Harvest in Hettinger County
|  Video
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| Retha Colclasure |
| 9/8/2009 |
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| Farmers in Hettinger County are hurrying to get their crop out of the fields before hail can be a threat. It`s unusual for a harvest to go this late in the season, but they`re happy enough to wait for a crop, especially one this good. A struggle, and great. That`s how farmers near Mott describe this year`s growing season. While the weather is throwing a lot of curves, farmers are happy it also gave them a lot of rain. As he looks across his golden field of wheat, all laying neatly in rows, Helge Roth has just one word to describe it all. "Beautiful crop," he says. This year, everything lined up right. He started the growing season with a lot of moisture, then got a lot of timely rains. The only problem was that it all happened about a month behind normal. "For us to be harvesting in September is unheard of," Roth says. For us, fall is for pheasant hunting and football. It`s not to be out harvesting wheat." But just in case you think he`s complaining about it. "I love it, don`t get me wrong, this is just very uncommon," he says. The late harvest is requiring some adjustments. Roth is without his workforce, since his kids are back in school. And the wheat just wouldn`t dry out fast enough, so he decided to swath it, meaning he has to take an extra trip around the field to pick it up. It is unusual for farmers to have to swath their wheat, but the weather conditions this year just made it a necessity. But, it`s worth it. "It`s wonderful to have the moisture, lots of stress getting the crop in, lot of stress taking it off because it didn`t dry down, but the bushel is the big reward," says Dwain Barondeau, the Hettinger County NDSU Extension Agent. "I`ve been hearing, basically across the county, 15 to 20 bushels above average, which is really a wonderful thing." He says everything came together this year to give farmers one of the best crops he`s seen during his 20 years as county agent. Barondea says this will likely be the best crop in the county all around, for flax, canola, barley, and everything else. Except for corn, which still needs some rain and a longer summer. |
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