Tag Archives: Agvocacy

let the games begin

by Nebraska Wheatie

There’s one thing I can say about wheat harvest 2014…it’s not typical.

I was given the morning off (July 14). The guys were going to be moving the equipment to the fields that used to bring us to Limon. I was told that I would have most of the morning to do what I needed to do and get lunches made. Jim would call when they needed me. No big deal…they’d be close to Limon and Taylor could take me to the field.

Sounded like a great plan. If only the wheat would have cooperated. It wasn’t quite ready.

So, I got a call telling me to go to the Pete and follow Scott to the field. Which is what I did.  I didn’t look to see what time it was when we got to the field, so I’m going to guess about 1:00 or so. The combines met us there and Chad took his into the wheat to cut a sample. The moisture was a little on the high-end. Let’s give it an hour or so…HURRY UP AND WAIT!

Actually, this is one of my favorite things to do (if I don’t have anything else pressing me to get done) when we’re cutting with others. I enjoy spending time with them and learning more about the people we’re working with.

The first waiting-for-the-wheat-to-dry game was throwing rocks at the corner post and see who can hit something. It was funny how a simple rock being thrown began as a personal challenge for one and turned into a game for them all. Even Jim picked up a couple of rocks and started throwing them.

Continue reading →

the beauty of a cloud

by Nebraska Wheatie

IMG_4315The pastures are so brown. This countryside is desperate for a drink.

Yesterday was nearly a full day for us. We waited for the sprinkle from the night before to dry off with the heat of the sun. I think we started just before noon and the moisture was still a little on the high-end. But, once we made a couple of rounds, it was back to a reasonable number which wasn’t necessary to be concerned about.  By the time that perfect number rolled around, we were throwing dust and moving along quite nicely.

Continue reading →

came as strangers – left as family

by Nebraska Wheatie

IMG_4295

The days have been long.

Since my last post, we’ve moved to Limon, Colorado – higher elevation, cool nights and no biting flies (oh…and a view of Pikes Peak from the field). Since six days have already come and gone, I’ll take this one day at a time and get caught up.

Continue reading →

distant fireworks

by Nebraska Wheatie

photo 1 (1) - Copy

Yesterday we celebrated the anniversary of our Nation’s independence. I hope you did something fun and traditional.

photo (6)I sent this picture to A Kansas Farm Mom after she challenged those of us in agriculture, “If you or your family is spending the holiday producing food for others, share a picture on this page. Happy Fourth of JULY!”

Continue reading →

what the rain prevented

by Nebraska Wheatie

It was sprinkling when we woke up this morning.

We had an additional .25 of an inch of rain last night. As I said in my last post, it came down at a nice slow pace. Not like the past several storms where the sky turned black and green and very angry with rain and hail pounding the ground. It was a relaxing rain. The day was so not like SW Kansas on July 1. We are typically faced with extreme heat and wind. So much wind you wish you could just cover your ears and make it go away (lalalalalala).

I remember one summer in particular staying in the farmer’s yard near Anthony, Kansas. The electricity wasn’t enough to pull the air conditioner in the trailer house so we had to endure the heat and the wind with the windows open. At that time, I had little kids and I wasn’t the “hired man”. I was the cook. Have you ever cooked in a trailer house that’s about 150 degrees already? And the wind just howled. I felt like I was going to go out of my mind. This one afternoon, I just closed up the windows and turned on that air conditioner just to get a break from the wind. I didn’t win the battle. The breaker clicked and I had to open the windows and endure. Until you’ve listened to wind howl like that, you can’t judge my decision. 🙂 Continue reading →

we found some wheat (and mud) to cut

by Nebraska Wheatie

 

photo 2 (14) - CopyAs I’m typing this, the pitter patter of rain is hitting the Cottage roof and I can hear thunder every once in awhile.

We were able to finally get started after lunch today. It had been over a week since the first storm rolled in. Today we cut on a piece that was under a pivot but wasn’t yielding as well as we had hoped. It certainly wasn’t the typical irrigated wheat yields for this area. I’m guessing the late season freezes probably had something to do with that. And…it didn’t help that it had hail pounding it a couple of nights ago. There were broken heads laying on the ground and wheat that had shattered. It looked like it was only going to make about 15 bushels per acre. The quality was still really good – over 60 pound test weight. Just not very much of it.

Continue reading →

raincation – day 5

by Nebraska Wheatie

photo 5 - Copy (2)This was on the side panel of the New Holland demo combine.

I slept in this morning. Why not? Nothing was pushing me to get out of bed.

Continue reading →

just tinkering

by Nebraska Wheatie

photo (7) - CopyLook who made the trip and is keeping me company til the girls get here. Isn’t he growing!!

 One thing is certain with harvest – nothing is certain!

I had an idea when we left home we may be sitting for a little while before we did any cutting. That appears to be the story. Our farmer has a combine. To make the situation a little easier to understand, our farmer also has a Shelbourne Stripper Head (to see what I’m talking about, click here to view a Shelbourne Head) and uses it to cover his dry land wheat. The stripper head removes only the head of wheat and leaves the straw. It does exactly what it sounds like it does…it strips the head from the plant. These headers are very popular in this part of Kansas because the straw that’s left will help catch any snow that may happen to fall. And in this “desert”, any moisture received is precious. He has us cut the wheat under the irrigation pivots because it reduces the amount of straw. Typically, irrigated wheat will grow much better than dry land – due to the amount of water that can be applied to the wheat as it’s growing. Too much straw affects planting next year’s crop.

Continue reading →

the transition from “real” to “harvest”

by Nebraska Wheatie

I denied it as long as I could.

I knew I would have to step out of the “real” world and enter the “harvest” world eventually. That day seemed like maybe it just wasn’t going to happen. With the drought and late season freezes, the Z Crew wasn’t in any hurry to get anywhere. The farmers that we had lined acres up with in TX and OK had zeroed them out. And why would we load up and take off hoping to find something this year? I’m usually the one to encourage doing something new and different but even I didn’t feel like it was something we should do.  So, I didn’t put up a fight when Jim said we’d just wait for SW Kansas and hope for acres there.

The combine left last week. Jim and Taylor got it to its destination, unloaded it and turned right around and came back. They were home the day after they left. Taylor said the wheat was green but Jim said, “we’ll be leaving with the rest of the stuff on Tuesday morning”. There it was. The date of departure. Departure from the “real” world. If you’re not a “wheatie”, I don’t think you can truly understand what it’s like to go through your house and start gathering EVERYTHING you might need for the 100+ days of being away from home. It’s overwhelming (to say the least)! So, I kept denying until Sunday afternoon rolled around. After the B-17 plane ride, I had to just tell myself I MUST get busy. Jim was being pretty insistent that Tuesday morning was the day.  So, I began. I began with the basement and worked my way upstairs – to the kitchen, bathroom and finally my personal belongings. Continue reading →

there’s always next year

by nebraskawheatie

I was going back through some letters I wrote as president of the U.S. Custom Harvesters recently and came upon one that could have been written today. It was written in the Spring of 2011. Why is this worth mentioning? It was about the impending disaster the custom harvesting industry was being faced with.  The letter  was written to the major combine and forage manufacturers asking for an extended grace period when it came time for equipment payments. I don’t remember if there was anything accomplished with that letter but it was a “heads up” to them anyway. By the time the harvest season was over, it appeared that most custom harvesters were able to hold on, sigh a heavy sigh and mutter, “there’s always next year”.

That was three summers ago.

Continue reading →