Here are a few pictures from wheat harvest. We are located in the Texas panhandle, southeast of Amarillo, TX. The wheat is good this year, averaging about 72-78 bpa..
I received a lot of help from some people on this site; and again, wanted to say thank you. My 9600 was throughly gone through this winter. Some of the work included: new concave from St. John Welding, chromed cylinder bars, stationary and rotating chopper knives, bin extension, some new belts, new rear tires, and a lot of other proactive maintenance. The wheat has lodged/fallen down (slightly to moderately) due to the recent high wind + rain. I am having to cut much lower than I wanted to, 'cause I gotta get it all!
The help I rec'd from you guys sure did save me a lot of head scratching! Thanks again.
PS* I also posted these pics at the agtalk.com forum, so if you see the thread there you won't have to waste your time looking at them again.
Are you close to the J.A. Ranch and the Palo Duro Canyon. Had a chance to visit the J.A. old headquarters a few years back. There is a lot of neat history in that place.
TxFarmer, I'm soooo happy for you! I wish all the farmers here could have as blessed. This is one of the worst years I've seen, in the 34 years of observing the wheat harvest in either Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas or all three states. For me, the other year that rivals, is 1995, of which a few on here will also remember. SW Oklahoma was also flooded. I went dove hunting to find entire fields of uncut, decayed wheat laid flat down. I was astonished to see 2-3 local combines still cutting out bottom land wheat along the Chikaskia and Canadian Rivers a week after opening day of dove season!
Joe, I believe you will remember that scenario, too.
My friends finally declared enough is enough, and left a town in north central Oklahoma yesterday. They were the last CH's to leave and how they had done their level best to stick it out, but last night's 1/2" rain just put them over the edge. If insurance doesn't fully comp local farmers, they said they would come back. Yes, they are men of their word, too.
So TxFarmer, are you almost completely done with your harvesting? I'm glad to hear the SJW stuff is doing good for the combine. I knew you would not be disappointed.
Does anyone down there bale the straw, here if there is any length to it it gets baled and used for bedding and with the ethanol plants straw gets mixed with the byproduct and fed at the daries and feedlots. Even corn stalks are baled for the same uses.
I just got in, and it is kinda late, so I am gonna be short...but dont take it the wrong way, k>?
Yes, I am fairly close to the JA. My great grandfather worked for them for a while, when he was young.
Thank you for the kind words...It's nice to knock a home run every now and then. I wish we all were..
I am leaving about 6" of stubble in most places, but where the wheat is down bad, I am shaving the ground.
No, no one around here does any bailing of wheat straw behind the combine.
The wheat is going down worse around these parts every day. 50% chance of rain (maybe severe) on Tues night..IF that does happen (and it does not get hailed out) I believe ALL wheat will completely lodge...and that wont be a good thing..
TxFarmer....is your wheat harvest always around this time frame? I guess what surprizes me is that I thought maybe you would harvesting your wheat in your area in late May, about the same time as central/northern Okla. I'm 90 miles north of Wichitia, Ks and harvest is in full swing here. Nice pictures and am glad to here of such good yields for you. Bummer her, 15bu is around average. Easter freeze killed us!
TrakMan,
We are harvesting a little bit later than normal, but not all that much. [I'm] Not totally sure as to why...maybe all of the excessive moisture made the wheat mature slower..??
Seems like around here we are always trying to plant milo and cut wheat at the same time. My favorite date for planting milo is June 20, and we usually have to plant milo at night at cut wheat during the day..."fun-fun"
Sometimes we harvest wheat in the earlier part of June...but not that often...bottom line: I think we are harvesting about 10-14 days later than "normal" ("normal" being a 10 year average)
Here is an update as of 6-26-07 (8:30 pm)
We got rained out big-time. I sure hope the wheat does not go down 100%. I was having to run @ about 2.7 mph because I am having to eat so much straw in order to get all of the downed wheat. Amarillo got a FLOOD! I heard on the radio that underpasses were severly flooded. One guy told me 3 inches had already fallen in Amarillo, but who knows for sure (yet). There have been many reports of pea-sized hail (~perfect~ size for ruining ripe wheat), but none has fallen on my farms, yet. So far, I have rec'd about 6 tenths of rain; and right now, that is 6 tenths more than I wanted...I'm not cussing the rain...just wishing it had held off for another week...Down at the Palo Duro State Park, they got some major hail. I have a buddy over there, and he was not even CLOSE to being done w/his wheat harvest....He may be done now, though...
Sorry for going on sooo long...I wish I were still in the field right now...on a combine....harvesting good, ripe, $5+ wheat....ah, what a life...
Congratulations on the 70+ bushel wheat. $6.08 for 07 June today. Well its lower than that thanks to the basis. But still at a good price. I hope the rain doesn't knock everything down. I know thats a pain. It seems like everytime you cut the Weather Channel is on there is something about the weather in Amarillo. Nice pictures also. I like that Big 12 grain cart. Good luck with the rest of the harvest and the milo crop.
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