Friday, June 21, 2013

Yes, there’s good news and bad news today about the wheat crop.  We started our harvesting this afternoon.

First, the good news.  The quality (test weight) of the wheat is good.  Also, the yield is better than in several years.

Now the bad news.  It is hard to harvest. The wheat straw is like rubber, and the combines digest it very slowly.  It is difficult to get the crop mat through the harvesters… some stems are still green, and the straw is soggy.  When you grasp a handful of the straw behind the combine, it is very wet to the touch.  It will take days of summer heat and sun to dry it out enough for our neighbor to bale it.  This will delay the planting of double-crop soybeans (DCB).

The afternoon was, at best, tedious.  We had to drive very slowly in order to allow the combines to process the wet straw, and as we drove along, constant adjustments to the header height had to be made manually.  There is no ‘automatic height control’ system when we cut wheat.

Please don’t think I’m complaining… it’s just an observation.  The good here outweighs the bad.

Happy first day of summer.