The Harvest that was not.

Hello friends. The week has come and gone. We've harvested about half our acres, taken the wheat to the elevator and had lots of adventures along the way. Above is a picture of Mike cutting wheat on the field our family has owned since the early 1940's. We call it the Long Quarter. Below is some of the "adventure" I was talking about: Parker is making a trek to "East Creek" which is down below "Squeeky's Tree". Squeeky is his imaginary pet squirel.

One of the funniest things that was said this week was from Parker. (see picture below) Parker and I were making a trip to the elevator in the Mack truck. We had on the AC and so I had my window rolled up. Parker's window was down and he looked over at me and said "Daddy roll your window down because my other arm is hot!" I laughed and laughed and told everyone about it. Just had to tell you about it too.

Below is a picture of our #2 Gleaner R72 complete with scenes of nature (weeds from the water way on the edge of Long Quarter.

Thought the pic below was interesting. It was just after the dinner bell rang and everyone was in a hurry to come to the edge of the field for supper. We have a rule that before the combines sit for any length of time that they need to be unloaded. Mike got a jump start on supper by unloading on Konner & Mikey's Grain Cart while they were unloading on the truck. Notice Mikey on the back of the trailer directing traffic.

Below is a picture of Tanner Pruitt our good neighbor farmer who was already working their ground. This field was just east of Long Quarter. He is driving a 9230 John Deere and pulling a sweep chisel plow.

Below is a pic of the grain cart and #1 Gleaner driven by Dad working together on Long Quarter.

Thot the pic below was a pretty sight with our grain cart and the elevator at Thomas in the distance. That's where we haul all of our wheat. Nephew Mikey Taylor and neighbor Konner Kippenberger are Co-Grain Cart Drivers.

Below is a good pic of #1 Mack on the Huiatt Place.

Below: Waiting behind Eyster Harvesting truck at the East Side Elevator. We are next in line and ready to dump.

Below: Pic of Mark Sweeney - assistant elevator manager for Wheeler Brothers in Thomas. He's a good friend. This was taken after we pulled thru bay.

Pic of two of the elevator hands unloading the hopper trailer.

This coming week we'll have more updates!

Here at last

Parker cleaning up some trash in the wheat before it is cut.

Sorry about no post last week. We took a family trip for the benefit of the kids play time and our mental health. At least the kids played so hard they wore themselves out. Jenn and I were too tired to care after keeping up with them. We saw the Calumet elevator open but not receiving any loads of wheat.

Now for this week's post:

Well I think its official - Wheat Harvest '09 has started. Farmers in our area began cutting last Monday afternoon then followed a few rainy days. On Friday, we even started cutting with a test sample that showed 14% moisture. After cutting a truck load we were told "let's not cut anymore 'til next week" by Mark Sweeney (assistant elevator manager). The truckload of wheat Mikey and I brought in went for 15.7% moisture and got a moisture dock. Thankfully they took that one load and we were able to call ahead and stop Daddy & Mike from cutting anymore.

On this first load of wheat that we hauled in, the test weight managed to be OK at 57. If this is all greek to you, the moisture is the easy thing. It's like taking a measurement of the wheat's humidity and temperature together. The elevator can usually safely store wheat that has a moisture percentage below 13.5%. Especially if they have some drier wheat to blend it with. Now on to the test weight of the wheat which is its density. Our load came in at 57 lbs per cubic foot. Normally we like to see wheat weigh at least 60 lbs test weight (per cubic foot) which would be a perfect.

I'm sure you've all heard of farmers talk about how many bushels per acre their wheat made. Now you can imagine if you hear a farmer say his wheat made 40 bushels per acre, then in actuality it made 40 cubic feet of wheat per acre if his wheat's density was a perfect 60 lbs/sq ft.

