Some of you know that I’m a grain farmer. We’re harvesting spring wheat right now. Here’s a few photos of the day’s activities. My son and oldest grandson are in the combines; I’m the truck driver.
Harvest Time On The Farm
- Thread starter grampamark
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Are you having any problems with sawflies up there? They were really bad here this year and had a large impact on the yields.
Nice!
I haven't been back home for harvest for a few years. Doesn't look like I'll be there anytime soon, either. There are definitely things I miss, and things that I don't. I definitely miss sights like these.
Except your combines are red, so I'm not sure we can be friends.
I haven't been back home for harvest for a few years. Doesn't look like I'll be there anytime soon, either. There are definitely things I miss, and things that I don't. I definitely miss sights like these.
Except your combines are red, so I'm not sure we can be friends.
Very cool. And so very flat!
Dual combines filling a tandem tractor-trailer rig rolling through the fields must be an impressive ballet to watch
Dual combines filling a tandem tractor-trailer rig rolling through the fields must be an impressive ballet to watch
OP
OP
We haven’t had much of a sawfly problem here for the last 5 years, or so. The little critters seem to come and go in cycles, though not as regular as grasshoppers or cicadas. We also have quite a few sawfly-resistant or -tolerant wheat varieties which are well adapted to this area
definitely an impressive way to mow the lawn! 
Grasshoppers and wheat harvest go hand in hand here... some areas worse than others.
OP
OP
If a farm has enough labor available, that is, a butt for every operator’s seat in every piece of equipment, it’s more impressive to watch. With enough help, the combines don’t stop to unload. A tractor pulling a grain cart (a large wagon which can hold a semi load of grain, or more) pulls alongside the combines as they’re cutting and the combines unload on the go. The grain cart then transfers the grain to the next empty truck to return to the field.Very cool. And so very flat!
Dual combines filling a tandem tractor-trailer rig rolling through the fields must be an impressive ballet to watch
We have two combines, two semis, and three people. So, one truck is parked at one end of the field and the combines have to stop cutting long enough to pull up to the truck to unload. The other truck is is on the road to or from the field, or is unloading at one of our two grain bin sites.
The yields this year have been quite a bit better than average. The field where these pictures were taken yielded right at 50 bushels per acre. Our yield goal is 40, and with prices hovering around our break-even price with normal yields, the extra bushels are much appreciated. This was a 150 acre field, so I hauled 7500 bushels, or 450,000 pounds, of wheat today. No wonder I needed a beer when I got home.
Don't know how I missed the TWO combines last time. Didn't know we had a Rockefeller here.
I drove grain cart for years. I personally think it’s one of the more stressful jobs in the field.
OP
OP
Relax. The newest one is 20 years old; the older one is 30. If you own 2 old combines you can almost count on having at least one of them running at any time.Don't know how I missed the TWO combines last time. Didn't know we had a Rockefeller here.
I'm not going to take the low hanging fruit and make a red tractor joke there.
Don't know how I missed the TWO combines last time. Didn't know we had a Rockefeller here.
cheaper easier then the alternative......
You're having a good evening, aren't you, bracc?
RPh_Guy
Bringing Sour Back
That man is outstanding in his field.
You're having a good evening, aren't you, bracc?
it's not like i come here to work!
LOL
That is a terrible joke.
OP
OP
Interesting day of harvesting today. We were cutting spring wheat on the most remote part of our farm and one of our combines broke down. We had the broken part disassembled and I was on the phone, locating replacement parts, when my grandson yelled “holy siht, there’s a fire!” Sure enough, about 3 miles northeast of us, up by the Canadian border, a huge cloud of white smoke was rapidly spreading downwind, to the east. My son and I are both on the local FD, but we were about 10 miles from the station and only 3 miles from the fire, and we had our trusty 1989 Ford 4wd with the 300 gallon chemical shuttle and Harbor Freight pump in the back (everybody who farms in this area keeps a “fire truck” in the field when haying or harvesting). So, off we went to be firefighters for awhile.
The fire started in the field next to the one which caught fire a week ago today. The landowner told us that the insurance adjuster had just left when today’s fire broke out. Fortunately, the field where the fire started (apparently from something hot, perhaps smoldering dust or chaff which had built up in the engine compartment of the combine, dropping off the combine and starting the stubble on fire) was being cut into the wind, so the fire burned the stubble, plus several hundred acres of the down wind neighbor’s stubble, but no standing crop.
I’m leaving at 6 AM tomorrow to begin the trek to round up the parts to fix our combine. Days like this are the reason we have 2 combines. They’re complicated machines, with many moving parts and, thus, many points of potential failure. We’ll still be harvesting, just at half speed.
The fire started in the field next to the one which caught fire a week ago today. The landowner told us that the insurance adjuster had just left when today’s fire broke out. Fortunately, the field where the fire started (apparently from something hot, perhaps smoldering dust or chaff which had built up in the engine compartment of the combine, dropping off the combine and starting the stubble on fire) was being cut into the wind, so the fire burned the stubble, plus several hundred acres of the down wind neighbor’s stubble, but no standing crop.
