2017 Fall Harvest

I know some of you like to see pics from harvest so I decided to start a thread about this year's. It has been a weird one. This was one of the driest summers on records and the crops actually fared really well. The beans were really close to being bad though. Another week or 2 and the pods would have been falling off. This is the strangest year because the stems of the plants were still green. Beans would be at 13% and the stems still green. Corn at 17% and stalks still green and hard to cut. Totally nuts for the conditions. They've had some corn fields yielding 320 bushels/acre. Many 280's, and that makes it hard for the semis to keep up with them running 2 combines.

They should be finished up this week. They only have about 400 acres of corn left. Then the rush to get anhydrous put on before the ground freezes. They might be doing that in the spring though.

More and more to come.

This year I was able to take the kids each at least 1 time. Well, all except baby Ivvy. :LOL: All of the kids got to ride in the grain cart tractor and combine as well. They love it. The first pic is Izzy standing by the truck while we were letting it warm up and doing a walk around. Pic 2 is her excited and ready to go. Pic 3 is a John Deere A with a 2 row picker out picking ear corn. This was really cool because she loves "her green tractor", which is an A. I stopped in a parking lot on the return trip so she could watch it and listen to it. Now I have to get ours running again because she wants a ride before it snows. Haha The last pic is of a coop employee that always forgets the triple axle trailers hold more. He did it several times that day. :LOL:

One of the fields was so long, and it had a creek that divided it. We started it on a Friday and Saturday mid morning we moved to the other side. I was headed to town when they moved the combines. I drove my truck the nw route to the other side of the field. When I took my first load to town I got to this bridge with that 25 ton sign. It freaked me out but I went across anyway. I figured here goes nothing. The sign had to be wrong. The road to the north we were on has 2 bridges and both of those had no weight signage, and were way sketchier. But that sign had me freaked out none the less. Haha

The last pic is of a 4850 I saw coming and going to the New Sharon Coop one Saturday. My friends had one on their dairy farm I ran a lot and ever since I've wanted one. My big plans were to get one and stick a snow blower on it. I put many hours of a 4850 chopping corn, pulling a disc, wagon, or who knows what else. :LOL:

Some of during unloading the front hopper. Last pic is our kids this Halloween. My daughters were a deer and a duck. The boys were hunters. It was cold and really windy this year. They were all determined and frozen but they wouldn't stop. :LOL:

Last Saturday morning we had to haul dry corn in to town to make room for wet corn they'd be picking that afternoon that had to come back to the farm to be dried. (They've already hauled over 150 loads of dry corn to town to make room in their bins. The drier shows they dried 321,000 bushels as of Saturday night through their drier. Pretty far above most normal years) My last dry load to town got me some shaking fingers at the scale house..... It was a long day. I put over 300 miles on the truck I was driving. There weren't too many dull moments. That was the field doing 280 average. We started with 4 semis running and were hauling in to the nearest town. 1 had to go back to the farm and haul more dry corn in. (They also had a tractor and 2 744 bushel wagons going to town with dry corn too.) Once they got into the more wet stuff, that all had to go to the farm. Then 4 semis couldn't keep up. When the equipment in the field has to stop, no one seems to be happy. :LOL:

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Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe

When I took my first load to town I got to this bridge with that 25 ton sign. It freaked me out but I went across anyway. I figured here goes nothing. The sign had to be wrong. The road to the north we were on has 2 bridges and both of those had no weight signage, and were way sketchier. But that sign had me freaked out none the less. Haha

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Safety factors back in the day were about 2 on reinforced concrete bridges, which may or may not be right for THAT bridge. However, you proved that it was at least 32 tons, so there's that. :LOL:

When I got back I went and asked my friend about it. He said those signs are just suggestions. I laughed because if he smiled any wider his ears would have fell in. They've been farming there for years so I guess if they thought there was an issue they wouldn't have us go over those sketchy areas. Well, that's what I told myself as I was crossing it. Haha

I grew up on a farm so I really like these pics. Some really big equipment
there and expensive too. Friend of mine is running 6000 acres which is mostly
leased and raising corn, beans, wheat and tobacco, and there are others in our
county running more acreage.
Farming has come along way over the years when you look at those yields. Keep
those pics coming, and thanks for posting them.

Thanks for the pictures and descriptions, Ryan, that's some interesting stuff.

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I kind of miss being back there this time of year. I love to see the big harvesters go thru the fields. Those yields are staggering to me, back when I was a kid (50 years ago) if you hit a 100 bushels an acre it was great and 120 was phenomenal.



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As always Ryan, Thank You for making time for us here.

The daughter pics are way cool, so glad you get to spend some time with the kids even if you're working. They'll never forget those times.

