Farmers are bringing in the wheat
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
As fields dry up from recent rains, farmers have begun bringing in the wheat all across Marion County.
According to Mike Thomas, manager of Cooperative Grain and Supply elevator at Marion, on Monday the facility took in 75,000 bushels.
"The quality, test weight, and moisture are good, but the yields sure aren't like they've been the past several years," he said.
He noted some farmers are still planting milo so harvest may not be in full force yet.
Stan Utting, manager of Agri-Producers, Inc., reported harvest just beginning in northern Marion County. He said the wheat brought in so far has a full test weight of 60 pounds per bushel.
On Monday, Enno Burhoop of rural Herington was spotted with his outfit, harvesting a field northwest of Lincolnville on Upland Road.
The crew was operating two New Holland TR97 combines, with a 30-foot and a 25-foot header. The grain bins on both combines can hold up to 220 bushels of wheat.
Burhoop has help from area residents. His son Brian, 12, is learning how to use a tractor and grain wagon to transport wheat from the combines to the two semi-trucks waiting at the road. The wheat is hauled to the elevator at Lincolnville.
Burhoop has a total of 800 acres of wheat and was thankful for good harvesting weather. He hadn't cut enough to establish yields but said the grain was dry with a full test weight.
"It looks pretty good," he said.
