We have been soliciting the help of our farmer listeners/readers/followers since June 17th- and we are going to put all of the reports we have shared into one story- the oldest at the bottom with new updates at the top:
Sunday Afternoon 4 PM
Peter McKay offers this late afternoon update from southwestern Oklahoma- “Frederick – finishing wheat today, then Triticale. Lone Wolf harvest is winding down for some. We still have 4-5 days to finish ours.”
Martin Williams from Red Rock offers this update- “North central. Soil still wet but local elevators are open on this Sunday and are getting steady trucks. Not full swing but steady. I’d say today is really the first good full day anyone has had around here.”
Long time wheat producer and custom harvester Don Schieber tells us on this Sunday afternoon- “Started at Ringwood today(West of Enid on Highway 60). Field made 42. last year it made 30. Test weight is still good just under 60. Protein is 12.8.
In Canadian County, Darla Reuter shares with us on Facebook- “SW of El Reno….We’re taking a “day of rest” today. Moved to a field yesterday evening and encountered softer ground conditions so the sun and the wind can dry it out today. We’ve been cutting registered Showdown and some Double Stop CL+ ( a year past certified). The Double Stop was 60 pound test weight and the Showdown 61 pound test weight.
Jason Skaggs, Branch Manager with Farmers Grain Company offers this report on Sunday afternoon- “Nash Area: still pretty wet in some areas. Some farmers getting finished up but still have several thousand acres to be cut. Test weights still maintaining around 60 with protein levels anywhere from 11-14. Wheat still doing really good except the weed and grass pressure is getting bad.”
Finally- Dave Deken who gets around farm country producing farm and ranch news stories offered a picture from Kansas and his observations from northcentral Oklahoma into Kansas- “On my drive up to Manhattan I noticed most of the fields along Oklahoma and Kansas portions of I 35 had yet to be cut.
“The fields along US 77 from El Dorado to Lincolnville look great, with a few weeds visible at 70 mph, but I was looking.
“It was only after I passed Lincolnville that I saw the first combine in the field, and it was flinging mud as it was going.
“I counted another three combines in fields as I made my way to Junction City.
“As I pulled off to get some photos between Herrington and Junction City, I noticed that the stands were consistent, but somewhat thin.
“I am sure there will be combines in this part of the state throughout the week.”
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Saturday 12 Noon(these reports in response to a “ask” from Ron Hays for updates from producers)
Zachary Harris writes “Hobart. Done last night. Yesterday was the only day we started early and stayed late. Finally wheat cutting weather. Very nice crop. Test weight held very well also as we did have several rains but they were mostly a half inch or less. Very blessed!”
Martin Williams reports from Red Rock- North central. Finally hitting the fields again. Weeds have come on pretty good with some coming through the canopy making harvest slow, and with high humidity, hours to go are cut short. Soil still pretty saturated. Test weights dropped to 56-58 lbs. yields still good.
Randall Newton- Near Kingfisher finding any kind of quality and yield you want. Last week we harvested some 60 bu plus wheat with test weights 62 and better common. Since the last rain we are in drowned wheat struggling to weigh 55 and yielding 30 ish.
Brittany Hukil in the Hydro-Hinton area reports “Weed pressure is coming. Most fields the weeds aren’t a problem yet, just annoying. One wet place will be a challenge.
“Test weights around 56 for us, post rain. Yield in the 40s on the two farms so far. Our 30 day rainfall is just over 8” or more on most all of our wheat.
“Longer hours the last couple of days with a “pre lunch” start again today. We hope to start picking up the pace and keep it up as we go into next week.”
Larry Peck offers this from Sentinel- “Still cutting good wheat,combine crews still here and getting way along .lots of 60 test weights and a lot of 40 plus bushel here in Sentinel ,all pastured wheat cut,we are probably 70 % done, just a guess.
Jimmy Kinder from Walters reports “Believe it or not, we are still limping along with one combine in Cotton County. Low yields and test weight. Weeds are troublesome. It should be finished by Monday. Too much hail and rain.”
Keith Kisling in the Burlington area tells us “Alfalfa County- we just finished with harvest the last 240 acres average 80 while most fields averaged 50 to 60. The surprising thing was the last wheat cut was Showdown the test weight went back up to 58 to 58 1/2. Great harvest!!”
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Friday 4 PM Central (via email)
On Friday afternoon- Brent Bolay tells us “We are back at today in Noble County- just southwest of Perry. Yields are surprising very good. Test weights were good before the heavy rains. Harvesting conditions have been very challenging. Bolay Farmers established in the land run of 1893.”
Thanks Brent!
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As Posted early Thursday morning- June 19, 2025
The stories continue to roll in from incredible wheat producers from across Oklahoma- and while the weather has pushed the 2025 harvest later for most than anytime in recent memory- it’s remarkable that we are still hearing of high quality, excellent yielding wheat.
Here’s a sample from those reports from Tuesday and Wednesday of this week:
Tipton (Wednesday evening as a line of storms were seen in far southwest Oklahoma) Peter McKay reports “Just got rained out in Tipton.”
Cherokee– Drake Williams Wednesday morning reports 1-2 inches of rain in Cherokee most are shut down for the day.