Over here when we're loading the cranberries, most of the truck drivers don't mind when we "crown" the load. We try to not put so much in that it'll spill over the sides as they go down the road but of course pack in as much as possible. And since the fruit is pumped up to the truck ( as we water pick) if the cops want to pull the truck over to scale it, the one thing the trucks don't do is stop! They make the police tail'em to the processing plant, simply because the whole time they're driving the truck is still draining! It's actually getting lighter the longer the drive. 8-) We're pretty close to the processer so we have loads that scale at 104, 105K... The newer drivers freak out as they haven't pulled loads that big, and haven't learned that they can't stop. The brakes become marginal and they have to be careful they don't sink the truck at the field! We've actually prepared loading areas and simple roads to carry the weight because we had one sink and to get it out we dumped the load on the ground 8-(

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Originally Posted by rdobbs

I grew up on a farm so I really like these pics. Some really big equipment
there and expensive too. Friend of mine is running 6000 acres which is mostly
leased and raising corn, beans, wheat and tobacco, and there are others in our
county running more acreage.
Farming has come along way over the years when you look at those yields. Keep
those pics coming, and thanks for posting them.

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Yes sir. There's s o much money setting in the fields in these pics, it is crazy. The cheapest things are their brand new triple axle trailers. They were only $50k. Each quad track is around $450k to buy new. I'm sure a combine is $480-$500k. They upgraded planters this past spring. It was $24k to buy it and they spent another $75k putting all new electric drives, loading and holding tanks, etc. Just mind boggling. They've got 1 combine that is getting enough time on it that they need to trade it in but they'd rather keep it. Problem is they can't get it in the shop to redo it in the winter. It's a double edged sword. They cash rent most of their ground. I think this year they did 4500. They lost some this year and have worked deals on other to replace it. The bad part is they have to do major work to some of it to be able to farm it this spring. They do all their own tile work and that is a complete other type of hassles. :LOL:

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Originally Posted by 34_40

As always Ryan, Thank You for making time for us here.

The daughter pics are way cool, so glad you get to spend some time with the kids even if you're working. They'll never forget those times.

Over here when we're loading the cranberries, most of the truck drivers don't mind when we "crown" the load. We try to not put so much in that it'll spill over the sides as they go down the road but of course pack in as much as possible. And since the fruit is pumped up to the truck ( as we water pick) if the cops want to pull the truck over to scale it, the one thing the trucks don't do is stop! They make the police tail'em to the processing plant, simply because the whole time they're driving the truck is still draining! It's actually getting lighter the longer the drive. 8-) We're pretty close to the processer so we have loads that scale at 104, 105K... The newer drivers freak out as they haven't pulled loads that big, and haven't learned that they can't stop. The brakes become marginal and they have to be careful they don't sink the truck at the field! We've actually prepared loading areas and simple roads to carry the weight because we had one sink and to get it out we dumped the load on the ground 8-(

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No problem Mike. Yeah, I'm sure those 104k+ loads are very different to haul. Especially with water being involved. It's bad enough getting out of wet fields with 90=95k if you've never done it. Then with added axles, there is another learning curve. Here, I'm the trailer, this is where you're really going to go. :LOL: Starting out at the bottom of big hills and turning onto big hills gets sketchy too. Especially with really dry corn. You'll exercise the pucker factor a bit.

Ryan, Always makes me laugh thinking if you won the lottery in excess of 100 million you could spend it all and start a farm! How far we have come since we all had a few pigs & cows,where did all those poor farmers go??? Love the pics, and look forward to seeing them. Best of Luck

Thanks a lot for the pics and info, Looks like a lot of fun running the stuff instead of fixing it. It brings me back to a kid in the fall with our neighbors new 7720 JD combining and me hauling loads back to the yard with our 4020 and D 17 Allis running the auger. I can still feel the cold air and smell the fresh corn going into the bin and the hear the drier running. Your kids are getting a blessing being a part of that. On another note, it's kinda neat seeing a TR combine running in the field.There used to be lots of older ones around here but they all have gotten replaced with Red and Green ones.

I got involved with fixing a few of their quad tracs in the field. Hydraulic lines and electrical issues. Big fun. There are a lot of TR machines out here. The general rumor I hear from most of the farmers with red and TR ones, seems to be that the newer green machines tear up the corn pretty bad.

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Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe

I got involved with fixing a few of their quad tracs in the field. Hydraulic lines and electrical issues. Big fun. There are a lot of TR machines out here. The general rumor I hear from most of the farmers with red and TR ones, seems to be that the newer green machines tear up the corn pretty bad.

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I understand 'green' and 'JD' (John Deere,) but red and TR?

And thanks for taking the time and effort to post this up; I've enjoyed reading it. An education on large-scale cropping in the US.

