Harvest USA Report

So we're talking to Seth Buxtel on the irrigated corn. You pick a date and go or do the guys wait for a frost?
 
"In this period they have their corn maturity matured out ready to chop before frost. I won't say that we always get all of it covered before it freezes but the majority of it the guys are planting the beginning of May and schedule on a 90 to short 100 day corn. You'll get that chopped off in mid-September, late September and typically speaking our killing frost isn't until later September 20th or after. So most of that crop is has reached maturity for silage."
 
I'm 60 miles north of the border in southern Alberta. Got a big irrigated area up here and there's lots of corn. Grain, sweet and silage and it seems over the years that the guys doing silage corn have never been able to get it without a little bit of frost blight on the leaves and I've always thought man those leaves must must have some value. I wonder if the value goes down when if it gets burnt by a frost.
 
"So the leaves are such a small portion of your total tonnage and this is just hypothetically speaking but if they're pushing their maturity window right up against frost is what they're doing is they're pushing for tons. They're planting a longer day corn to try to get the tonnage out of it and get it right before it freezes. Does it hurt a little bit? Maybe a little bit but if you planted a longer day corn and you picked up an extra two ton to the acre is it two ton to the acre worth of damage? No. So it's a balance. It's a teeter-totter on where you put your weight and how far you're gonna push it."
 
That's it for today's Harvest USA report.

Interview by David L Woodruff, with Seth Suxcel of BXL, Inc of Savage, Montana. 
Seth Buxcel and his brother operate BXL Inc., a custom forage harvesting business based in Savage, Montana. The business is 100% custom and does not own any farmland. They manage two forage crews covering areas from central Montana to the western third of North Dakota.
Forage Harvesting Practices
The business segments its harvest season into three parts, focusing on different crops. In June, they start with hay crops, alfalfa, and winter cereal crops. This is followed by primary cereal crops like triticale or rye, oats, peas, and hay barleys in July. By mid-August, they work with millet and sorghum varieties before harvesting dry land and then irrigated corn through September. Most harvest goes into drive-over piles rather than silos.

We're talking to Josh Wright, Sidney, Nebraska. About how long do you suppose you'll be in the Dutton area?
 
"About two or three more weeks. We should have it wrapped up without any moisture."
 
So you haven't been bothered by any rain here, have you?
 
"No, it's been nice and sunny, nice and cool. Everybody loves the weather up here. They think it's pretty hot. It's in the hundreds, but we come out of an area where it was 125, so this is beautiful for us."
 
Where do you figure you'll go after Dutton?
 
"Probably the eastern side of Montana. Cut some wheat over there, do some lentils. It's raining back home, so hopefully our fall crops will be good."
 
Do you do mostly straight cut or do you pick up any swaths?
 
"We mostly pick up swaths in the Dutton area. We have a little of the earlier stuff we did. We're starting our second week. We did some straight cutting. We're kind of mixed in between it all. We got four different fields going, so some guys are picking up, some guys are straight cutting."
 
How many machines are you running?
 
"We've got ten here in the Dutton area, three over in the Miles City area. At the beginning, like I said, we were doing the straight cutting, but they come in and they wreck it so quick we can't keep up with it. Some farmers, they like to swap it early. Other guys, if we can get to it before they swap it, that'd be great, but we just can't keep up with it. One day the wheat's standing perfect, the next day it's down."
 
So how much faster miles per hour can you go when you're straight cutting compared to picking up swaths?
 
"It's about the same, really. I mean, just 60 bushel wheat. We're 40-foot swaths. We're going about three and a half, three to three and a half. It's the same with straight cutting."

Harvesting Overview:
The conversation involves an interview with Josh Wright from Sydney, Nebraska, discussing harvesting activities in Montana, specifically near Dutton and Miles City.
The dry land yield in Dutton is reported to be between 40 and 60 bushels, which is considered good given the conditions.
Harvesting is conducted using different methods including straight cutting and picking up swaths. There are challenges with weather affecting harvest timing, such as swathing preferences among farmers and maintaining the yield before rain affects the crops.
Grain Quality and Market Conditions:
There is an emphasis on the protein content of the harvested grain, with reported protein levels between 13% and 14.5%, which is deemed satisfactory.
Discussions reflect on past difficulties such as droughts in other regions like Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas. However, there is an optimistic tone about recovery in recent conditions.
The interview touched on the market and pricing dynamics, particularly the differences in meat and grain prices over previous years.

