This is Day 5 of the 2013 Kansas Wheat Harvest Reports, brought to you by the Kansas City Board of Trade, the Kansas Grain & Feed Association, the Kansas Wheat Commission and Kansas Association of Wheat Growers.

Monday evening thunderstorms swept across areas of northern and central Kansas, slowing progress of the 2013 wheat harvest. Still, many farmers are harvesting away in areas of western and southern Kansas. 

It is an abysmal harvest in Clark County, with yields ranging from 5 to 10 bushels per acre and a large number of wheat acres abandoned.  Dave Strecker, manager at the Minneola Co-op in Minneola says test weight averages about 57 pounds per bushel, but no protein samples have been received yet. He expects to harvest less than 10% of a normal crop; this following a short crop last year, too.

Kansas Wheat Commission chairman Ron Suppes says harvest is in full swing in Lane County. He has harvested two fields of Foundation white wheat, with Clara yielding 43 bushels per acre and averaging 59.5 pounds per bushel; Danby averaged about 43 bushels per acre with 62 pound per bushel test weight. Suppes also harvested a field of Danby that yielded 25 bushels per acre but had a 63 pound per bushel test weight. Suppes says it appears that Danby is handling drought better than some of the other hard white wheat varieties.

Donnie Pound with the Kanza Coop in Stafford says farmers are reporting better than anticipated yields, with ranges from 40 to 60 bushels per acre and test weights ranging from 60 to 64 pound per bushel. The co-op doesn't do protein samples.  Pounds expects an average crop in the area, but with harvest just starting, there is room for improvement.

Steve Morris with the Andale Farmers Co-op in Andale, says harvest is about 40% complete in the cooperative's trade territory. Farmers report yields ranging from 50 to 80 bushels per acre, 62 pound test weight and less than 1/2 of one percent dockage. Protein is 11 to 11.5. As of Tuesday afternoon, the cooperative has taken in 1.3 million bushels; Morris anticipates this year's crop will exceed the 2.8 million taken in last year. In a week, harvest will be wrapping up.

Wheat harvest got started in Morris County yesterday and the crop is dryer and better than Wilsey-area farmer Lawrence Strouts expected. He reports yields as high as 60 bushels per acre; test weights are 60 pounds per bushel, and no protein values are available yet. He says the best is yet to come, and if it wasn't for rain Monday night they would be cutting today. 

The 2013 Harvest Report is brought to you by the Kansas Wheat Commission, Kansas Association of Wheat Growers and sponsors Kansas City Board of Trade, and the Kansas Grain & Feed Association.