The 2012 HRW wheat harvest is winding down quickly now in Colorado and Nebraska with Kansas and states south all but complete (99%). As harvest moved into South Dakota last week it now appears the same trend continues with an extremely early harvest and a wide range of yield and quality reports. South Dakota yield reports have ranged from 25 bushels per acre to well over 60 with several producers expecting much higher yields as harvest continues. As has been the case in the more southern states, early reports of protein have also been very erratic, but generally higher overall (ranges below 10 to many areas reporting well over 13%). Test weights have also been very good with most reports being over 60 pounds per bushel. Overall, South Dakota producers have been very pleased with the crop so far and like many areas the weather has been hot and dry with spring wheat and summer crops showing signs of drought stress.
We now have 261 samples in the lab with all individual grade and non-grade testing done on those samples. We have an additional 92 samples in the lab in various stages of testing for kernel characteristics. Protein did drop this week and preliminary results from the samples still in the process indicate the protein average will decline again next week. However, it also appears test weight and thousand kernel weights will likely increase next week (the trade off of larger kernels for a drop in protein).
| Tst | Exp | MST | Pro% | DKG | TKW | FN | Grade | Test | Weight | FM | DMG | S&B | DEF |
| 261 | 530 | 11.3 | 12.6 | .49 | 28.0 | 409 | 1HRW | 60.6 | 79.7 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 1.5 |
| FINAL | 2011 | ||||||||||||
| 477 | Final | 10.6 | 12.4 | .48 | 30.1 | 400 | 1HRW | 60.8 | 79.9 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 1.6 |
Download a PDF of the Harvest Summary of HRW July 6th, 2012