Friday, June 27, 1997

Many counties are a mighty mess right now

By J.T. Smith / Abilene Reporter-News

The old saying is that you take rain when you can get it in this region of Texas.

Trouble is - some crops have had about all they can take.

With the Fourth of July week rapidly approaching, many wheat fields in the Abilene area look more like rice paddies.

Travis Gary of Abilene Ag Service and Supply, Inc., noted that perhaps only 55 to 60 percent of the wheat in Taylor County had been cut before the recent downpours Sunday and early Monday morning brought harvest to a halt.

"There's a world of wheat in the southern part of the county just floating in water," Gary reported.

Even if we enjoy a string of sunny days with strong southerly winds, it likely will be July before combine machines can re-enter fields. Although the grain heads might be plenty dry to harvest, the muddy fields can sink a combine quickly.

"You would end up with a bulldozer having to pull them out (of the mud)," Gary said.

From great crop to fair harvest

Early in the season, it appeared the Abilene area wheat crop had the potential of a bumper crop after timely rains back in February.

The stage was set.

Through March and early April, the wheat crop just looked better and better.

At that time, Gary notes that the Abilene Ag grain elevator alone was expected to receive 1.5 million bushels here in town.

Then came the freak mid-April freeze. The hard freeze cut the estimate from 1.5 million to 1 million. (That's about the same ratio as the one-third loss from 150 million to about 100 million bushels for Texas statewide).

Now, with wheat fields looking like swamps, the remaining crop is a question mark. (Unless you want to try harvesting wheat in a boat).

So far, Abilene Ag has received about 700,000 bushels of wheat.

"The weeds - like sunflowers - are taking over (wheat fields)," Gary notes.

This will have a domino effect on the 1998 wheat crop as the seeds from these sunflowers will be ready to germinate in next year's wheat fields. Farmers with current weed problems should think seriously about spraying for sunflowers next winter.

Brown and Coleman counties saturated

Scott Anderson, Brown County Extension agent, says the surplus moisture in Brown County is causing crops to deteriorate.

Anderson says rain has delayed wheat harvest to the point where there will be significant losses in yield in the Brownwood area.

Marty Gibbs, CEA for Coleman County, noted that farmers had been attempting to replant cotton there. And this was from previous floods - not even considering this latest round of flooding.

Most farmers know that planting cotton as late as the Fourth of July week is a roll of the dice - even with faster varieties. As far as wheat, Gibbs said wheat yields in Coleman County will only average 15 to 20 bushels per acre from most fields - far less than earlier expected.

To the north of Abilene, CEA Beth Dannheim of Roby says storms in that Roby-Rotan cotton country clearly damaged some young cotton.

Dannheim added that some wheat appears to be lost from weed infestations brought on by the heavy rains.

Todd Vineyard of Anson said young cotton has taken a beating in that area.

"Young cotton was set back and received damage from straight winds and hail," the Jones County CEA reported.

Shackelford County CEA Rocky Vinson had some good news. Before this latest round of rainfall, the Albany area had rapidly harvested and achieved above average wheat yields.

And that ol' ranch country surrounding Albany looks mighty green.

With two more performances of the Fandangle slated at dusk tonight and Saturday night at the Prairie Theatre just outside Albany, the folks there should be in a festive mood.

But please - nobody do a rain dance ... just right now.