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Update from Heil Harvesting
We’ve been pretty quiet here recently simply because there are just not a lot of photogenic happenings in progress. We are always busy — always. We’ll share some photos of some of what we’ve been working on. We often would be rolling full speed ahead at this time of year in front of balers or silage choppers — but not this year, or at least not so far. Not much activity has been happening aside from maintenance, repairs and (of course) bookkeeping.
What we ARE doing a lot of right now is hunting acres to swath, which doesn’t really generate a lot of great photos for sharing. Unfortunately, the exceptionally dry conditions in combination with the poor hay market are really hurting our spring business.
The wheat crops that we might normally be called to swath for baling are ranging currently from poor to almost nonexistent. We’ve driven a lot of miles, from southeast New Mexico and far western Texas up into northeastern Colorado, and we have seen very few acres of wheat that look like they’ll be harvestable at all. Most of them don’t even have enough growth to make it worth swathing them for baling as hay — and the hay market is still poor enough that nobody is much interested in baling failed crops anyway, even if there would be enough yield to justify doing it (which there would not be). Add in the fact that the little growth the wheat has is the only ground cover available to defend against wind erosion and there is, very understandably, zero interest in swathing that wheat for baling.
On the silage side of things, even irrigated crops are suffering from the lack of natural assistance. This is especially visible in areas that are a little short on water anyway (which is everywhere we work). Dryland triticale fields that are usually chopped are in a situation very similar to that of the wheat. There’s a little growth there, but not much. Most of the crops are light enough this spring that the silage crews aren’t likely to need help from us. They usually have their own swathers and only call us in when they need a little additional help. In a good year, they often need a little additional help. This year, nope.
So, the swathing season outlook isn’t really the most optimistic. We’ve talked to all of our people and are advertising for work anyway, and keeping our eyes and ears open. We are keeping our name out there by word of mouth, and we’ve driven a lot of miles wallpapering this general region with “SWATHING WANTED” flyers. One of our swathers is parked at the intersection in town that has the McDonald’s with a giant “FOR HIRE” sign in the window, in the hopes that someone who sits down for lunch at McDonald’s might see it and start getting some ideas.
The thing is that even when conditions look terrible, one never knows what type of opportunity might pop up. When something does pop up, we want our name to be out there so potential customers know we’re available!
This type of thing goes with the territory. It is cyclical: Sometimes there is so much work to do that we literally can’t do it all. Other times we sit and wish we were in the field. You take the bad with the good. And we know we’re not the only ones affected! All any of us can do is wait and see — and do everything we can to be prepared for when conditions change, and continue to pray for beneficial rains across the region!
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