Introduction and Background: Chris Patton from Prescott, Washington, discusses his familial farm, Tilted Acres Ranch. The farm, initially owned by his father and given to family members, spans 1,600 acres. After his father passed, some of the land was sold to settle debts. Currently, Chris’s brother Brad Patton owns their father's share of the land and has taken it out of the CRP program to farm half of it.
CRP and Land Management: The Conservation Reserve Program originally included the land in 2000, which has twice been renewed. Farm management practices aimed to increase soil productivity while following regulations like spraying, mowing, and refraining from burning. The interview explored ways to maintain the land’s health, including the type of seeds used (regulated by CRP), with native plants contributing to erosion control.

The U.S. Custom Harvesters, Inc. are calling on Congress to include $250 million in targeted farm aid for the nation's custom harvesting industry.
 
Following two consecutive years of widespread weather-related losses, U.S. CHI leaders say custom harvesters have been left without an adequate safety net despite playing a vital role in America's food production system. Farmers may have access to crop insurance or disaster assistance, but harvesters lose contracted acres and revenue while continuing to carry millions of dollars in equipment, labor, transportation, insurance, and financing costs. According to data collected by U.S.C.H.I., custom harvesters experienced an estimated $190 million in economic losses during 2025, with losses already reaching approximately $240 million in 2026 due to the drought, hail, excessive moisture, freeze events, and other weather-related disasters.
 
These events reduce crop yields and prevent harvest entirely, eliminating work that harvesters depend on while leaving fixed operating costs unchanged. U.S.C.H.I. is also encouraging members, associate members, and supporters of the agricultural industry to contact their U.S. senators and representatives immediately, urging them to support the inclusion of a revenue-based disaster assistance program specifically for custom harvesters in the pending disaster relief package. 
 
The U.S. Custom Harvesters is a professional association representing the harvesting industry since 1983, serving as a vital link between harvesters, farmers, and governmental agencies to ensure safety, promote profitability, and manage the evolving agricultural landscape.
 
Support your U.S. Custom Harvesters. They harvest the crops that feed the world.
 

The post is labeled "thoughts from the harvest table, putting rumors to rest."
 
This is something no harvester ever wants to experience. Yesterday, Van Driesten Harvesting had a fire in the field that resulted in a total loss of a combine and header. They also lost a few acres of the crop to the fire.
 
"It just goes to show that you can do everything possible to prevent something like this, and sometimes the cards simply aren't in your favor. Within two minutes, it became obvious that the combine wasn't going to be saved. Thankfully, everyone was okay."
 
"At that point, we shifted to saving the crop, or at least as much of it as we could. The breeze that day wasn't anything out of the ordinary. In fact, there was very little wind."
 
"Once the fire started, the breeze shifted over and over, making it incredibly difficult to keep the fire contained. One combine stayed ahead of the flames, cutting a fire break in an effort to slow the fire down. Just when we thought we had it under control, the wind shifted again, or water trucks needed to refill."
 
"In less than an hour, the field fire was extinguished, and the local fire departments worked through the remaining hot spots. We are incredibly grateful to the volunteer firefighters from Loma, Big Sandy, Elam, and Geraldine Fire Departments, as well as the local farmers and another harvest crew who dropped what they were doing to come help. Without these volunteers, this could have ended very differently."
 
"Harvest is full of long days, difficult conditions, and risks that most people never see. This was a reminder that equipment can be replaced, but people cannot. We're incredibly thankful our crew made it home safely, and we're deeply appreciative of everyone who helped us through this."
 
That was from Van Driesden Harvesting. Our prayers and thoughts are with them for the rest of the harvest season. 

We're talking to Sarah Nicholson, Damron Harvesting.
 
The wheat over there was very good. Had he got in and cut it when it should have been cut, I mean one of the fields even after 15-20 inches of rain on it, still we cut a field that made 47 after all that amount of rain on it. It would have made 55-60 I imagine.
 
The test weight was 55 when we were cutting it and there wasn't very much sprout damage really and there wasn't any weeds. We just fought a lot of crabgrass but our sample and everything was very clean. He just got hurt a little bit on the test weight. So the last 400 acres was not easy to cut. It took us a long time because of the rain but I mean it was good enough that he had to cut it even after all that amount of rain. I mean it was better than anything that we had cut of our own in western Oklahoma.
 
So the profit there was really good. He wasn't the only one. Whenever we were up there, there was a lot of combines still cutting, you know, July 7th in Oklahoma which is very much unheard of. It was just a crazy year with a lot of rain. Overall, we had a very successful harvest with just our simple, we just took one combine up there and 1600 acres and came back. 47 bushel to the acre crop. Yeah, after it had 15-20 inches of rain on it. 
 
You could have got 55 before the rain and the test weight would have been up around 60 before the rain, huh? 
 
That's just a guess. Yeah, I mean the wheat was still very good considering how much rain it had on it. So that's just how good the wheat was.