Megan Klinnert – Klinnert Harvesting
Wheat harvest in Oklahoma can be summed up for us as #stuck19.
So, in the last 30 days we have received over 5” of rain, which isn’t bad. But it’s the rainfall that we received in the last 60-90 days that created #stuck19.
According to the Oklahoma Mesonet, our area has received over 25” of rain! In the three weeks that we were cutting in Oklahoma, we had some piece of equipment, whether it was a combine or tractor and grain cart, stuck over ten times! Needless to say, after the first couple of times of pulling something out, we just kept the cable on the pickup and a 4WD tractor near us at all times.
It has never taken us three weeks to cut in Oklahoma before and we still aren’t completely done. We have a few fields left that some friends are finishing out for us because they were too wet. And, literally, as I type this, one field that we tried nearly two weeks ago is still so wet that the combine got stuck again today.
Harvest was chaotic. We try to go from one side of town to another but this year was a totally different story. We were jumping from field to field in no real order just trying to find something that could carry a combine. There were days we spent more time roading equipment around then we did cutting wheat.
While conditions weren’t ideal for cutting wheat, they were perfect for those last stages of maturing of the wheat itself. Most farmers around here saw farm yields in the 40’s and test weights stayed above 60. Which is a nice change from last year when many farmers didn’t have anything to cut, due to hail.
The guys moved on to Kansas a few days ago and have had good running there. The kids and I will finish tending to cattle and taking care of business here in Oklahoma and meet up with them in a few days. 2019 harvest has started out a little rocky but I’m going to be optimistic and say that it can only get better from here.
Megan grew up on a dairy in Okarche so the thought of traveling to more states in their first couple of years of life than she did in her childhood makes her chuckle.
Megan’s roles on her crew include mom first, cook, maid, parts chaser, Secretary and equipment mover. All of this while also tending to things at their stationary home and working part time for a local construction company.
