Dateline: July 19, 2007

Sales tax receipts fall again
By Anndria Kidd, Clarendon Enterprise

Wheat harvest is turning out to be a success for local and area farmers as this season is nearing completion.

Donley County Extension Agent Lynard Haynes predicts that 85 to 90 percent of farmers in the Panhandle are finished with this year’s harvest and are turning in a substantial amount of wheat compared to years past.

“We didn’t have high yields like this last year, and the price of wheat is also up,” said Haynes.

Calvin Burrow with Attebury Grain, Inc., in Claude reported yields at an average of 50 to 60 bushels per acre. Attebury has also reported yields as high as 79 and 80 bushels to the acre.

According to Burrow, this year’s wheat is bringing as much as $5.40 per bushel and higher. This is up substantially from last year when the average bushel of wheat only brought $3.70.

Early on, Attebury accepted wheat crops that had good test weight, but as harvest continued they began receiving wheat with high foreign material (FM) levels as a result of weeds. Overall, Burrow said the grain quality and yields are up tremendously from recent years.

Although this has been an excellent year for wheat farmers, they have been faced with a few setbacks.

High humidity and rain have slowed down the process, as farmers have only been able to run for a few hours out of the day because of moisture levels. Local farmers are more familiar with low humidity that would allow them to combine for most of the day.

As weather conditions cleared, farmers were back on track; and Burrow said they were expecting their last load of wheat this week.