First, here’s hoping everyone had and is having a safe, enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend. Rather than tackle anything deep or detailed, let’s just catch up a bit as we head into December.
Despite some dry, warm conditions and late planting for some, the winter wheat crop is probably much better than it has any right to be. Some timely rains, an open fall, and plenty of sunshine has resulted in the wheat in the immediate area heading into winter and dormancy in fairly good shape. Parts of Western Kansas saw excellent rains and wheat in those areas is in excellent conditions. In the Barton County area the wheat overall is in fair to good condition. Some is thin and some fields saw spotty emergence where rain was needed but the crop is up, much has tillered adequately and should have adequate soil moisture to get through much of the winter in good shape. So far so good.
Weather wise we are in an active pattern as evidenced by the past few days. The promised El Nino appears to be building in and the forecast for our area calls for a wet and warmish pattern. While this may be inconvenient for people it’s good for the 2017 wheat crop and for the 2017 summer cropping season. While we didn’t slip back into as severe a drought as previously Western Kansas in out of drought as this is written and much of central Kansas is in Moderate Drought or Abnormally Dry. Any precipitation we receive throughout the winter will be most welcome.
Finally the fall 2017 harvest is essentially over. Yields for the state were respectable, especially for grain sorghum. Corn and soybean yields were overall pretty decent. This is much better than hoped for, especially for corn and milo after the wet, cold start crops were off to. This combined with a lot of late planting were a cause for concern but late summer/early fall heat combined with a later than normal frost allowed for crops to mature. If you want proof just look at the pile of milo on the ground by the Arkansas River Bridge on 281.