By TIM UNRUH

Salina Journal

BENNINGTON -- Grain trucks kicked up dust as they lumbered through the countryside Monday afternoon, trying to keep up with combines whirring at high speed through fields of ripe wheat.

From his combine seat, farmer Billy Gans could see harvest activity on three farms -- his and two others -- racing to get as much wheat harvested as they could, all within a square mile.

"If the weather permits and we can get all of this, it'll be great compared to last year," said Gans, 57, New Cambria.

Monday was relatively early for this year's harvest, but it was running at a fast pace on fields 7Ôªø1âÑ2 Ôªømiles southeast of Bennington.

Clouds were bunching up along the western horizon, and Gans didn't have much time to talk.

With son Jason, 28, at the controls of the other combine and son Jacob, 25, manning the grain cart, the harvest operation kept trucks full and drivers on the run.

There were two full loads of wheat waiting as hired hand Bailey Perry, Longford, arrived with an empty truck that she had dumped at the Mid-Kansas Co-op elevator in Bennington.

Perry switched off the empty truck, sprinted to the full truck in the front of the line, started the engine and took off.

For much of the Salina and Bennington areas, the crop was still waiting to dry.

The elevator in Bennington took in 31 loads of wheat Sunday, and by 4 p.m. Monday, another 20 loads had been dumped there. On a normal day, elevator superintendent Jeff Comfort said, the Bennington elevator will take in 40 loads of wheat.

Sunday and Monday were a "good start," he said. "It's gearing up. It's getting there."

Harvest activity was decent at Cargill Ag Horizons, 1112 N. Halstead, said farm marketer Gary Grasser. The grain terminal is about a mile west of Salina.

"We're still in the beginning stages," he said.

Wheat-reaping won't reach a peak for another two or three days.

"The grain is a little wet. Some of the maturity was delayed on some of it," Grasser said.

He said yields were coming in at 40 to 70 bushels to the acre, with test weights meeting or exceeding the industry standard of 60 pounds a bushel.

This is lookin' good

Harvest results, so far, were pleasing to Billy Gans.

"The wheat's rollin' out good," he said.

The first of about 1,500 acres to harvest this season yielded from 40 to 50 bushels to the acre, Gans guessed.

"We haven't had a chance to sit down and figure it, but it's good wheat," he said

At the Mid-Kansas elevator, Comfort said, wheat was weighing 60 to 64 pounds a bushel, with the average at 61Ôªø1âÑ2 to 62.

Those are good results compared to last year, when a late-spring frost dwindled Gans' yields to from 7 to 23 bushels to the acre, and the test weights dipped as low as 45 pounds to the bushel.

"Compared to last year, it's great to see that kind of wheat," Gans said.

Barring major equipment breakdowns or wet weather, he figured his harvest would take up to nine days.

How much of the grain Gans sells right away hasn't been determined.

The price is high now, he said, and needs to stay that way.

"I hope the price goes higher because of the price of fuel and fertilizer," Gans said.

Gans said 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel, enough for harvest, were delivered to his farm last week, and the bill was more than $8,000.

The cash wheat price was $8.38 a bushel Monday in Bennington and $8.74 at Cargill near Salina, both down 11 cents a bushel from Friday's close.

Sweatin' the weather

The activity on Billy Gans' farm lured Jack Haley, 85, Salina, who was out checking fields. His son, Steve Haley, was running a combine through their fields just down the road.

"I like this wheat crop, if we can get it. I'm sweatin' that weather," Jack Haley said.

High temperatures will be in the upper 80s today, but there is a 30 percent chance for thunderstorms.

n Reporter Tim Unruh can be reached at 822-1419 or by e-mail at tunruh@salina.com.

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