Fall Harvest

[Norm]

We finished up with the beans today and will start on corn Monday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFR3JGjDDeI

Here's Patty's rig, a JD 8225R with a 600bu cart.



The weather has been perfect this fall a big departure from years past.

[Don K]

Big farming is amazing.

Don

[Warbird]

Amazing is an apt description.  And impressive.  Pardon my saying so Norm but your wife's tractor is sexy.

[pigman]

That combine is so big that it takes two people to operate. ;D

[Gary_C]

There was an old joke about Russian combines that said it took two people to operate one. One to drive it and one to walk behind and pick up the pieces.   :D :D

[Larry]

Corn has been out in south Missouri and what little we have in north Arkansas for well over a month.  Don't think anybody needed a big cart this year...a pickup would have held the crop from most fields. :(

[sandhills]

It might take two to operate it but it musn't take anybody to drive it :D :D.  Auto steer perhaps 8) 8).  I wanted to start beans last friday, have a wopping 32 acres, but our neighbors who we cut silage for called the same day.  They had some late planted corn so we've been doing that, got one day left if everything holds together then I can start my own stuff .

[Don_Papenburg]

We finished corn last wednesday and started beans on friday . I had some LLbeans  come in at 49.5 bu./A       I am working on the puzzle patch now .  That is the field that was just poking out of the ground when the tornado came a calling .  then we had several large rains and about three weeks later I got in to do replants .  Can't wait to get into straight rows all ripe enough to cut from one end to the other.

[Magicman]

My job was riding the combine, tieing  the sacks of wheat, oats, rye, and clover and kicking them off to be picked up later.  The combine head was 3'.  We had to go around lots of times.

No, I have never missed those days.  The last time that the combine broke down, Dad left it in the field.  It's still there.  

I'm glad to hear that you are having good harvest weather Norm. 

[js2743]

dang wish i was out that way to help with the harvest, i would do it for free just to be able to do it once. theres nothing here on that scale maybe a acre of corn here and there and thats far between.

[Coon]

Which model of combine is that?  Around here there seem to be alot of 9770's with the Bullet Proof Rotors in them?  Is that a 36 foot header?  How fast are you traveling while picking up crop?  Last fall while operating a 9770 straight cutting wheat we travelled in the neighborhood of 4-4.5 mph.  That was with a 36 foot MacDon header. 

Brad.

[Gary_C]

We've still got water standing in the fields here though some of the high ground beans have been taken out. Even there you have to go around wet holes. Not much corn out either though the corn must be fairly dry.

How have your yields been Norm? I have heard the yields are just average and nothing to brag about.

[Norm]

You guys really have big equipment Coon. Our fields are not very big so the bean head is 30' and the combine is a 9650 made in 2002. It moves at 4mph in beans and when we do corn it has a 8 row head and we set the speed at 3.5mph. It has auto steer in it which really helps the operator be able to do the 14 hour days. The cart we are dumping into doesn't seem too big until you stand next to it. The wheels are as tall as I am. It is a mid-size one at 500bu and I know they are talking about getting a 700bu one next year.

We got to sleep in today and I know our crew really needed it. Steve and Diane who are the primary operators have been putting in 16 hour days all week. Patty and I have been doing 14 hour ones ourselves. The other two guys have taken some time off during the week which is no big deal as beans are so much less work. It's kind of funny as we are all about the same age and really get along good so it's been a lot of fun and doesn't really seem like work.

Gary the beans have been awesome this year. Our field south of the house averages 65bu per acre and the one lone corn field we did earlier waiting on the beans averaged 204bu. For some lucky reason the weather in our small local area has been much better than years past. We still got tons of rain but our bottom fields only flooded out once during the growing season, much better than the 4 times it did last year. For perspective our beans did 44bu last year and corn averaged 165bu across our farm.

[Roxie]

That video is a thing of beauty!  You finish the row, stop the combine, and the corn just flows and flows, right up to the top of the bin! 

Bravo!!   8)

[paul case]

great tis true roxie but that is beans! :D    pc

[Patty]

Harvest time in Iowa is just plain awesome. The equipment is huge and the event of harvest is best described as organized chaos. We covered about a hundred acres per day of beans, corn will go much more slowly due to the sheer volume of bushels per acre.
           
This is my first year of helping with harvest, previously I was only able to ride along in the combine on my days off from the office. Norm set me up with my own tractor and cart, and I was a bit intimidated to say the least. We do not store any harvest, so we are required to drive it to town and dump at the local coop. That is my job. Diane drives the dump cart from the combine to my tractor and fills my cart which I then drive to town. I warned everyone that I would be taking my half of the road right down the center, and all other drivers be aware! Norm has ridden with me this week to be sure I did not keep my promise of pushing all traffic into the ditches along my way, and to teach me the negotiation of pulling 600 bushels (about 36,000 pounds I think) on the highway and through the scales and the coop. I was surprised that Diane and I were the only two women driving tractors that I saw all week. I think I caught a glimpse of a lady hauling in a semi, but I never saw her again to confirm.

