By ROWENA PLETT

Staff writer

Ever since Carol Vogel and her husband, Randy, were married 29 years ago, Carol has been helping with wheat harvests. Carol grew up on a farm at Sylvia. She said she enjoys being a farm wife.

Before their son, Alan, returned to the farming operation full-time one-and-a-half years ago, Carol was the main truck driver. Now, she plays more of a supportive role.

“I’m kind of the supplemental,” she said. “I fill in wherever there’s a need.”

She drives, goes for parts, brings lunches to the field, and sometimes operates the combine or pulls the grain cart.

Despite a few drops of rain Monday afternoon, the Vogel family was able to continue harvesting wheat until early evening. A strong cold front blew in, bringing up to a half-inch of rain.

The Vogels are harvesting more than 750 acres of wheat. They use a 9500 John Deere combine with a 25-foot header and a 150-bushel bin. The wheat is augered into a grain cart pulled by a tractor, then hauled to a semi and unloaded. The semi holds about 625 bushels.

Harvest began Wednesday afternoon and continued every day except Saturday. Friday night rains stalled the harvest for a day.

On Monday, the grain was testing more than 61 pounds per bushel. Yields varied from field to field, ranging from 36 to 54 bushels per acre. The Vogels estimated a 10 percent loss from hail in Friday night’s storm.

The Marion farm family includes two sons — Alan, 26, and Eric, 19 — and a daughter-in-law, Ashley.

Alan is the fifth generation to manage the Vogel farm. He worked in agronomy after his graduation from Kansas State University. He and Ashley live on the farm of his late grandparents, James and Maxine Vogel. They are expecting their first child any day, making this harvest especially exciting.

“It is a privilege for me to come back to the farm and work with my Dad,” Alan said.

Eric will be a sophomore at Kansas State University.

On Tuesday, Randy said the family harvest was 45 percent complete. They had just about harvested enough wheat to fill forward contracts ranging in price from $7.19 to $8.82.

After a day’s delay, they were expecting to resume harvesting today.

“It’s a fun time of the year, busy and fast-paced, but it’s fun,” Carol said.