Anticipation became reality Tuesday when combines were unleashed in Allen County wheat fields. Predictions have been for high yields, and at first blush it appears they were well-founded.
“I think it’s making better than 60 bushels an acre,” said Brian Ensminger, when he took a short break from cutting a field of Everest wheat northwest of Moran.
“I imagine we’ll have the Everest cut by nightfall,” said David Ensminger, Brian’s father. “We can cut about 100 acres a day,” with two John Deere machines outfitted with 25-foot heads.
The Ensmingers have about two-thirds of their 130-acre field planted in Everest, an early maturing wheat with high yield potential developed by Kansas State University researchers. It has been out a couple of years.
“We like to raise wheat that people will be buying in a year or two,” said David Ensminger, who markets seed as well as farms.
If the patch makes 60 or a little better, which seemed assured from the preponderance of stalks and heads heavy with grain, the Ensmingers will be delighted, but it won’t be a high-water mark.
“I remember having some small patches making as much as 75 bushels (an acre) in the past,” Ensminger said.
According to a K-State disclaimer, Everest is better suited to eastern Kansas than drier fields in the western two-thirds of the state. It has only average drought tolerance, which makes it a good fit for climates with ample rain during March, April and May, when wheat has most of its growth.
“This is the first time I’ve seen wheat harvested in May,” said Daryl Boehm, 74, an Ensminger hired hand. “And I’ve been around farming all my life.”
Ensminger agreed, and allowed the weather was just right. “It can’t get any better for harvest — hot, sunny and little wind.”
The early harvest will accelerate planting of second-crop soybeans in harvested wheat fields, with many going in about when first-crop beans usually are planted.
“We’ll plant beans in this stubble,” said Ensminger of the wheat being cut Tuesday afternoon. “We’ll no-till and should have the beans in here in a day or two.”
If weather remains conducive, Ensminger said the wheat harvest would be over in a week’s time.
He also wouldn’t fuss if the plantings were interrupted by a soaking rain. Rain fell Tuesday night, but not enough to sate the thirst of corn and soybeans for more than a day, maybe two.
