Not Hardy In Hardin

There's a report this morning from "Talkative" Todd-The-Custom -Cutter-Guy. Todd his crew arrived in Texas on Sunday afternoon & on the way down, they took a look-see at the crops in Hardin & said that they look "tough". He says the WORST crops were in western Kansas, starting from the southern edge of Nebraska & on into Kansas. Todd has his doubts that the irrigated pivots in western Kansas would do much better than 20 bushels per acres & that the dry land wheat only shows traces of simply drill furrows. He said that the cattle in that area look like they're grazing in worked summer fallow instead of pasture! In Selling, Oklahoma, the crops don't look too bad, according to "Tall" Todd, but there appeared to be more frost in the Clinton, Oklahoma area, with the Woodward, Oklahoma area looking a little better. At Parrington, Oklahoma, producer Stan "Feeble" Preeble had his crop adjusted at 1/5 of a bushel per area. Todd reports that the crops are bad as far west as Lubbock & Amarillo, Texas. The temperatures are 103 with a wind. He walked some of the crops on Monday & said that it appears that a wheat variety called "Jackpot", which is an early variety will be the 1st to be cut, but he added that those crops are from a foot to 16 inches tall, with some heads filled at the top, the center being empty & the bottom having some kernels. I would have to say that it depends on how the frost hit. Todd hand threshed out some kernels & said they appear to be plumper than he thought they would be. Todd talked with producer "Lonesome" Larry Goyer in Oklahoma & "Lonesome" said that his crop finished heading some 10 days ago. Todd figures that he will be in the Vernon/Harrold, Texas area for at least a month, due to the way the crops are ripening. Some crops have been hayed, but he still maintains the WORST looking crops are in western Kansas. On the way down, Todd blew a header trailer tire & had to have an after hour tire repair. The total bill came in at $300 for the tire & $341 for the after hour fix! Such is the life of a custom cutter! We'll look forward to seeing Todd & his custom cutter crew when they return to the Golden Triangle this harvest season.