NEWS FLASH: Drought ends at Ponderosa

Wheat was breaking out around here and actually looking better than I thought it should. Just knew that there wasn't much in the tank without some moisture soon.
 
That's a plus Maynard! That gives us hope that the pheasants will have some habitat to nest in. Ours sure perked up. I'm watching for burn weather. Now that I don't fear being called to wildfires as bad as we were just over a week ago. Hoping for some higher humidity and calmer winds. Always like to be further ahead before the turkey hunters start showing up. I about waited too long to put in the cover crop on the new marsh dikes! Was worried today drilling that the soil might grab me. Got done with everything I could get over. I'll go back and hand seed the rest then harrow it in. Geese were already checking it out.
 
Drifter, I appreciate your dedication to habitat and the critters love it. Let's hope we get some help along the way with more moisture.

Unfortunately, the Ponderosa got only 0.05" out of the rain. I don't know how we missed it but we did. Hopefully the next one will catch us.

Keep up the good work at BW.
 
Any updates on rain you received Maynard? I had 1.08 in this last storm and had 1.59 earlier in the month as well as about another half inch in smaller rains along. Things changed dramatically after that first big rain. Seems the trees leafed out in about 3 days after the storm. We checked a marsh this morning to see if Mr. Beaver had it plugged up, and driving the UTV was challenging in some spots due to soft conditions. There is potential for rain more days than not in the coming week to 10 days. Maybe this drought will start receding for us all soon! All my best!
 
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hunter94 said:
looks like a big complex of storms in the NW part today?
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Over 6 inches of rain in the Stockton area. Some large hail as well. Ness City also got pounded again. They got hail bad about 2 weeks ago. One of my farmer friends says about half his wheat got hailed out. He also has some in Ness county that will make about 15 bushel that he is going to go ahead and cut. Rain is good but kinda of untimely for the pheasant hatch. Here in rush we got less than an inch. Cover is a little sparse from the hail May 1st. Leaves are thin on the tree's.
 
westksbowhunter said:
Over 6 inches of rain in the Stockton area. Some large hail as well. Ness City also got pounded again. They got hail bad about 2 weeks ago. One of my farmer friends says about half his wheat got hailed out. He also has some in Ness county that will make about 15 bushel that he is going to go ahead and cut. Rain is good but kinda of untimely for the pheasant hatch. Here in rush we got less than an inch. Cover is a little sparse from the hail May 1st. Leaves are thin on the tree's.
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The first hail storm in Ness County was bad but fortunately it wasn't very wide. It also didn't get east of town, the worst was sw. The hail last night didn't amount to much. I was out there mid last week and drove around in the worst hail area where the wheat was zeroed out. It was only 2 or 3 miles wide with a very sharp cutoff. It's like that in western Kansas, if you get the needed rain there will be strips of hail somewhere. I did see 2 roosters and a hen right in the worst of the hail path so it didn't kill all the adults. The cover between Ness and Dodge looks really good. My farm south of Dighton fortunately has dodged the hail and received some rain. I would guess the wheat between 35 and 45 bushel. It is later than normal which is good for the phez nesting.
 
fsentkilr said:
The first hail storm in Ness County was bad but fortunately it wasn't very wide. It also didn't get east of town, the worst was sw. The hail last night didn't amount to much. I was out there mid last week and drove around in the worst hail area where the wheat was zeroed out. It was only 2 or 3 miles wide with a very sharp cutoff. It's like that in western Kansas, if you get the needed rain there will be strips of hail somewhere. I did see 2 roosters and a hen right in the worst of the hail path so it didn't kill all the adults. The cover between Ness and Dodge looks really good. My farm south of Dighton fortunately has dodged the hail and received some rain. I would guess the wheat between 35 and 45 bushel. It is later than normal which is good for the phez nesting.
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There was hail east of Ness City. The farms that got hailed out were south of Bazine. Got some more rain today, but not much. Sounds like south and east of here got the brunt of the storm today. I heard some baseball size hail.
 
westksbowhunter said:
There was hail east of Ness City. The farms that got hailed out were south of Bazine. Got some more rain today, but not much. Sounds like south and east of here got the brunt of the storm today. I heard some baseball size hail.
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That is a different storm then the one that came across Lane County and into western Ness I was talking about. I didn't get south of Bazine so I can't comment on it but I didn't notice any damage along 96. I have friends just se of town and the hail sw of town didn't go across there it stopped. The hail sw of Ness even hailed the milo stubble to the ground. The wheat out there that wasn't hailed on actually looked better than I expected. It is short but has decent size heads. The poorest wheat I saw was around Lindsborg and Mcpherson. It actually looked better further west. That is unusual.
 
fsentkilr said:
That is a different storm then the one that came across Lane County and into western Ness I was talking about. I didn't get south of Bazine so I can't comment on it but I didn't notice any damage along 96. I have friends just se of town and the hail sw of town didn't go across there it stopped. The hail sw of Ness even hailed the milo stubble to the ground. The wheat out there that wasn't hailed on actually looked better than I expected. It is short but has decent size heads. The poorest wheat I saw was around Lindsborg and Mcpherson. It actually looked better further west. That is unusual.
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Nope same storm I think. If I remember it was Mothers day. Been dry around Lindsborg. Funny how it can hail softballs in one section then drop pea sized the next section. It beat my potatoes into the ground. Right now they look like the best potatoes ever, go figure. The adjuster had my damage to my home at just a little over $24,000 once it was all done.
 
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westksbowhunter said:
Nope same storm I think. If I remember it was Mothers day.
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It wasn't the same storm. The storm I am talking about stopped sw of Ness before it crossed the highway. A friend even has to cut the very east edge of a field because it stopped before it went across it. I drove the strip from there clear back west to dighton. There is no hail damage on the east side of the highway south of Ness I drove all around that country one evening as well as have friends living there. My friend that had the bad hail sw of town was afraid it was going to get another building sight he owns se of town as it was headed that direction but it didn't make it. Edit to add, I went back and looked at my text conversation when I received the pictures of the hail damage. It was May 15th so a couple days after Mothers Day. I called and ask the friend with the damage, it was the night of the 14th he sent me the picures the next Morning. He said he is seeing some pheasants and quail so it didn't kill them all. It ruined his roof and siding on his house and the roofs on his sheds as well as some vehicles.
 
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BrownDogsCan2 said:
That storm on the 14th on the radar sure looked like it lost most of the big hail north of jetmore..
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West and North of Jetmore is where my friend got hammered. The hail streak ended a mile east of his house. I guess it could have started hailing out of it again further east, but in the area se of Ness from town clear to the river on the east side of the highway I didn't see any hail damage. It stopped 3 or 4 miles west of the highway.
 
Sorry you guys are getting the rough stuff! We almost missed the first rain night before last with only .07 in the gauge. Last night we did better with 1.39. The humidity is now oppressive! We are finally over average for the month. First month to threaten average in about 6 months or more.
 
Gotta love forecasters! 10% chance of rain last night and the gauge shows 2.2 inches! That ought to bring up the Japanese millet we finished planting yesterday! Unfortunately, it will also put off the marsh dike construction for a few weeks as well! Glad to have rain in July to counteract the high heat!
 
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