Farmer Roger Pine, also a state senator, used what he called the “old farmer method” recently when he bit into some wheat kernels to test the winter crop.

“We don’t think ours is quite dry enough,” said Pine, of Pine Family Farms northeast of Lawrence.

While Pine says he probably will start cutting in the next few days, other farmers brought in five to six 60-pound test loads to the elevator at the Baldwin Feed Co. on Tuesday.

“As far as quality, it looks fine,” said Verlyn Gilges, of Baldwin Feed Co. Inc.

Yield statistics were not yet available, but Gilges said he expects testing to pick up today.

Amid glum reports from the south about Kansas wheat already cut after a dry winter, farmers and grain elevator operators in Douglas County now appear a little more upbeat about the county’s crop.

But they caution that everything is a guess until the combine blades really start spinning. Compared to corn and soybeans, wheat is not regarded as a major crop in Douglas County.

Mike Craig of rural Vinland cuts on his second day of wheat harvest Tuesday at a field about two miles north of Vinland. Early tests of the wheat crop look promising for farmers in northeast Kansas.

“Our land is pretty valuable, and it’s good enough to grow corn and soybeans, which generally make more money than wheat,” Douglas County extension agent Bill Wood said.

Since 1999, the county has averaged about 7,000 acres of wheat planted, with an average yield of about 45 to 46 bushels per acre, Wood said. He expects a lower yield this year.

Historically, the generally damp northeast Kansas spring climate can make wheat more vulnerable to disease, he said.

But after a dry winter, Pine said, northeast Kansas received more moisture compared to other parts of the state. His operation planted a little more than 300 acres of wheat, compared to about 3,000 acres it operates.

Last year’s yield ran slightly lower than or at the county’s average, and two years ago the yield was above average, he said.

Pine says planting wheat has become more profitable recently, including the current higher prices influenced by drought conditions in western Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

According to the recent outlook from the Agriculture Department, wheat price estimates have increased 10 cents in the last month on both ends of the price range to $3.60 to $4.20 per bushel, which is above last year’s estimated average of $3.42.

The Agriculture Department’s outlook last week also showed national forecasts down 16 percent from last year’s crop to 1.26 billion bushels of winter wheat. In other parts of Kansas, the drier temperatures allowed more insects to be active.

Pine said his farms don’t appear to have any major wheat crop problems now.

Wood speculated that the warmer winter temperatures caused the county’s wheat to grow sooner, but the drier weeks that followed may have stunted crop growth.

“I still think it’s going to be a little bit below our normal,” Wood said.

Adrian Derousseau, general manager for Ottawa Co-op Assn., which has elevators in Lawrence and Midland, said the company had not yet received any test loads. He said he hadn’t seen enough of the area’s wheat crop, but in some elevators to the south, he has seen some decent yields.

“What’s coming in at Burlington and Waverly, the average is probably about 50-plus (bushels) per acre, which is really good,” Derousseau said.

Pine says that no late spring freeze also may have helped.

“My guess is we’ve got an above-average wheat crop here,” Pine said. “Unless we get a hail storm or something, I think we’re going to have an above-average yield.”