Yields up, prices down

Extraordinarily high yields in area wheat fields should make up for lackluster prices.

"It's a good year for the county for raising wheat," said Andrew Kabes of Scoular Grain in Sidney.

Workers at Crossroads Cooperative and Scoular Grain agreed that the harvest in Cheyenne County was nearly finished.

Joe Christopher, senior grain merchandiser at Crossroads Cooperative estimated that the local harvest is 85 percent complete. The yields are very good this year, he said. Many farmers are bringing in 50 to 60 bushels of wheat per acre.

"The quality is excellent," Christopher said.

Test weights are high, while protein is at the mid to low levels. All agree that the harvest is much better than in 2013.

"I think it's 75 to 85 percent better than last year," Christopher said.

Kabes concurred with Christopher.

"I won't say once in a lifetime, but it's definitely really good," he said.

While Kabes estimated that the average farmer in this area harvested around 50 bushels per acre, some brought in as much as 70 to even 80 bushels per acre, which is twice as much as a normal harvest.

Cheyenne County's wheat harvest began slowly around July 8 but only truly got into full swing last week due to a late maturing crop, Christopher said. Area farmers harvested later than usual this year due to late planting and replanting as well as late rains.

Although last year's harvest was late as well, the yields were much lower in 2013 due to dry conditions and late freezes. In addition to this, many farmers experienced hail damage last year.

Many farmers are seeing crops this year at almost double the amount brought in last year.

Christopher attributes this to the, "timely rains we got in late April, May and June."

Although a wet fall hindered planting of winter wheat, the rain restored the subsoil moisture that had depleted during last year's dry weather.

"Rain makes grain," Kabes said.

He also attributed the good crop to the moisture this year.

"It allowed the plant to put a lot of bushels on," Kabes said.

The prices right now are lower than in the spring but due to the excellent yields, the gross revenue will still be decent for most farmers, Kabes said.

"There are a lot of happy farmers," he said.