To tie in the issue of the test weight to the real world, if our wheat yielded 40 cubic feet of wheat per acre and its test weight was only 57 lbs per cubic foot, it actually only made (40x57)/60 = 38 "bushels" per acre. This in essence is a wheat quality issue - being that it was less dense than the standard 60 lbs per cubic foot. A bushel by the way weighs 60 pounds regardless of its density. Bushels are simply a measurement of weight. Therefore, this bushels per acre measurement has the density quality built in to the equation. Sometimes as is the case, but probably not this year because of the stress the wheat was under (drought, hail, freeze), the wheat can even be more dense or heavier than 60 pounds test weight. I've even seen 1 load a couple years ago that went for 64 pounds test weight! You could feel that it was heavier than normal just by putting your fingers into it.

Some what relatedly, in some parts of the world, farmers have stopped using bushels to measure yield since they are such small units of measurement and have gone to using tons per acre. Times they are a changing.

To sum this wheat quality info all up, we had our wheat graded at grade 3. This is not great, but the test weight significantly affects the grading scale and moisture significantly affects the test weight. Anything 57 and below is grade 3 or worse and 58-59 is grade 2 and grade 1 is anything above 60 test weight. Now you know what we had. We expect the test weight on this particular field to increase since we are waiting for the moisture to go down before harvesting the wheat.

I am sure that someone noticed. Yes the truck was significantly over weight. However, being new to the grain cart, I'll get that weight issue figured out. Our crew is somewhat changed up: It includes Daddy on #1 Combine, Mike on #2, Willie on Trucks (Willie's mom passed last Thursday evening, so he's not able to be here til the middle of this week. Please pray for Willie and family.) Myself on Grain Cart (I've heard I've been called "hell-on-wheels" already, but I'm not sure why). Miko aka Mike Taylor bro-in-law at Grain Bins. Mikey & Konner as go-fers and assistants to all where needed as they learn the business.

While waiting for the wheat to dry out, we've worked on cleaning the sheds, putting up wrenches, sorting bolts and working cattle. A farmers work is never done, but we keep trying to get caught up.

Above: Mikey taking a break after cleaning the north shed.

This morning, (as I am trying to recover from a riduculously bad cold) I think the weather is showing signs of change. There was a lot less dew than we've been getting and the breeze feels more like harvesting weather. Forecast is for hot and dry for the next 2 weeks. Glory be. Watch out wheat, here we come :))

I would also like to introduce you guys to a new blog that we've found. We always take a look at is at lunch time since we've been around the house here lately. All the farm hands always want to "hear the update from the harvest blog." Our new frinds and bloggers are named Jenna

and Jada. They are blogging about wheat harvest from Texas to Canada. You can follow them along too. Right now Jenna and her family are in Seiling, OK cutting wheat and Jada and her crew are moving from Olney, TX to up north around Kiowa, KS Blog site: http://www.allaboardharvest.com/ You can subscribe to receive their blog entries by email by entering your email on the top right corner of their site. Also, check out the "What am I doing ..." box on the left side of the blog. It shows lots of interesting trivia.

Well until next week, keep the dust at your back and the breeze to your face and keep the wheels turning.

r

Growing closer

Hello everyone. We're getting ready for wheat harvest. It seems like two weeks ago I was saying that harvest is about 2-3 weeks away. It still is. And that's a good thing, because the wheat has more time to fill with grain. During this beautiful time of the year, we've been busy with harvest preparations, bermuda grass planting and rye picking. Here's a pic of Mike installing a new chain on the combine header:

Below is a pic of Matt in a tight spot. He was setting up the grain bin extensions for the combine.

Below is the rye picking crew. We've been working about 3 hours a day picking out the rye that tries to grow up over the tops of the wheat. Maybe we'll be finished in about 2 -3 more days. Front Row, r-l: Kendrick Wingard, Konner Kippenberger. Back Row: Philip Barnett, Mitch Cruse, David Barnett, Joel Barnett. In the middle: Megan Barnett.

Below: Case 7110 loader tractor hooked to the Bermuda King sprig digger and trailed by Daddy's own invention - the Sprig Katchall. We use this equipment to dig up bermuda grass sprigs and transplant them to other areas.

farm update

Above: Here's a pic of the wheat just outside our front door. It looks pretty good considering.

