NY wheat harvest.

Talking to a neighbor farmer the other day who told me the wheat around here was going 90 bushels to the acre and all going for cow feed due to sprouting. Still over $5/bu. as cow feed. It's been a rainy summer in the fingerlakes of upstate NY.

There is still some wheat in the fields around here but not too much. We had a near bone dry May and June and the big rain came just about at wheat harvest time. Just one more example why I farm for fun and not for a living.

A lot more done on the well drained soils especially west of Rochester, NY. July has been a nightmare in terms of spraying soybeans and harvesting wheat around here. I've got 40 acres to go on wheat and I did not see much in the way of sprouting. Could not even get a combine across a field a week ago and if you could it thrashed fairly miserable with a cylinder/walker machine. I am really depressed about the state of affairs currently. It seems like too many bad seasons anymore but it beats working a crappy retail job that tend not to last more than a few months.

This morning, before the rain started, I was out attempting to do something with the first 20 acres of wheat straw windrows I cut on the 19th. Not knowing if it was ever going to get any better, I started in that day, making ruts. The next day I put on the spinners, and left them on the rest of the week. As it turned out, I could have waited a day, and made a lot less of a mess. The custom operator who gets my straw is so far behind, and not being able to do anything with it in the mud, is not coming. What was looking like a record crop, turned into a disaster. I have never driven over so much flat grain, and I mean FLAT. I'm guessing 15% of my wheat is still laying out there. What I got is very light weight.

The mud has dried up, so I'm trying to spread the straw some by going over it with the bush hog. Tractor is narrow enough that I can pretty much drive inside the combine tracks/ruts.

What looks like the best oat crop in years continues to fall, and now the green stuff is coming up through it. I have, once, had oats sprayed with roundup to facilitate harvest. I may have to again. The air was so nice yesterday that I tried some oats. Oats are dry [11%], but straw is still tough.