{gallery}11_19_09/beetdump{/gallery} Trucks line up Monday evening to unload sugar beets east of Powell. Piled beets are being checked daily to be sure they remain stable. The dig could be halted if piled beets start to go bad. Tribune photo by Carla Wensky Next round of harvest finishing upWestern Sugar beet growers are digging another round under the quota system that has been in place since a hard freeze damaged the beets in early October.On Wednesday, Ric Rodriguez said the latest dig was sending beets to the Lovell factory as soon as possible. Western Sugar Cooperative officials allowed growers to dig 1.2 tons per contracted acre, the same amount as in previous allotments.

“We're going to go ahead and slice these beets right away,” he said. Some beets that were dug over the past week or two are believed to be in good enough condition to store at least briefly, he said.

“Right now, everything looks pretty good,” he said.

Sugar beets harvested this week will feed the factory for about a week, Rodriguez said. Growers may dig another week's worth if a potential cold front on the horizon doesn't come to pass, he said.

“What we're looking at is the cold temperatures next week,” he said. “It could freeze the ground.”

Beets are processing OK so far, Rodriguez said.

“They don't look very good, but they can still process,” he said. Sugar beets that have already been piled are checked daily to be sure they remain stable. If the piled beets start to go bad, that could halt the dig while piled beets are delivered to the factory.

“There's always a chance that they could start to sour,” he said, but the piled beets so far are holding well.

“Like I said before,” Rodriguez said, “we're not done yet. Hope for good weather and we'll keep digging for as long as they process.”

Glen Reed, president of the Big Horn Basin Beet Growers Association, said he's hoping for Indian summer at least through Thanksgiving. Freezing nights alternating with balmy days can make beets freeze and thaw, which can speed deterioration. On the bright side, yields are good so far.

Reed said he doesn't think any growers are completely through harvesting beets. Each field has a separate contract, and on contracts that are complete, meaning the field is completely harvested, the yield is estimated at 28.5 tons per acre. Before the current allotment, the crop was about 59 percent harvested, he said.

“That's really high,” Reed said, above what the co-op projected in August.

“It was an excellent crop,” he said. “It was just a matter of getting it out.” Under the current quota system, the dig could go on for two months, he said.

“Getting it all out's not going to happen,” he said. “We're pushing up against the weather.”

With the ground freezing at night, “You can't separate the dirt from the beets, and dirt doesn't go through the sugar factory very well.”

Frozen ground means delay.

“You only dig for a couple half-days because it's frozen in the mornings,” he said. It took him about six hours of digging to complete his quota this week, not counting waiting on trucks.

“There's a lot of money sitting there that's just going to be zeroes,” Reed said. “A substantial hit to a lot of farmers. It's not good, no matter how you cut it. It's a bad deal.”

What sugar is processed will probably fetch a good price, Reed said. Sugar prices are staying high, and many U.S. sugar beet companies have had average to below average harvests, he said.

“By and large, the beet sector is going to be off a little bit from last year, probably,” he said, but “a lot of things can change between now and when they're processed.”

Even stockpiled beets are no guarantee, he cautioned.

“We could lose thousands and thousands in pile loss if we have the wrong kind of winter,” he said.