Harvest USA Report with Howard Hale

National Ag Week is all about celebrating the farmers, ranchers and agricultural professionals who work hard to feed, fuel and clothe the world. The Nebraska Department of Agriculture says it's the perfect time to thank Nebraska farmers, ranchers and others for providing food, feed and fuel and other products we depend on every day. This week the Nebraska Department of Agriculture will be posting trivia questions on their Facebook page and we'll share them with you here. A chance to learn about agriculture and play along for a chance to win some great prizes from Nebraska Commodity Boards. Commodity groups, support Nebraska producers and our agricultural industry all year and especially during National Ag Week. NDA has a list of all the organizations that they are thankful for on their Facebook page and of course you find that right through our page at Harvest USA Report.  Also, as mentioned earlier last week on the program, David Misener and several other custom harvesters will be in Washington DC during National Ag Week to discuss important issues and meet with representatives. Tune in tomorrow for more about National Ag Week.  That's going to do it for today's Harvest USA Report. Thanks again for listening and may God bless. I'm Brian Hale.  

Welcome to the Harvest USA Report. I'm Brian Hale. An original production of Howard Hale Broadcasting, now expanded throughout North America. The Harvest USA Report is brought to you by Hale Multimedia, the company behind Cattleman's Corner. Here's Custom Harvester David Meisner to tell us more about the U.S. Custom Harvesters. That's a pretty big organization isn't it?  "Yeah that's right, we've got membership all the way across the United States and even in other countries." And the Custom Harvester's annual convention just got over what at the end of February was it?  "Actually the end of January is when it was and yes and we had a good turnout in Des Moines and pleased with all the attendance that we had from our regular membership as well as our vendors and machinery manufacturers for instance like Krohn. Yes, Mr. Krohn was there in attendance himself, very nice, I mean can you even say you know, like Claas. Mrs. Claas has been there the past two years being there in attendance too and that's just really nice to have those individuals, and they recognize who the U.S. Custom Harvester Association is and the importance of it for the nation." That was Oklahoma Custom Harvester David Meisner. That's going to do it for today's Harvest USA report. Thanks again for listening and may God bless, I'm Brian Hale.  

Welcome to the Harvest USA Report. I'm Brian Hale. An original production of Howard Hale Broadcasting now expanded throughout North America. The Harvest USA Report is brought to you by Hale Multimedia, the company behind Cattleman's Corner, Horseman's Corner and the Harvest USA Report. Let's continue our conversation with Oklahoma Custom Harvester David Meisner. Let's listen in. So does that put you on track then for a normal start in your season? "Time will tell. We've got a lot of time between now and then and see if it stays warm. Or if we get, seems like you've ever got some cool wet, then it just allows that wheat to take a little more time and stool if it does or just prolong that growing part and filling out and make more bushels in them kernels. So we'll just see how it comes along. But we definitely got, I think, a pretty good start and my farmers seem to be at least optimistic about the way the weather is for the start of the year." I also understand as a consultant or an advisor to the US Custom Harvesters that you're going to be in Washington soon. Is that correct? "Yeah, next week is National Ag Day. And so the US Custom Harvesters Board has been going to National Ag Day for quite a few years and we're going to go there and meet with some of our senators and representatives from across America and discuss some of the issues that we have with the Custom Harvesters Association and thoughts and ideas. And so we're going to see what we can do to continue to grow the relationships that we have with the individuals out there as well as discuss with some new individuals that we maybe haven't done yet." Oklahoma Custom Harvester, David Misener. Catch more from David on our website at harvesusareport.com. That's going to do it for today's Harvest USA Report. Thanks again for listening and may God bless. I'm Brian Hale.  

We're on with David Meisner, custom harvester from Oklahoma, and David, tell us again where you're from and what you've been up to lately, please. Yeah, so I'm in Elk City, Oklahoma. It's on Interstate 40, about halfway between Amarillo, Texas and Oklahoma City, a little closer to the city than Amarillo. Been enjoying some rain and moisture in this part of the world and getting my combines ready for harvest and the rest of my equipment that I need to as well. And then I always do a little bit of fixing for other individuals as well to keep some cashflow going. But I'm really pleased to have the moisture that we had because we had that cold spell, a couple of weeks ago, and then it got warm. And then we got some rain and stayed warm and had some more rain this past Saturday. And all the wheat and the grasses have really started to take off and grow and sure have been enjoying this moisture and heat that we've had now. And I can say all my farmers have been trying hard to get some fertilizer put down. And you can tell that the wheat is enjoying what's going on because of the color of the wheat. It's got really nice color. And just in general, it looks pretty nice. And some of it is kind of short because we were last fall planted a little bit on the late side. Some of it because we had really dry through October. And some guys waited and planted till after that. And it took off and grew. So we've got a, I think, a pretty good start for this year for the week to grow.