With beans, we can keep up with the combine using 2 tractors pulling carts. When we do corn we will add a semitrailer to the mix to help keep up. I have learned so much and absolutely am thrilled to be able to help out this year. With luck, we will have many more harvests in the future to partake in.

[Paul_H]

I'm glad to hear you guys are having good weather and great yields.I've never been around farming of that scale,the only combine I ever saw working was a little one taking oats off a 6 acre field in Pemberton.
I hope you are able to get some video of the corn harvest.

[Bro. Noble]

Patty,  Sounds like you are having a good time.  I remember my first trip to the elevator with a load of beans.  I had just started college at Ames and got a job on a farm just south of town at Kelly Ia.  I was supposed to be there at 5PM to disc bean stubble.  I got there about 15 minutes early and the owner told me to take a wagon load of beans to the elevator.  I asked where the elevator was and he pointed and said you can just see it there,  hurry cause they close at 5.  I asked what do I do when I get there and he told me they would tell me what to do.  The old H Farmall that was hooked to the wagon was a little underpowered but had a really fast roadgear.  When I got close to the RR tracks I realized the brakes were pretty useless with all that weight.  The front of the tractor bounced up about 45 degrees and when the wagon crossed beans went flying in every direction :D :D :D  I got them unloaded with no problem and if anyone saw my adventure they didn't say anything.  After that I didn't hurry so fast :D :D

Congratulations on your yields,  someone must not be doing as well-------dairy feed went up $1.00/ cwt in the last couple of weeks.

[sandhills]

Norm and Patty, great news on the yeilds, that really makes harvest a blast.  We aren't that lucky this year I guess last year was our year to shine.  A lot of people are talking big yeilds for beans in this area (45 for DL up to 70 IRR) but the corn is way off.  Where I'm at we farm mostly sand and we had a LOT of rain in June so lost most of our fertilizer.  I farm all dryland, hoping the beans will go 30 and maybe get 100 out of the corn :.

[Warbird]

The cart we are dumping into doesn't seem too big until you stand next to it. The wheels are as tall as I am. It is a mid-size one at 500bu and I know they are talking about getting a 700bu one next year.

Norm, who are 'they'?  The friends you are working with?  I am amazed at your operation.  It is, uh, amazing. 

When I got close to the RR tracks I realized the brakes were pretty useless with all that weight.  The front of the tractor bounced up about 45 degrees and when the wagon crossed beans went flying in every direction :D :D :D 

  For some reason, that reminded me of the song, "Look at them beans!" by Johnny Cash.  If I was local and had seen your adventure, I woulda played that song for you when you got back.  ;D  "Hey, lookit them beans (flying through the air!)" 

[Norm]

We don't own enough farmland to be able to own the harvest equipment so Steve the guy running the combine and Diane who's running the dump cart do it for us. We help them out on their land with the hauling of grain and I do tillage work for him also.

[Patty]

That's a good story Noble  :D

I haven't bounced any beans out yet, but the guy at the coop gave me a long look when I popped the clutch and almost ran over his foot!  ;D    I guess he won't stand so close next time, eh?

I did have a little trouble backing up the bean-head trailer. The head is so big you have to remove it from the combine and trailer it, when you go down the road. I pulled the head behind the combine. I still don't know how to back up a 30 foot 4 wheel trailer! The best advice so far is to drive around the block.  :D

[Coon]

Patty, it sounds like you are having a real adventure out there with harvest.  ;D

Norm, I ran a 9600 JD combine with a 30 foot straight cut header for a while last fall too...  but I was the autosteer.  :D  From what I hear the crops are about average around here this year but due to all the rain and flooding the acreage is way down.  Some farmers close to here that I know farm over 10,000 acres and they never even turned a wheel this year at seeding time.  Thankfully they get a $45 per acre payment from the gov't.  That really only covers 1 herbicide application and you really need to spray twice for good control of the more vicious weeds.

Paul, come on out this way if ya wanna see the big farm equipment operating.  Heck, you could probably operate one of the big combines.   ;)  If we could train monkeys to operate them we would.  ;D  :D

Brad.

[paul case]

you probably couldnt afford to have me around. not that i require too much pay but everything i touch some days breaks. we used to have a rake setup that was 30' wide so i have  lil experience with that wide stuff!
sounds like fun though,but i get homesick. we were at the farmshow on saturday ,gone from the place for 5 hours and i almost couldnt stand it. pc

[isawlogs]

 Paul , from the pic he posted , I don't think you could harm any machery any worst .  :D :D