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Our wheat was cut this week. This morning there were some combines on a ridge across the highway. I thought the sunrise looked good with them lined up.

Cool pic

Beautiful!

Thanks, gentlemen. I sent to 4 news in Denver. Maybe they'll put on TV...

Huntsman, how was the harvest?

Wheat harvest is under way in Oklahoma


In some areas of Oklahoma, this year's wheat crop has suffered through drought, freezes, hail and more.

by Bryan Painter
Modified: June 8, 2013 at 12:18 am
Published: June 10, 2013


A yardstick stuck in a crack on June 3,
went 20 inches deep in a wheat field of
David Gammill's near Faxon. Since, about
2.5 inches of rain has fallen in this particular
area, after the start of harvest.
David McDaniel - The Oklahoman

As the yardstick sank in a crack at David Gammill's powder-dry wheat field, the
farmer's heart plummeted as well. The wooden measuring stick went 20 inches
into the southern Oklahoma earth.


Behind Gammill, his son, Josh, was at the helm of a John Deere 9600 combine
harvesting wheat in a field near Faxon.David McDaniel - The Oklahoman

In a good year, that 30-foot header on the machine would be gathering 40
bushels per acre, David Gammill said. This time, they hope it'll make 15
bushels.

Wheat harvest has started in Oklahoma. And as usual, the outcomes likely will
vary not only throughout the state, but possibly within counties.

The Gammills are an example of the angst and determination that mark each
Oklahoma wheat harvest.

�We thought that first field we cut would only make 5 bushels and we got 15.
This should be about the same,� David Gammill, 59, said of the field near
Faxon. �Right now, with all the crop has been through, we feel fortunate to get
that much.�

Mark Hodges, executive director of Plains Grains Inc./Oklahoma Genetics Inc.,
which tests wheat for quality, recently traveled to southern Oklahoma visiting
some producers who are in harvest, including Gammill. Seeing the cracks, he
went to his pickup for some baling wire to poke into the ground to get an idea
of the depth. But he happened to find the yardstick in the truck's cab.

Even though Gammill's heart dropped when the yardstick sank past a foot and
started approaching 2 feet, this wasn't breaking news. He's watched the cracks
multiply and widen for months.

He knows this crop has endured drought and at least five freezes just to get to
this point.

What next?

Gammill had the wheat crop of his dreams in 2008, cutting 50 bushels per acre.
The next year, a late freeze wiped him out. In 2010, the 28 bushels an acre
was close to his average. In 2011, combines harvested 9-bushel-an-acre
wheat in his fields. Last year, some of his neighbors' crops got hailed out while
Gammill came away with 35 bushels an acre.

Ups and down. The challenges are usually more bountiful than the crops.

�That's why you're truly paranoid about being ready and in the field as soon as
it will harvest,� he said.

Time to harvest

Minutes earlier Josh Gammill, 31, had pulled the combine alongside a truck to
dump the wheat. He got out, and his father handed him lunch in a small ice
chest. He climbed back into the cab of the combine. There are few to no breaks
when it's possible to harvest.

�When you get into the field you have to stay with it,� Josh Gammill said.

Thinking back to the months before wheat harvest, David Gammill couldn't
remember a real good rain since the 2 inches in October. And once the wheat
was ready, they needed to get it harvested before rains came. As it turned out,
they received about 2.5 inches of rain this past week, in his particular area, just
days after starting harvest.

�A rain on wheat that's ready to harvest can lower the test weight, which will
cause the wheat to weigh less per bushel and lower the yield,� he said. �As thin
as this wheat in our fields is, it should only have a minor effect on the overall
yield, but the test weight and the quality will be less.�

Adapting with time

Through the years, the Gammill family has raised crops and cattle. In 1995,
David Gammill got into the insurance business. In 2006, he bought into an
agency at Grandfield. His son helps him run that. They are examples of
families who use off-farm incomes to help them remain on the farm. That's
where they want to stay.

�The older I get, the more I appreciate my childhood,� Josh Gammill said. �Even
the days that I didn't like working and wanted to go do something else, I'm
glad I was here, doing this.�

This year

What are the estimates for this year's Oklahoma wheat crop?

�Well, that depends on who you talk to, ranging from 100 million-bushel crop
down to some are estimating below 70 million bushels,� Hodges said. �My
estimate is not as low as 70 million, but I'm on the lower side of that range.�

Hodges, 59, said the five-year average in Oklahoma is 118 million bushels of
wheat.

�But within that 118 million there's years with 70-plus million, there's last year
with 154 to 155 million, so there's a very wide range in there,� he said. �If you
think back 10 or 15 years, the long-term average was 160 million bushels in
the state. But now there are less planted acres. This year, there's going to be a
lot less harvested acres.�

In a back office of Co-op Services Inc. grain elevator in Lawton sits General
Manager Charlie Swanson. He talks about how the freeze hurt a crop already
battered by drought. Then some of his producers received hail damage.

