by Brad Tastad
The recent warm weather has helped push up the harvest times for the small-grain crops in the county.
Some farmers began swathing their barley crops last week with the intention of beginning combining towards the end of this week.
Other farmers were planning to begin combining their wheat crops perhaps early next week, or in ten days, depending on weather.
Combining efforts in both small- grain crops probably would be in full gear if two things had not occurred during the past week: an unexpected rainfall early Tuesday morning that dropped several tenths of precipitation in the county, and extremely humid conditions that have kept crops damp well into the mid-afternoons of each day.
“The barley combining is expected to begin this week, and some of the winter wheat has already been combined,” said Ken Nichols, Traill County Extension Agent. “Some of the winter wheat was good. It ran in the 50 bushel-per-acre range. But some that had drownout from the rains we had in May wasn’t as good. Some of it only ran in the 30 bushel-per-acre-range.”
However, the small-grain crops that did not experience drownout from the six-week period of rain from May into mid-June are looking very good.
“The barley is looking fairly well with decent quality and we’re hoping it will run in the 70 bushel range,” continued Nichols. “And the spring wheat isn’t quite ready for combining yet, but it is also looking good. The spring wheat should bring in 45 to 50 bushels per acre.”
Nichols added that the bushels he’s hoping for won’t be realized over the entire county, because some areas suffered more drownout acres than in other parts. “But for the most part, the small grain crops are looking decent,” summed up Nichols.
Getting started on the barley and spring wheat combining is a little ahead of schedule. “We’re not even into August yet and we’re getting into the small grains,” said Nichols. “We’re in good shape.”
However, combining efforts came to a sudden halt, as the rains returned to the county early Thursday morning, dumping several tenths more of precipitation to the area.
The corn and soybean crops are over a month away from harvest time, but both of those crops, which are the two largest crops in the county, are looking good.
“The soybeans have really perked up and some of the corn crops look super,” remarked Nichols. “For the most part, all of the corn and soybeans look pretty good.”
In a normal year, farmers begin combining their soybeans in mid-September with the corn harvest coming after the soybean harvest is completed.
“If the weather cooperates and doesn’t get real cold in the coming month, which I don’t foresee happening, it should be a good year for the corn and soybean crops,” said Nichols.
The prices
As of Thursday morning, the market prices for mill wheat was at $5.84 with the market price of corn at $2.72 and soybeans were in at $6.60.
The new crop price for a bushel of corn sat at $2.54 Thursday morning with the new crop price of soybeans at $6.75.
The market price for feed barley was $2.40 per bushel on Thursday with malting barley sitting at $3.60 a bushel.
The price for lead free gasoline was at $3.05 per gallon, the same price for road diesel.
