Niwot farmer works to salvage flattened sorghum

The sorghum crop at the Diagonal and Niwot Road looks like someone having a bad hair day. Some of it is standing up, some sticks out sideways and the rest is flattened. Heavy wet snow combined with wind drove the stalks to the ground during the storm on September 9. As days passed, some of the grain has sprung back to life in varying degrees.

The crop is causing farmer John Schlagel fits as he harvests the 130 acres this week. "It's a mess," Schlagel said. "It's awful." He expects to lose about 10% of the grain that he depends on to feed his 800 head of cattle in winter. It's costing him time and money as well.

The stalks are leaning south, so he can only harvest it in one direction, causing him to make an extra lap for each length of the field. He is trying to buy a new piece of machinery that will allow him to pick up more of the grain but it's 500 miles away at an auction. Schlagel isn't sure he'll win the bidding for the pricey equipment. "You don't want to know how much it is," he said.

Schlagel will try to make the most of the sorghum that can't be cut or is spilled during the harvest. He'll pasture 80 head of cattle on the field, which he leases from Boulder County Parks & Open Space. He just hopes there isn't another snowstorm that could swamp the field before the cattle are able to clean it up.

The grain that is successfully harvested goes by semi-truck to Schlagel's Niwot Farms property where it is dried and put up in a silo.

While the sorghum was impacted, Schlagel's other crops of corn and alfalfa came through the storm without a problem. He's hopeful that he'll salvage most of the sorghum, but it's been frustrating. "Snow just came too soon. It was a perfect crop too - beautiful."