Miami- Ottawa County– Zach Rendell posts- “Equipment has been checked over about 80 times! Should start Friday or Saturday. The plus side to all this rain, I will have some outstanding corn and milo yields this fall!!”
Hobart– Zachary Harris tells us “Have yet to eat a sandwich in the wheat field yet. Lots of short days but at least still able to go.”
Calumet area- Mark Sorrels says on Wednesday afternoon “We should be able to start again tomorrow afternoon.” (meaning later today.)
Nash area– Jason Skaggs, Branch Manager for Farmers Grain reports on Wednesday evening “Harvest was in full swing around the Nash area until we received another 2 inches of rain last night(overnight Tuesday-Wednesday). We have taken in around 250,000 bushels. Test weights still good with high protein levels. Yields are really good so far. Hope to get started again Friday.
Newkirk- Curtis Vap reports on Wednesday morning- “We finished wheat harvest on the 18th last year. No idea when we’ll start this year. Have had 12 inches of rain this month.”
Kay County (posted by Tom Cannon on Wednesday morning) “We started a week back harvesting for a couple of evenings. 14.5 % range on moisture. We have now had an excess of 6 inches of rain since then.
“We are in Kay County Oklahoma and the yields were close to double what I expected with incredibly good fill in the heads. Up to five berries per mesh.
“First little Field we did was about 100 acres and made over 70 bushel per acre. Second field was what I thought very poor and made almost 50 bushel per acre.
“The last Field was 60 acres that had 40 bu straw and yielded 78 bu per acre.
“All three fields were Butler‘s gold that we purchased from Don Schieber. (Thank you Don)
“Quite a bit of damage (wind/rain) since then and the Chikaskia River is expected to hit 33 feet which is 4 foot above flood stage. I pray it doesn’t as this kind of a flood would take out many thousands of acres of great looking crops in the bottoms.”
The tide may be turning as our wheat belt in Oklahoma may have fewer showers the next few days and temperatures well into the 90s. With all the rain we have seen- there will be lots of humidity as well- but restarting later today and/or Friday seems more likely in most locations. Here’s teh last 24 hours as of early Thursday morning:
Pray for our farmers as they try to harvest the balance of the 2025 hard red winter wheat crop across the southern plains.
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June 18, 2025 Early Morning
As we write this on Wednesday morning- there’s another huge round of rain being dumped on northern counties of Oklahoma. But, amazingly enough- when you ask the question on Facebook- you get some actual harvest reports from producers across the Oklahoma wheat belt.
The official reports for the state won’t check things again until next Monday- but consider this report a check on the pulse of the patient- as we worry about the health of the 2025 Oklahoma wheat crop.
First- a dose of reality- with rain continuing to fall from north of Clinton to Ponca City and eastward to Miami and Joplin- there are many areas that won’t get any wheat cut that has ripe fields for several more days.
As for the actual rainfall totals via the Mesonet-
Now- let’s get the to the reports that came to us via Facebook on Tuesday evening(obviously before the latest rains):
Loyal- We’ve taken in almost 25,000 bushels today at Wheeler Brothers Loyal and still going right now. Wheat still looks good, test weights and protein are still holding good. (report provided around 8 pm Tuesday)
Kay County–According to AFR’s Scott Blubaugh, very little wheat has been harvested with just a few test cuts. They also had lots of hail in this area and about 9 inches of rain in the last 7 days. Some farms are being totaled out, and some stands are laying on the ground. We are also hearing reports of some sprouting. Blubaugh estimates if the weather holds, they may be able to get into the fields this weekend at the earliest.
Sentinel area- Back going hard here today! Good wheat and about half done is a guess
Lone Wolf- Just started at lone wolf today. Wheat just finally matured. Weeds are tremendous.
Okarche area- Slow going in the Okarche area. Very surprised how well this field held up to the 3” of rainfall we got this weekend. For what it’s worth, it’s no-tilled. Grain is dry, but test weights around 58.
Calumet- Mark Sorrels writes- We started on the home place yesterday and finished today. For being a sandy farm it did quite well even with the hail damage(picture at the top of the story)
Hobart- Started again today. Test weight holding good. Excellent yields.
Hydro- moisture is about 12.2. Test weight is 59 bushels per acre. I’m going to say upper 60s could be 70 won’t know till I get done- BUT fields are really soft.
Waukomis- Nothing shared by as far as yields and quality of the wheat- but Karen Jones showed us a semi filled with wheat- stuck in the mud!(they did get it out eventually)
As for folks that told us- nothing doing as of Tuesday night-
Newkirk- 2.3 inches of rain north of Newkirk today means we are still days away from combines even thinking about starting to roll.
Fairview- What wheat harvest?
Red Rock- One word or many?
Wet. Lots of water.
North central Oklahoma wheat has been ready to harvest for a week, but activity is very limited. Yields have been very good and quality average.
Fairland in northeast Oklahoma- I haven’t harvested wheat in July since I left Indiana for college when I was 18- 2025 might be the year that breaks that record
South of I-40- harvest should continue today but north of I-40- more delays- and the worries mount about the condition of the crop that is sitting in the field- and of the weeds that will cause problems once the combines can roll.
