Spring Wheat Harvest Near Elgin - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

It's harvest time.

Golden fields cover much of the state.

Ag Reporter Sarah Gustin takes you to Elgin for spring wheat harvest.

An early spring has brought an early harvest across much of the state.

(Harlan Klein / Elgin Farmer) "It's all ready at one time. This hot weather just brought everything together. Here it is, now take it off. "

Harlan Klein moved straight from the winter wheat fields into the spring wheat rows.

Klein estimates they already have 1/3 of this year's spring wheat crop in the bin.

(Harlan Klein / Elgin Farmer) "It's going fast. We could cut in any field that we got seeded and it's ready to go. I checked some of our later seeded stuff yesterday and that's ready to harvest." 

(Sarah Gustin / sgustin@kxnet.com) "While harvest is running smoothly, Klein biggest concern now is one the grasshoppers and two it hasn't rained in more than 3 weeks."

(Harlan Klein / Elgin Farmer) "We are in need of rain right now. The flowers and the corn are at a stage that they need an inch of water. If they don't get it pretty soon they are not going to do very well." 

Despite a lack of moisture, this crop is yielding better than expected.

(Harlan Klein / Elgin Farmer) "For the wheat side, it's going to be one of the best ones we have had.And the yields vary anywhere from the lowest we have had is 25 and the high end has been up in that 60-65 range. It varies on previous year crop more than anything. We went into this year with good sub moisture and that is what has made our crop at this point." 

Klein hopes to be making his final rounds in about 2 weeks before moving into the row crops.

Klein says this year's winter wheat harvest was excellent.

He says the wheat is good quality, yields averaged between 50 and 60 bushels per acre and test weights were in the 60s.