�I think we'll be lucky to take in a third of what we did last year,� said Swanson,
63. �We'll probably be close to 50 percent of an average crop, but we're thrilled
to get that much after what we've been through.�

Ripple effects

The drought's effects don't necessarily end when rains come. And a lesser crop
will have ripple economic effects, Swanson said.

�It even affects our business down the road because people won't buy as much
fertilizer,� he said. �They won't have the money to buy it like they do when they
make a good crop.�

Josh Gammill's presence at the wheel of the combine is an economic decision.
Because they anticipated a small crop, the Gammills didn't think they could
justify paying for custom harvesters. That, in turn, can affect communities
where expenses by crews can include diesel, food, rooms and other necessities
for life on the road.

As the combine behind him makes another round in the wheat field, David
Gammill says:

�We're optimistic I guess. You just hope you get one of those good years often
enough so you can still pay the bills.�

Looked good with all the late rain. Then we had a bad hailstorm...

The guy that farms it said the machines had some areas that said zero, and others up to 47. Whatever that means. I ain't a farmer, so don't know. I do know he turned it into the crop insurance, but have no idea how that works.

Pretty picture. Thanks.

Thanks to Orange Okie too for the rundown.

That's realistic. I hear inflated yields around here all the time. The yields on this thread thus far sound like stuff I used to have when I raised wheat.

Oklahoma wheat farmers brace for poor harvest

Drought, late freeze damage wheat crop. Some feel it could be the worst crop in
state history.

by Brianna Bailey
Modified: May 1, 2014 at 9:00 am
Published: April 30, 2014

Oklahoma farmers anticipate this year�s wheat harvest to be one of the poorest
in decades after a late freeze in April and ongoing drought conditions in the
western part of the state.


Oklahoma farmers anticipate this year�s
wheat harvest to be one of the poorest in
decades. Photo By David McDaniel,
The Oklahoman Archives

Oklahoma farmers anticipate this year�s wheat harvest to be one of the poorest
in decades. The Oklahoma Grain and Feed Association projected at its annual
meeting Wednesday that Oklahoma�s wheat harvest would be about 66.5
million bushels this year. The estimate is based on reports on crop conditions
from farmers around the state. That compares to a yield of 105.4 million
bushels in 2013, and a 154.8 million bushels in 2012.

The 2014 wheat harvest will go down in history as one of the state�s lowest
yields in decades, said Joe Neal Hampton, president and CEO of the Oklahoma
Grain and Feed Association.

�In 43 years, this is the worst crop statewide that I�ve ever seen � it�s going to
be a tough year,� Hampton said. While farmers in the state will be able to get
by with the assistance of federal crop insurance, grain elevator operators in the
state will have a difficult year, he said.

Drought conditions in the Panhandle and southwest Oklahoma are particularly
bad, Hampton said. Farmers in the state also are bracing for temperatures
expected next week in the 90s that could do even further damage to their
already parched fields, he said.

The wheat crop in Tillman County is so poor that Mike Cassidy, co-owner of
Cassidy Grain Co., estimates that less than 10 percent of the crop will be
harvested. Crops in southwest Oklahoma were already stressed from drought
and an April 15 freeze caused further damage, Cassidy said.

In 35 years of farming, Cassidy said this year�s wheat crop in is one of the
poorest he has ever seen.

�I thought that last year was the worst year. I thought that that was as bad as it
could get, until this year,� said Cassidy, who also co-owns a grain elevator with
his brother in Frederick.

In Kingfisher, the late freeze hit at a critical time for crop development, said
Mike Rosen, of grain elevator operator Wheeler Brothers Grain Co. Inc.

I think that's bushels per acre (I'm sure someone can correct me if I'm wrong).

47 BPH would be a nice crop.

Yes it would. My Brother-in- law told me the other day, that his corn yield would we way down due to wind this year. Said that a lot of the stalks broke off at the ground out in the field. Said that you could not tell from the road but had to walk out into the field. He is worried about making his bookings. miles

We lost our all of our dryland corn 2 years ago to the frigging wind....

Just finished 2400 acres of dry peas last night. Starting on 6500 acres of dryland wheat today. Our yeilds on peas have been average and I cut some truck roads out of the wheat last week and the yield monitor was reading around 85 so we will see what it looks like after today.

NW CO?

Cool pic Don!


I've heard if you spray Round-up ready corn when it's past a certain height it can become brittle? I'm not a corn expert though.

Our little wheat crop needs another rain to help it fill.


Damn Blu, that is some major acreage!

What state is your farm located?

(just noticed your sig line, WA?)

Jeez, sam. I didn't even notice the WA part. Thanks. I was wondering if it was blue mtn near Dinosaur. Mainly because I couldn't recollect ever seeing wheat/beans in that country.

Sorry huntsman did not mean confuse you. If I could figure out how to post pictures I would. The field we are opening today we will spend most of the day out of level after the combine has leveled over to 35 degrees.

I'm easily cornfused. I tend not to read below the line.....grin

35 degrees? This place is flat as a table.....

Sam, 2,4D make any corn brittle.
As far as I know, Roundup ready corn can take a lot of glyphosate .