Hi Farmers and those who are interested in ag. We are coming down the home stretch for our wheat crop. It has been a tough year.....flood, drought, greenbugs, hail, freeze and now rust! But we are doing our best and God is doing the rest (which is actually way more than we even imagine). Notice how uneven and thin the wheat is? It has had a lot to face, but its still going to make a crop.

On a lighter note, Parker is playing dressup with a few extras around the house. He's our entertainment around the farm.

farming passion

For those of you out there who have ever lost faith in anything, let me introduce you to the Oklahoma Farmer. He's made up of a tenacious blend of a rock solid confidence in his fellow man and a tender heart that loves to see things blossom and grow. Now is the time if ever before that we need to band together. We need to embrace tradition while at the same time cultivate change. This will enable us to grow out of the current "down in the dumps" steady drum beat that we are inundated with on the TV. Let's just get back to basic home grown values and look for ways to apply these values to our current situation and maybe even do a little less complaining along the way. What do you think? Are you with me?

As the saying goes....

It seems like we live and die here on the farm by adages. One old adage goes that "it will rain in sight of 3 days if the sun goes down behind a cloud bank on Sunday evening." We're waiting to see what the sunset brings. Another old adage goes "all weather signs fail in dry weather." Well we've certainly seen our share of that lately. All my life I have been warned to watch out for greenbugs in the wheat when it gets dry. We'll that's come true too. These bugs are starting to devestate the already drought sticken wheat plants. Here's a stock picture of a greenbug (aphid) that has made its home on our wheat.

When rain won't come here on the prairie the wheat reaches a critical point that will result in one of two things. Either the wheat will find moisture stored in the soil below its roots and sink them down further to sustain itself. Or the wheat will simply wither and die. Time has yet to tell what will happen. We have waited in hopes for life giving moisture, but it hasn't come yet. We've gone from having the wettest August in history (the month before wheat was planted) to having the driest stretch that can be remembered by my dad and he's 73.

In fact our area has been charred with one of the largest wildfires in modern history. This occured on the hills and canyons just north of here in Dewey county. This county is known for is spectacular grass where cattle graze on its abundance. Late last week, at least two towns in Dewey County (Taloga & Putnam) were evacuated as a result of the fires. Reports have come in that many cattle have been lost as a result of these raging fires and at least 4 homes. I heard by reliable people that 3 supertanker airplanes were brought in to dump chemicals and water on the fire to help put it out and an Oklahoma Army National Guard Blackhawk helicopter equipped with a big bucket has been helping the over 90 different fire departments across our area. Much appreciation is owed to these courageous people who put their lives on the line. We are grateful. Only one firefighter has been injured so far. He was released after being treated for smoke inhalation. Reports have also surfaced that over 100,000 acres have burned during this fire.

In a somewhat related incident, I was checking for greenbugs on a farm west of our house. I had noticed that our neighbors were intending to take off in their 2 seater airplane. I saw the plane up in the air and then turn and head back another direction sharply. Then I heard the noise of it landing or so I thought. After checking for bugs and much to my worry finding them chewing away, I headed on to check another field. I drove not too far from the site where my friends and neighbors had to make an emergency landing. When their wheels touched down, the front one caught and flipped the plane over on its top. One neighbor was unhurt and his passenger had a big knot on his head and had to have a few stitches. These fellow farmers were on their way up to Dewey county to check on the fires.

So much for a quite weeek on the farm.

Update time.....

Found the camera from the posting I mentioned in the past update. Actually daddy found it hanging on a fence post. It must have stayed there 2 or 3 days. Well here's one of the calves we had. We have to check on them so much that I can walk among them at night and walk right beside them and they don't even get up. If you ever get the experience of calving heifers, it is well worth your patience to see this picture below:





Now don't think we don't have our share of problems, but usually things turn out just right like this newborn calf here:




























A lot of the credit goes to this fellow here:





Under Papa's watchful eye, nothing gets missed. He might turn into being a full time calving expert. Too bad we can't afford to pay him what he's worth.