I’m leaving at 6 AM tomorrow to begin the trek to round up the parts to fix our combine. Days like this are the reason we have 2 combines. They’re complicated machines, with many moving parts and, thus, many points of potential failure. We’ll still be harvesting, just at half speed.
That is too much excitement.
Hope your parts come in soon, and that you don't have any more breakdowns or fires.
Hope your parts come in soon, and that you don't have any more breakdowns or fires.
OP
OP
Left at 0630, walked in the door 5 minutes ago. Sixteen hour day, but I got all the right parts (only had to drive 140 miles, round trip), got the combine repaired, and we finished harvesting the fields that are the farthest away from everything.
Now we have about 600 acres of wheat left to harvest. That’s 3 good days or 4 average days. We’ll probably spend half the day tomorrow moving everything the 10 miles from the field we finished tonight to the next field to be harvested.
Now we have about 600 acres of wheat left to harvest. That’s 3 good days or 4 average days. We’ll probably spend half the day tomorrow moving everything the 10 miles from the field we finished tonight to the next field to be harvested.
OP
OP
Finished today. We now have a little over 3 million pounds of wheat in storage and about 800K pounds of peas. That will require about 80 trips to various grain elevators over the next few months to deliver it all.
A few pics from the final day.
The last field.
The view through the windshield.
The last pass of the year.
The last load on the truck.
A few pics from the final day.
The last field.
The view through the windshield.
The last pass of the year.
The last load on the truck.
So awesome. I've driven coast-to-coast over all of the major interstates from Montana down to Texas (94, 90, 80, 70, 40, 20 and 10) and crossed endless miles of grain and corn fields, but the scale of that harvest is still almost unfathomable...
Cheers!
Cheers!
you are, or should be a rich man! as a semi-vegetarian, that's a lot of food! you should live like a king...
edit: if people ate peas like me, you just fed 15,000 people for a year with the peas alone!
edit: if people ate peas like me, you just fed 15,000 people for a year with the peas alone!
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As someone who was raised on a farm where we raised, among other things, beef, and having family still raising beef, swine, and dairy cattle, I'm glad that people don't eat peas like you. Also, the breadwinner in my household has a job that relies on livestock agriculture.
Nothing like the feeling of being done with the combine for the fall. There is still work to be done, but the money is in the grain bin.
Nothing like the feeling of being done with the combine for the fall. There is still work to be done, but the money is in the grain bin.
@grampamark
A few questions for you when you have time,,
1). Is there any straw harvest?
2). Cover crop? if so with what?
3). Crop rotation? if so with what?
Thanks & Cheers,
Joel B.
A few questions for you when you have time,,
1). Is there any straw harvest?
2). Cover crop? if so with what?
3). Crop rotation? if so with what?
Thanks & Cheers,
Joel B.
OP
OP
1. Sometimes. It depends on the growing season and harvest conditions. Our combines use a rotor to thresh the crop, as opposed to a cylinder. Rotary combines tend to shred the straw into small enough pieces that a baler can’t pick up the straw and compress into a bale. This year, I think because our growing conditions were favorable to producing stronger straw, we did save the straw from about 500 acres of wheat. A neighbor who is a rancher is putting up the straw in large round bales to use this winter for livestock bedding.
2. No. See #3.
3. Our rotation is: Year 1, a cereal crop, either winter or spring wheat, sometimes barley. Year 2, a pulse crop, usually yellow peas. Year 3, another year of a cereal. Year 4, fallow; no crop is planted on those acres, which are sprayed and/or cultivated to control weeds. So, in any given year, our farm is 50% cereal crops, 25% pulse crops, and 25% fallow.
@grampamark
Hey thanks for the info. I kind of figured little straw harvest. I didn't know if they had a way to somehow to pick up the chaff that I was new to me.
Is it safe to assume no-till drill planting those crops?
We've been real dry right where I live this year. Most of the state is below normal moisture but right here it's really dry.
The corn and soybeans "look" OK but the yield will be less than stellar. At least they are standing up. The derecho was just getting spun up when it came through here thank God. You don't have to go too far east of me to start seeing bent and damaged corn. I saw a satelite photo where you can see the change of texture in the storm path, quite a sight.
Thanks for your time and glad things are going well
Cheers,
Joel B.
Hey thanks for the info. I kind of figured little straw harvest. I didn't know if they had a way to somehow to pick up the chaff that I was new to me.
Is it safe to assume no-till drill planting those crops?
We've been real dry right where I live this year. Most of the state is below normal moisture but right here it's really dry.
The corn and soybeans "look" OK but the yield will be less than stellar. At least they are standing up. The derecho was just getting spun up when it came through here thank God. You don't have to go too far east of me to start seeing bent and damaged corn. I saw a satelite photo where you can see the change of texture in the storm path, quite a sight.
Thanks for your time and glad things are going well
Cheers,
Joel B.
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