All Aboard Harvest, Correspondent, Janel Schemper

Janel: Big time wheat crop

By Janel Schemper

July 13, 2022

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Western Kansas—To my surprise, we had a big time wheat crop to harvest out here in western Kansas. The farm had 22 inches of snow in late January and a few timely rains this spring. The wheat I harvested averaged around 70 to 75 bushels per acre. The test weights were 59 to 63 pounds per bushel. I am feeling very fortunate to have had such a beautiful wheat crop to harvest. We just finished up today, July 3, and loaded up some equipment and sent some up to Nebraska. However, we’ve got to settle up with the farmer and load up more equipment before we move north. We will be going out to western Nebraska and they just got an inch of rain and more rain is in the forecast so it sounds like we’ve got a little time to get moved without being too pushed to hustle up there. We’ve been harvesting nearly every single day since early June. Everyone on the crew is tired but, somehow, we’ll manage, I hope. It was a good run here. On the last three fields we had eight combines and five tractors and grain carts working together. We had three drones in a field and got some pretty great pictures. Back in my younger years we used to run eight combines together in the Dakotas. This reminded me of that but for some reason it seemed to run smoother back then. However, nowadays we all use AutoTrac and the equipment is larger but I will always miss the good old days. We’ve worked for some really great farm families over the years and the memories of the crew harvesting all together are great. I love harvesting in western Kansas. The fields are flat and the roads are decent. The elevators are great and the weather has been hot and dry. We didn’t have any weeds or mud and nearly every acre of wheat was standing perfectly. Overall it was a good run and I’m so thankful. Also, thanks to all that watched my All Aboard Wheat Harvest Facebook live video June 24. I had 10,000 views the first day and 44,000 within a week. Janel can be reached at [email protected]. All Aboard Wheat Harvest is brought to you by ITC Holdings, CASE IH, Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children, US Custom Harvesters Inc., Unverferth Mfg. Co. Inc., Lumivia CPL by Corteva Agriscience, Kramer Seed Farms, and High Plains Journal.

Harvesting wheat in western Kansas.

I love harvesting these fields especially with such good conditions.

Pretty views.

A cloudy day and a beautiful wheat crop to harvest.

Harvesting wheat next to wind turbines.

A nice field of wheat.

I love this time of day when I can see my combine shadow.

I love the sunsets and views!

A great day to harvest wheat!

I love it when the elevator is right across the road from the field!

I love a good supper in the field. This was one of the best cheeseburgers ever.

JC, Jared, and Lonny’s crews all got rained out a few miles away. Luckily, we got to keep going for a while then got sprinkled out.

Very dusty wheat. So much dirt in this wheat crop!

Unloading on the cart.

Moving to another field!

My dad harvesting wheat July 2.

James getting a load of wheat.

Jett and Sunder wearing their new AAWH t-shirts in the field.

Jett and Sunder will both be freshmen in high school in August. They’ve been operating equipment in the field daily.

So much equipment all in one place.

My Shelbourne Reynolds headers.

I was full and waiting on a tractor grain cart. I got out and took this picture of Sterling and JC running combine on July 2. Check out the pretty moon, too. Sterling honked when he went by. Lol!