We are enduring another severe drought in this area of NW KS. The wheat crop is toast as we have had less than three inches of rain / moisture including snow the last 6 months.

The first pic is below our house trying to keep some of the buffalo grass alive we planted last year. The second and third pics are what is left of some of the wheat.

I,m sure everyone on here feels for you people out in that area.Here in NE Pa. we seem to have from a little to a moderate rain fall about everyday.Supposed to be nice this weekend for a change and for a great Memorial day weekend & they,re forecast is for the upper 70s.This morning it was 36 here and some light frost which is quite unusual for this late but it has happened some other years.A day ago here just east of here about 35 miles they had some sleet fall yesterday but they have another fancy name for it and not sleet.The ground was covered with a light coating that they showed on the evening local news.

D4Jim: I thought you folks in NW Kansas were in great shape. Your pictures of wheat show either rust or drought. I am sorry to hear of this. SW Kansas has sorry wheat. Panhandle of Oklahoma's wheat is gone, so I have been told. We are in fair shape if we can keep hail away here in south central, Comanche County, that is. Darrol

Sorry about the short wheat crop..with the price as it has been would be good to raise , at least a decent crop.. Here in NC okla, blackwell area our wheat looks pretty darn good..We've had some hail but most of the wheat is good to excellent. Will be cutting by June 8Th??? I think, Bought my fertilizer for aug delivery, $675.00 a ton... Diesel over $4.00 and and wheat is sliding down makes a wheat farmer wonder..........

Jim, problem should be solved real soon... DUCK! Big tornado storms comin thru..

KidNV, you were right about that. No less than nine tornados in our county yesterday evening. No one injured but some folks lost some grain bins, silos, farm machinery sheds and several miles of power lines. That is the advantage of low population, not many folks to get in the way.

We also received over 4 inches of rain the past two days and just north of us 15 miles they received over 9 inches the past two days. The last time we had over 4 inches of rain here in one storm was 1982, some 26 years ago!! It was sure welcome moisture!!

PS: Our power was off for about a day and a half. As luck would have it, there are several power crews in the area replacing REA lines that were damaged in last years ice storm so they helped out a lot to get the lines back up!!

It won't do anything for the burned up wheat but it will help the other crops and the pastures.

Darrol and Okie, hope you get a bin buster of a wheat crop this year!!

D4Jim, it always pains me to see hardship in agriculture. I do hope things change for the better next year. Don

TD, Some of our problems seem pretty minor compared to those doggoned wildfires. Seems like there is always some careless camper or some misguided nitwit that sets them. Wildfires spook the heck out of me ever since I almost died fighting a prairie fire about 25 plus years ago. They are nothing to mess with!!

We hate to see the crops go down the dumper but we always keep things in perspective and know it could be a lot worse.!!

"okieD2" wrote:

Sorry about the short wheat crop..with the price as it has been would be good to raise , at least a decent crop.. Here in NC okla, blackwell area our wheat looks pretty darn good..We've had some hail but most of the wheat is good to excellent. Will be cutting by June 8Th??? I think, Bought my fertilizer for aug delivery, $675.00 a ton... Diesel over $4.00 and and wheat is sliding down makes a wheat farmer wonder..........

Hey okieD2, Here in Australia, DAP and MAP fertilizer is now $1,200 a metric ton (2,200 pounds), Urea has just been raised an extra $200 a tonne (to around $800 a tonne), farm diesel has just hit about $5.60 a gallon, while road diesel is like $7.00 a gallon. They tell us these price rises in Oz are because you oakies and arkies are planting the country out for bio diesel. My buddy down the road is currently planting 10,000 acres of dryland wheat as I write this, running 5 airseeders, I'd hate to see his bank overdraft right now (farm loan rates at the banks here are currently 10.7%)! We've had the worst drought in living memory the past 2 years (1862 rain records started here in my town) and this winter is shaping up exactly the same with only 30% of "normal" Fall rain being received so far in my area. Farming is a great business to be in provided your wife is a school teacher or nurse! Hope you get a good finish to your season.
good luck
Mike