Wheat harvest underway
Cam McComas, of Minco, releases harvested wheat into a grain elevator at Minco Grain & Feed Wednesday, May 30.
Wheat harvest has begun, and farmers throughout the area can be seen running combines over their crops.
A combine reaps, threshes, and winnows the crop, leaving edible wheat that is then transported to a grain elevator, such as Minco’s Shawnee Grain & Feed, located at 826 Northwest Third Street in Minco.
Dalton Wray, Manager for Minco’s Shawnee Grain & Feed, said Wednesday, May 29, “This year’s harvest is going pretty good. Everything’s been tested, real high test weights, low dockage. Protein’s not been the highest, but it’s decent. Bushels are really good, getting a lot of quantity. If we can keep the rain off, we can get through this one pretty quick. It’s going pretty good. We’ve had about 90,000 bushels in three days and we’re still rolling. Harvest usually takes about four to five weeks. We started Saturday and had about three growers start Saturday and Sunday, and then now today, we’re kicking off, got about five more people rolling in, so we’re up to about eight or nine people cutting so far, and we’ve still got more to go. Probably half of them haven’t even started yet.”
A local farmer harvests his wheat crop Saturday, June 1
Wray said growers from Grady County, Canadian County, and even Kingfisher County haul their wheat to Minco.
“We’ve got customers from El Reno, Okarche, all the way down to Newcastle and Chickasha,” Wray said. “We’ve had the good rains and everything before, not a lot of hail and tornadoes around here yet. It’s been a really good year, we had a lot of moisture in the ground while it was growing.”
The Oklahoma Wheat Commission reported Monday, “Reports in all locations show test weights ranging from 60 to 65 lbs. per bushel for the most part. We have some regions now reporting an occasional 59 lb. test weight in parts of South Central Oklahoma. These numbers are reported on what was hauled in before the rains that came across the state this morning. Proteins ranging from 9% to 13.5%, with an overall average of proteins being reported at 11.0% to 11.2%. We are hearing reports of higher proteins in parts of Central Oklahoma, that hopefully will help with the overall state-wide averages. Early yields being reported at 40 to 50 bushels per acre in most regions. Higher yields being reported on intensively managed wheat with some yields on a few fields being reported in the mid 60’s to low 70’s. It is thought that in parts of Northwest Oklahoma the wheat in some areas has recovered however we are hearing predictions that we will see a lot of 25 bushel wheat in far regions of Northwest Oklahoma. Also some areas of the Panhandle that received timely moisture will have some good dryland wheat, but several areas will not be harvested on the dryland. The Oklahoma Wheat Commission is calling the state 21% complete with harvest.”
For the areas closer to Minco and Union City, the commission stated, “Producers struggled with high humidity days and small amounts of moisture this past week. A large amount of wheat was taken in at these locations on Saturday afternoon/evening. Test weights reported at 60 plus on what was taken in before the rains this morning. Protein reports on early cuttings ranging all over the board from 9% to 13.5%. Right now it looks like the region is averaging 11.5%. Proteins are extremely favorable in the Eastern part of this region. Yields are being reported from the mid 40’s to mid 50’s, with some higher yields being reported in the mid 60’s to low 70’s on fields with intensive management. These locations reporting 25 to 30 percent complete.
The next Oklahoma Wheat Commission Harvest report will be published on Thursday, June 6, 2024 at okwheat.org.
