McLaughlin Elevator - Grain Piles In - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

McLaughlin Elevator - Grain Piles In

Harvest is underway and local elevators are filling fast.

Ag Reporter Sarah Gustin takes you to McLaughlin South Dakota where thousands of bushels are piling up on the ground.

The 1st load of winter wheat arrived before the 4th of July and the trucks haven't stopped pulling in.

But, South Dakota Wheat Growers in McLaughlin isn't stopping business to wait on a train.

(Mark Melcher / SD Wheat Growers McLaughlin Manager) "We end up piling every year, but yah, you worry all the time because if you get a real heavy rain fast you could lose some and get some spoilage, but we want to get it picked up as soon as we can, but we need cars to get it done."

(Sarah Gustin / sgustin@kxnet.com) "No doubt there is a lot of bushels on the ground here in McLaughlin. This pile of spring wheat 650-thousand bushels. Off to my right is the winter wheat 188-thousand."

There's no break in sight here at the elevator in McLaughlin...farmers are moving straight from winter wheat harvest into spring wheat harvest.

(Mark Melcher / SD Wheat Growers McLaughlin Manager) "When the heat hit, everything ripened at the same time. We thought we would have a break between the winter wheat and the spring wheat and there is no break."

Despite the extra moisture last year, Melcher says this year's crop not only has yield, but the quality.

(Mark Melcher / SD Wheat Growers McLaughlin Manager) "The way the heat hit, I thought we might see some light wheat but the quality has been excellent. The winter wheat, really good."spring wheat we are averaging about 59 lbs, the winter wheat we average well over 60. Protein is good. Spring wheat we are averaging 15, winter wheat is 13.5

These wheat bushels pile in from a 100 mile radius.

Melcher says the busiest day to date is dumping 220 trucks.

In McLaughlin, SD for KX News, I am Sarah Gustin.

Melcher estimates spring wheat harvest is close to 1/2 done in the area.