August 22, 2011, Fort Collins, Colo. – New at the 2011 Wheat Field Days was a yield contest. All in attendance were given the chance to pick the variety they believed would yield highest at that plot location. The person guessing the top variety, or the variety closest to the top, won a $25 Visa gift card. The tie breaker was the yield, so the winner was the participant who guessed closest to the actual yield.
At Walsh, the highest yielding variety was experimental Colorado State University (CSU) variety CO07W245 at 44.7 bushels per acre, which no one guessed. The next highest variety (in 3rd place) that five people guessed was CSU experimental variety CO06424 (now released to the Colorado Wheat Research Foundation and named Byrd). Larry Dreiling of the High Plains Journal had the closest guess at 38 bushels to the acre, when the actual yield was 41.2 bushels to the acre.
At the Lamar plot location, the highest yielder was CSU experimental variety CO07W245 at 62.7 bushels per acre, which no one guessed. The next highest variety that anyone picked was Snowmass, which was picked by three people. Kyle Wait of Lamar picked 55 bushels, which was the closest guess to Snowmass’ yield of 57.7 bushels.
The Sheridan Lake, Burlington, Genoa, and Roggen locations were not harvested because of hail or variable stands. The yield contest cards from those locations were used for a random drawing instead. The winner from Sheridan Lake was Jason Specht of Sheridan Lake, the winner at Burlington was Cory Gilbert of Burlington, the winner at Genoa was Troy McCue of Arriba, and the winner at Roggen was Tim Gittlein of Fort Lupton.
At Yuma, the best yielding variety was CO06424 (Byrd), which four people guessed. It yielded 70.4 bushels to the acre, and MellaDee Hagemann of Yuma had the closest guess with 68 bushels.
At the Julesburg plot location, the best yielding variety was Ripper at 67.8 bushels per acre, which no one picked. The highest yielding variety that anyone chose was CO06424 (Byrd), at 65.1 bushels per acre. The closest guess was from Ross Brinkema of Holyoke, with an estimate of 63.2 bushels to the acre. Brinkema was the closest guess to actual yield in the entire contest, only 1.9 bushels away.
At Haxtun, the only attendees were board members and agribusiness people, who excluded themselves from eligibility.
At the Akron plot location, the best yielding variety was T163, which no one selected. The closest variety to the top that anyone guessed was CO06424 (Byrd). The person who guessed closest to CO06424’s actual yield of 51.2 bushels was Rollie Deering of Yuma, with an estimate of 55.5 bushels per acre.
The top yielding variety at Orchard was Prairie Red. The variety closest to the top that anyone guessed was CSU experimental variety CO050322, which was picked by Robert Swank of Keenesburg, the only person at the field day selecting that variety. He estimated a yield of 44 bushels to the acre, and the actual yield was 47.8.
The complete results of the 2011 Uniform Variety Plot Trials are available at: http://bit.ly/co2011trials.
