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Done with the Harvesting!

Last week we hired a neighboring farmer to harvest our soybeans. Hooray! Despite a breakdown and some residual mud, the soybeans are done!

The reason we hired our harvesting done this year is because of the mud left from the endless torrential rains in October. We have a perfectly good combine, but it is not 4WD and it does not have tracks. It works well in normal years, but this year was not normal.

Early this week, another farmer came with his combine (with tracks) to start the corn.


This is a photo of a corn head on a combine. The "heads" are removable. You need a different head to combine small grains and soybeans. This is a six-row combine head. Can you see it?


These are what make combining possible this year. The wonderful tracks... You thought I was kidding about the mud, didn't you?


The corn is loaded into wagons out in the field. The wagons are brought home and emptied into our dryer. This is a natural gas grain dryer. Here in Michigan, we seldom are able to get by without drying our corn. It must be 15-16% moisture when put into storage, or it will spoil.


Farmers further south and west are able to raise corn without drying it, though we've heard that this year everyone is scrambling to dry their corn. But we are at the north end of where corn will grow. Like the tree line on a mountain, you can trace across the country where the corn line is. A couple hours' drive north of us, they do not grow corn (except for silage, which is chopped while it's still green).

It's almost Thanksgiving Day here in the U.S. I think we've got another thing to be thankful for. Harvest is done!
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Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 25, 2009 at 11:43 AM

    I believed every word about the mud & needing tracks, lol. Of course, I grew up on a farm and am still surrounded my corn and soybean fields. We actually just sold our combine a couple weeks ago. Glad everything is finally off the fields for you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AlwenNovember 25, 2009 at 2:01 PM

    We sure have gotten the rain this year!

    Better to hire the neighbor with tracks than mire the tractor deep in the mud, I'd say.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousNovember 25, 2009 at 8:31 PM

    It must be good feeling to have your corn and beans done. Tracks were definitely needed this year.
    Ellyn

    ReplyDelete
  4. My8kidsmomNovember 25, 2009 at 9:09 PM

    I nominated you! Check out my latest post at My8kidsmom gets Crafty ;)

    ReplyDelete

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