Despite the wet weather in early June, the wheat harvest is well underway and nearing completion in Oklahoma as July nears.
According to the Oklahoma Wheat Commission the weather kept harvest crews out of the fields until after Memorial Day and into the next week. Early accounts of the harvest showed test weights ranging from 58.5 to 64 pounds per bushel, with a large percentage coming in at more than 60 pounds per bushel.
Austin Lafferty with Wheeler Bros. said they have been pleased with the crop quality overall. “With all that rain we were concerned there would be some damage but it has been pretty minimal and the yield has been decent.”
Lafferty estimates the harvest is about 70% complete. He did note that there was quite a bit of wheat that got hail, mostly west of town.
Local wheat farmer Steve House grew some of that wheat.
However, House said his harvest, now completed, went well, averaging about 52 pounds per bushel.
He said there was some wheat on the ground, and a good deal was shattered by wind and some hailstorms but the fields near Watonga averaged about 57 pounds per bushel while the wheat west of town came in at about 50 pounds per bushel.
House noted the combines had some trouble navigating through the wet soil, but the moisture in the wheat was still less than 12%.
“There was some quality loss,” he said. “The combiners had to cut it real low because of the wind and hail (damage). The quality is not bad but it’s lighter in the test weights and I think you’ll see that all over the county.”