Harvest Under Way, But Not In Full Swing

Gene Golding was hurrying around last Friday, but he said harvest was "not in full swing yet." He said that there is quite a bit of green wheat still out there.

Dumping a load of wheat in his semi, Justin Perry said they were cutting wheat southeast of Kimball. He said he has been "pleased so far" with the wheat. He is assuming it will take two weeks if the weather cooperates. He said the protein was average and the moisture good.

The semis makes harvest quicker because, Perry said, that the trailer held about 1,000 bushels of wheat.

Local custom cutter Nathan Magninie returned to the Panhandle after cutting wheat in Lawton and Enid, Oklahoma, and a stop in Leota, Kansas.

Magninie said that the wheat in western Kansas was the best that he had ever seen in that area in his 20 years of custom cutting wheat. He said dryland wheat was making 80-100 bushels per acre.

Currently, Magninie and his crew are in Cheyenne County, around Potter, and they are working their way back to Kimball, where he will cut his own wheat.

On Sunday night, the Potter area received an inch of rain, so they were going to be late getting started on Monday morning. He thought the wheat in that area was average to a little above average. Most of the wheat test weight is 60-62 pounds and the moisture was 11-12.

As for protein, Nathan thought it was low between 8-10 protein and he said that is typical of a wet year.