Today seemed more like a typical harvest day. We were able to get started before 10:00. Moisture was 13.1% with my first load. Weather man said it was going to be a warmer day than we’ve been seeing. One thing I think we all forget about because the wheat’s ready to cut now is it is still only the middle of May – not the end. So, I wonder if the cooler temps at night and the not-so-brutal day temps are because of the day we see when we look at the calendar. Today WAS warmer, though – 98 degrees with a little breeze. It was definitely a drink-your-water-jug-dry kind of day!
So, let me tell you about why I titled this post the way I did. About mid afternoon, I was sitting in the truck line waiting to get back on the scales to “weigh off”. When I talk about “weighing off” that means the truck is weighed after the grain has been dumped. The truck is weighed full and then weighed again when empty. The difference of the pounds is the amount of wheat I had on my truck. Let’s say the difference is 24,000 lbs. Divide the 24,000 by 60 and that equals the number of bushels I hauled to the elevator – 400. Ok, so I was waiting to “weigh off” and had my door open (because it was so warm) to catch a breeze when all at once there’s a young woman standing there. “Excuse me”, she says, “can you tell me what that big building is behind you”. My brain starts trying to process what she’s asking me…building? What building? “The big white structure behind us?” I ask. “Yes”, she says, “we’ve been seeing a lot of them and were wondering what they were”. Wheat 101 kicks in. I probably gave her more information than she really wanted to know or cared about. I explained to her it was called a grain elevator and how the whole harvesting wheat process ends up at the elevator. “Why?” she asked. “Well”, I continued, “the elevator stores the grain for the farmer after it’s been harvested. It’s sort of the middle man between the field and market. This is where your loaf of bread begins. By the way, you’re not from around here are you?” I ask. “No, we’re from California. I took agriculture in High School but they never taught me about harvest and grain elevators”.
Interesting! Now, to give her some slack, I received a note from a friend of mine at home that made me think differently about her. She said they probably taught her about the agriculture of California – fruits, nuts, veggies, etc. However, there is wheat in California…they must not have grain elevators. I wish I could have had her jump in the seat next to me and take her through the whole process – beginning with a ride on the combine!
I had another opportunity to explain who the custom harvester is and more detail of our lifestyle to a newspaper reporter. The woman on the other end of the phone had a warm, gentle voice and it was very easy to talk to her. She was genuinely interested in the story I had to tell her which always surprises me. I almost get tired of telling my story because I feel like I’m not that special. However, the custom harvester is a unique individual offering a unique service to the producer and lives a unique lifestyle. So, I guess I can understand the interest – especially when you work a “real” job.
Now that I think about my day, I remembered one other poor soul who learned more about the custom harvesting industry than he probably really cared to know. An investment consultant called me this a.m. and wanted me to invest money in AT&T. They were showing 500% return with their dividends. I told the young man on the other end that IF I had money to invest, it sounded like a great idea. This led to his asking further questions, such as do you have debt? DEBT?? If he only knew! So, each question he had for me led him down the path of me explaining what we did and how we do it. “Well”, he says, “if you love what you do, I suppose it wouldn’t matter whether you had money or not”. Bingo!
It was a day of educating the world about ag and custom harvesters. The wheat we cut today continued to weigh heavy. I even had several loads that weighed 63 lbs. The protein continues to remain around the 11-13% range. I have no idea what it’s yielding – I didn’t ask the combine driver. Hope you enjoy today’s pictures.
