Farm Director KC Shepered spoke with Paul Paplow, who provided an update on his harvesting work, confirming that his team is currently in western Kansas, specifically around Tribune. “We got done in Pratt, Kansas… then I moved out to Tribune and joined the rest of the crew,” he said. The crew has been active in the area for about a week, harvesting wheat crops yielding between 25 to 60 bushels per acre. Test weights have varied significantly, ranging from 52 to 61 pounds. “The quality’s been kind of up and down. A lot of freeze damage, hail damage, wind damage, drought—a little bit of everything,” Paplow explained.
Weather has been a critical factor in this year’s harvest. “We’ve been lucky,” Paplow said, noting that they managed to avoid most rain delays. “When we finished in Pratt, we got a good rain the night that we finished.” They did face a half-day delay in Tribune due to weather but otherwise enjoyed hot, dry conditions ideal for harvesting. Regarding Wheat Streak Mosaic, Paplow shared, “I, myself, have not seen much… usually every year we see it, but I have not noticed anything that we’ve cut ourselves.”
Paplow highlighted that this year’s harvest is noticeably better than last year’s, particularly in Kansas. “The crop out in Tribune’s a lot better this year. Overall in Kansas, there’s a lot more bushels than what we harvested last year.” He contrasted this with Texas, where “last year they had a good crop,” but conditions have not been as favorable this year. While yields are up, he emphasized that “the quality of the wheat’s been down this year compared to last year,” due to erratic test weights and weather challenges.
The impact of rainfall has been mixed. “Some of the rain came a little too late in places,” Paplow noted. “Down in Texas and Oklahoma with all the rain, it just really destroyed the quality of the crop.” He added that some harvesters have struggled with wet field conditions, but his crew is equipped for such challenges: “We ourselves run four-wheel drive and duals on all of our machines… we have tracks that we’ll put on when it gets really wet.”
Looking ahead, Paplow said, “Right now I’m in Tribune. We sent a couple of machines up to Brewster and one to Colby this morning.” The crew will next head to Nebraska for a short stint, followed by a move to Great Falls, Montana, in about 10 days. For those needing assistance, he encouraged people to reach out via U.S. Custom Harvesters, Inc. “If they reach out to Mandy at the USCHI office, she can send out mass emails. Someone will reach out to you if they meet those requirements.”
