HUSA Jul 31 2026 - Josh Wright

We're talking to Josh Wright, Sidney, Nebraska. About how long do you suppose you'll be in the Dutton area?   "About two or three more weeks. We should have it wrapped up without any moisture."   So you haven't been bothered by any rain here, have you?   "No, it's been nice and sunny, nice and cool. Everybody loves the weather up here. They think it's pretty hot. It's in the hundreds, but we come out of an area where it was 125, so this is beautiful for us."   Where do you figure you'll go after Dutton?   "Probably the eastern side of Montana. Cut some wheat over there, do some lentils. It's raining back home, so hopefully our fall crops will be good."   Do you do mostly straight cut or do you pick up any swaths?   "We mostly pick up swaths in the Dutton area. We have a little of the earlier stuff we did. We're starting our second week. We did some straight cutting. We're kind of mixed in between it all. We got four different fields going, so some guys are picking up, some guys are straight cutting."   How many machines are you running?   "We've got ten here in the Dutton area, three over in the Miles City area. At the beginning, like I said, we were doing the straight cutting, but they come in and they wreck it so quick we can't keep up with it. Some farmers, they like to swap it early. Other guys, if we can get to it before they swap it, that'd be great, but we just can't keep up with it. One day the wheat's standing perfect, the next day it's down."   So how much faster miles per hour can you go when you're straight cutting compared to picking up swaths?   "It's about the same, really. I mean, just 60 bushel wheat. We're 40-foot swaths. We're going about three and a half, three to three and a half. It's the same with straight cutting."