltster who buys it from my merchant will make the malt and sell it on to the distiller who will make the whisky. However, we are talking about a pebble on a beach as to whether my barley is in your glass!! It will also, of course, be the barley I was growing 10 - 12 years ago!  With that in mind, I did grow Golden Promise in the 1990's for The Macallan contract via Glencore, so if you like that excellent malt whisky the odds may be slightly less against my barley being in your glass.

Re coons- do you mean racoons. I always thought they were the size of dog. Mention coons here and the police will soon turn up and arrest you for making racist comments.

Hi Swedehurler

Yep Raccoon, one was having a sleep between the fan and radiator when Kansas fired up his combine for the first time last year.Made a mess of the fan not to mention the raccoon.

regards Jim

yere we put one through the 42 foot manure pump last week cause us a few problems. also have on living in one of the trucks so the driver has to be a bit carfull whenever they take that truck.