By MIKE CORN

mcorn@dailynews.net

LIEBENTHAL -- As farmers waited for the start of the 2009 wheat harvest, Bill Legleiter's 1974 Massey Ferguson simply chomped away at a field just north of Liebenthal.

He was back in the field Monday, the wheat dry and ready to go into the elevator, even though the ground was wet and soft in spots.

South of Alexander in Rush County, James Webs thought he'd give it a try.

"Looks pretty good," he said after cutting a test strip of the Jagalene wheat.

As he started cutting, the monitor registered 13.8 percent moisture -- close, but a bit high for safe storage.

Pointing to the opposite end of the field, he said, the monitor showed 15.5 percent.

After pulling a bucket of wheat from the combine's bin, Webs sent sons Ryan and Austin to the elevator for a moisture test.

A few moments later, pulling his cell phone from his shirt pocket, he received the news -- all good in that the wheat tested 12.5 percent moisture, just the way the elevator likes it.

"It looks good," he said. "I'd like to get it over and done with."

With that, Webs headed back into the field to start the annual rite of cutting wheat.

They were not the only people cutting wheat, as others ventured into the field in late afternoon in southwest Ellis County. Monday's heat, and a promise of more today, should send more combines into the field.

Along the way, both Webs and Legleiter had to deal with equipment malfunctions.

Webs had replaced all of the belts and chains on his International combine, and one was simply too tight -- pumping wheat out the auger as the header brought it in.

He had been warned that slight problems could develop, and pulled the chain from the machine until he could get a partial load.

With word that the wheat was ready for cutting, the chain was put back on and he was on his way.

For Legleiter, his combine had been running rough and then just died.

Mechanic Roger Kenyon, from F&F Repair in La Crosse, was called out to the field and made some quick adjustments and fired up the combine.

He wasn't sure exactly what the problem had been, but started the process to determine what might have been wrong.

"It's been around the block a time or two," Legleiter said of his combine.

As for the wheat, he said it's been testing great.

"Test weight is outstanding," he said, noting 63.1 pounds has been his lightest load. The benchmark for wheat is 60 pounds per bushel.

The harvest hasn't started yet in the Brownell area, and Midland Marketing elevator coordinator Bob Wolfe said it likely will be several days.

Rain during the weekend, he said, ranged from 0.85 of an inch to 1.5 inches.

Besides, cutting in the McCracken area -- 13 miles east -- just was starting.

"We're always at least three to five days behind McCracken," Wolfe said.

Wolfe is holding out hope it might be better than average.

But, he said, the heat and rain is taking a toll, as it could shrink or bleach the kernels.

"We don't know what we're going to see," he said. "We're not into it yet."