Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Dix producer Chris Bogert said, “We are going to shoot for today!” (Friday, July 19). He thought that he would try cutting some of his wheat. “It is the last of the 100 degree days for a while and we might as well be in the combines.”
Chris has dryland and irrigated wheat, corn, sunflowers and millet primarily in the northwest part of the county. Chris plants both white hard winter wheat and red winter wheat, the hard white winter wheat is preferred for baking.
Chris has had a little hail in northeast Kimball County but said his wheat “looks real good”. The last few days they have been preparing for harvest because Chris is convinced harvest “will drag out”--while last year they started cutting wheat on July 6th and were done in 10 days.
He has wheat south of Bushnell and thought that wheat, was at least two weeks from being ready to cut. Their wheat will be hauled to Frenchman Valley Cooperative. Chris and his crew also do custom cutting.
On Monday, July 22, Gene Golding at Frenchman Valley Cooperative said they were “just waiting for harvest.” About 25 loads have been brought into Frenchman Valley, mostly from the Dix area and a couple of loads from Banner County.
Gene said they have not heard any yields yet but the protein is between 8.8 to 9.5 with the moisture under 13.5.
Gene said that harvest is expected to be “long and dry” as “some wheat is still a couple of weeks away.” Gene reported that not much wheat was being cut on Monday as the humidity was 51% and the temperature was only 77 degrees and the skies were cloudy.
According to Gene, the elevator likes the the moisture to be 13.5 but then the producers want that also because they do not have near the shrinkage problem. Gene was anxious to hear some of the yields because he heard that the wheat was pretty good.