Welcome rain across the county may have arrived just in time to save a faltering small grain crop.

Kingfisher County’s small grain crops, which had looked so good during the winter and early spring, began to take a beating as warm temperatures and wind arrived in late April and May.

“It’s time for a rain,” one local producer, Brandon Yost, commented to another at a local restaurant.

There was no disagreement.

That request was answered Thursday night and Friday morning as showers fell across much of the county, ranging from 1.2 inches at Okarche Grain and Feed Elevator, eight miles west of Okarche, to .1 inch at Cashion Grain and Feed Elevator.

Kingfisher Weather Observer Steve Loftis reported .6 inch at the National Weather Service Station in Kingfisher.

Other amounts from across the county included .75 inch at Hennessey, .7 inch at Loyal at the Jon Cochran residence, .5 inch at the Twila Adams residence east of Kingfisher, .4 inch at the CHS Elevator in Okarche and at an unofficial gauge in the Wildwood Estates addition off Shafenberg Road east of Kingfisher, and .3 inch at the Mike and Donna Reid residence southwest of Kingfisher on Park Community Road.

Harold Ebers at Hennessey when asked if the rain arrived to aid the wheat crop, commented:

“It didn’t hurt it any.” Kingfisher County Extension Director-Agricultural Educator Bryan Kennedy said he has been all over the county and he is seeing several problems with the crop.

These include drought stress in much of the county with some leaf curl showing up in the central and western sections of the county.

He said the crop in the area east and south of Hennessey, which received a rain a week ago, and the Okarche area, which has received some moisture that other areas haven’t look the best.

“If we could get a rain in the next few days and some moderate temperatures – in the 70’s – that would boost harvest prospects.

He said reports he has seen still forecast a 35-bushel per acre average yield for the county.

Weather conditions between now and harvest will affect predictions.

He commented on a “blue” look in some fields, indicative of drought stress.

Much of the wheat is fully headed out and Kennedy said he wasn’t surprised at reports that some fields were already beginning to change color, indicative of an earlier start than normal.

The county’s small grain fields are widely varied in maturity rates due to planting being interrupted at the normal seeding time due to heavy fall rains.

He also observed some indications of freeze damage to the county crop.

In some cases, the damage is showing up in the middle of the grain heads.

He said reports indicate the freeze damage was heavier in southern Canadian County and further south than it is here.

Kennedy also observed some aphid activity in wheat.

He said aphids carry the Barley yellow dwarf disease.

He said he has also seen some exceptionally good wheat in some areas.

A little rain and cooler temperatures would do a lot of good right now,” he said.

A late March report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed improved wheat ratings in Texas and Kansas and a decline in Oklahoma.

For Oklahoma, the USDA rated 70% of the winter wheat crop in good to excellent condition, down from 77% a week earlier.

Farmers in the Plains grow hard red winter wheat, the largest U.S. wheat class, which is milled into flour for bread.

Wheat pasture is a major resource for stockmen and many stocker cattle are grazed on wheat through the fall and winter months.

Kennedy said the coronavirus pandemic has dealt a blow to cattlemen with prices dropping below profitable level for the bigger cattle that normally come off wheat pasture in March.

He said there are a number of the larger cattle that are still on graze-off acreage, likely due to the low prices.

“If stockmen can get a $15 a head profit this year (on their stockers), they’ve done well,” he said.

The pandemic has reduced demand for meat with restaurants throughout the nation closed down due to the coronavirus.

Some sources have predicted a possible shortage of meat later this year because of packers cutting back on production, in some cases closing plants in response to COVID-19.

The problem is not a lack of cattle; there are plenty of them around, Kennedy said.

He cited a lack of cold storage as a possible factor in the prediction of a meat shortage.

He said the situation for smaller cattle is not as dire. The price for them is holding up.

He said there is a possibility that cow-calf operators will be offering their spring calves for sale earlier – September and October.

Tyson Foods, one of America’s biggest meat producers, warned in a fullpage New York Times ad that the “food supply chain is breaking.”

Tyson and many other meat processing companies across the country have paused operations at a number of plants where workers have tested positive for COVID-19. According to the USDA’s weekly report from April 27, beef production was down nearly 25% year-over-year, while pork production was down 15%.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on April 28 aiming to keep meat processing plants in operation. But many say Trump’s order will be unlikely to eliminate the threat that COVID-19 poses to American meat processors, and, by extension, the food supply. It’s hard to protect workers from a highly contagious virus in the frequently tight quarters of a processing plant, the meat packers’ union said.