The best Cowley County wheat harvest in a decade?
That’s what local co-ops are saying this week about high test weights for one of the nation’s top crops.
“This will probably be our best harvest in ten years as far as quantity,” said Kevin Kelly, longtime general manager at Two Rivers Co-Op in Arkansas City.
Kelly says wheat crews there have already cut 90- to 95-percent of the county’s wheat which is weighing in at 60 bushels per acre and over.
“The harvest is doing great. We’re seeing above average yield quality.”
Nearer to Winfield, Hackney’s Farmers Grain Company Location Manager, Cody Tharp echoes Kelly’s report. “Harvest has gone very well. We’re probably 80 to 85 percent complete and yields have been really high, from 60-75 bushels per acre.” (Continue story below ads.)
Favorable rain conditions during the off season were a game changer, Tharp said. “The yield is two times what it has been in the past five years, mostly due to wintertime moisture. The weather really cooperated this year.”
While yields are high, Tharp mentioned protein content is on the low side, about 9 to 10.5 percent. Protein content determines the best use for the wheat. Average content is around 6 to 19 percent, according to an internet source.
In Winfield and Arkansas City, dry conditions were favorable. “That’s probably why we got so far so quickly,” said Tharp. A heavy shower in the Udall area slowed things down for “about a day,” said Kelly.
