A mid-April freeze halted wheat production in southwest Oklahoma on what looked to be a bumper crop. And while some producers may decide to graze or hay the damaged wheat, others may convert their acres to cotton.

"The southwest corner was significantly impacted by this freeze," says Gary Strickland, Oklahoma State University's Jackson County Extension director, who evaluated fields across an eight-county area. "We're finding some level of freeze damage in most fields. The damage varies from as low as 10% to as heavy as 80%. So, we've seen some pretty devasting damage."  

In Tillman County, Extension Director Aaron Henson estimates about 35% damage countywide. "We had some 60 to 70-bushel wheat and some pushing 80, and then some at 30 bushels that had been heavily grazed." But April 15, all that changed including for Tillman County grower Dallas Geis, who lost 1,500 acres to the cold snap.

See, Oklahoma wheat farmer takes big hit from April freeze

"Prior to the freeze, I was very optimistic about a great wheat harvest," Geis says. "The day after the freeze, I was cautiously optimistic we had dodged the bullet. Five days later, I was holding out hope. Ten days later, it’s gone."

Geis produces wheat, cotton and cattle. He says he'll replace some of his failed acres with cotton, but he has some concerns.

"My adjuster said I can get 35% of my wheat crop insurance payments and plant cotton, but the issue is the wheat is four-foot tall. There's a lot of residue out there."

Geis hoped he could cut and bale the residue prior to planting, but insurance won't allow. "You've got to plant into what's standing. You can't take the hay off and plant a cotton crop and have it insured," Geis explains. "We're going to plant the cotton into the standing wheat and then run a shredder over the top of it to get some of that residue down on the ground. I don't think there's any way you could run a stripper through it the way it is."

For those considering planting cotton into terminated wheat, OSU Cotton Extension Specialist Seth Byrd assures all is not lost.

"It's like planting behind a cover crop, you just may be dealing with more biomass than normal."

Byrd recommends growers consider the following:

"I hate this for these guys who had a lot of wheat," Byrd says. "But for those going back with cotton, there are some positive things. It's probably not harder than what they would do in a normal year, it's just different."

The May 2020 Oklahoma Wheat Crop Estimate is for a 96.524-million-bushel crop, based on 2,910, 787 harvested acres and a 33.161 bushel per acre yield, says Mike Shulte, executive director for the Oklahoma Wheat Commission. The 49th annual report is generated by the Oklahoma Grain and Feed, Oklahoma Wheat Commission and Oklahoma Wheat Growers.