As far as I know we've got nothing on this scale in NZ. If we have I'm unaware of it.

i'm with johnboy - red, TR???
great pictures . thanks.

Red= International Harvester or Case/IH

TR he is referring to New Holland Twin Rotor combines. These are yellow and black.

We also have Lexon brand which are I believe who actually built the Caterpillar brand combines. (These are yellow too) There are still plenty of guys using old Gleaners, Massey Fergusons, and I even saw an Oliver in a field a few weeks ago. That thing is old. :LOL:

The rotor is the way the crop is separated from the stalk. It spins against grates for a simple explanation and drops the seed in the bottom and spits the stalk out the back. The Case IH and JD ones use one large rotor and the New Holland uses two smaller ones which arguably is more efficient.

Here's a JD showing a bit more detail.

Thanks for that.
It explains everything.
Appreciated.

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Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

The rotor is the way the crop is separated from the stalk. It spins against grates for a simple explanation and drops the seed in the bottom and spits the stalk out the back. The Case IH and JD ones use one large rotor and the New Holland uses two smaller ones which arguably is more efficient.

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I'll add my .02 to this-I worked for I-H back when the Axial Flow Combine was developed (1440, 1460, 1480), and an I-H Engineer told me that the same guy designed both the Axial Flow and the Twin Rotor (TR)-the difference was he worked for each Company when he did it (traitor? :) ), and New Holland had to go TR because of the I-H patents-

Now that I am Deere, we are told (Deere propaganda?) that the Case I-H and TR's share the same platform, they just change the outside cladding and guts (I believe they are both produced in Grand Island NE and possibly one other plant?)-Deere, being the follower that they are sometimes, must have had to admit defeat and join the crowd with their design of the Axial Flow as it came much later (more than 10 Years after the I-H)-call me old, but while I like the hydraulic drive of the new machines, I think the simplicity of design was one of I-H's strengths (even though you had to service the Rotor Drive Belts)-

I've also heard that about the same guy designing both, He must have been pretty smart.They have been using the same design for both for around 40 yrs, with some tweeks here and there. Your right on the differences of the NH and CIH, just threshing part is different . I would love to visit the plant as it's not terrible far from me. New Holland seems to consistantly hold world records with their combines. Soybean harvesting world record: 16,157 bushels in 8 hours with CR8.90

I'd have to ask Josh what the most bushels in a day they have ran is. I'd bet it's a lot. I'd bet it's over 30-40k bushels in a 12-14hr day. It's bad when 4 semis hauling 1k bushels each can't keep up. :LOL:

Some more pics. My oldest son Clint in the combine in the second pic.

Pretty country, thanks for the pics

Last weekend I got a treat for a change. Instead of holding a wheel and shifting all day, I got to do some chiseling! I used one of the 535 quad tracs, and a Krause dominator chisel. It's 21ft wide and has several depths for the chisels. It has rollers on the back which make it sort tough to run because you have to remember to pick up the rear section in wash out areas and during turning around. It is not a big deal once the green wears off the user. :o

Sorry for the blurry pic, but those were 3 deer that need shot and put in the freezer. :LOL:

It's been a really long time since I've ran any tractor with a large disc or anything. These guys use auto steer and gps to plant, spray, and do tillage work. I thought this was cheating but it is really cool. All you have to do is turn it around, get it within the range, hit the auto steer button and go. Once you're straight you can drop the chisel, and start up shifting. Then you just watch for rocks and be ready to down shift. If the tractor gets lugged down below 1450rpm, you will likely meet the windshield because the trans just goes to neutral. It's not a real fun deal. Haha

This field was 135 acres. The fuel tank they use to fill equipment was low so I only got 3/4 of a tank. I ran the tractor until the low fuel light came on. Then I ran about a half hour longer and called it quits before I was walking. I did 112 acres in about 9.5hrs. Back and forth, back and forth. :rolleyes:

I have always heard that those Quad Tracks ride like a Cadillac in the field, I'm kinda jealous. I've rebuilt the transmissions on a few of them but never got to use one in the field. I've also heard that the auto steer really takes the wear and tear out of the driver after being in it all day. Sounds silly cause the only difference is you turning a wheel but I can see where its true. Looks like you have LED lights on it. Oh yea, did you get the stupid deer? Turns out my mom hit one today with her run around car, guess I'm not done with body work:CRY:

I'd like to try one of those quads myself. Not sure I could tolerate sitting there for 12 hours (or more!) my attention span isn't that long with all the repetition.

We've recently lowered the bambi population by 5. The young ones don't even run after the shot.
They decimate the cranberries, not by eating them but by walking on the bog. They crush'em or knock the berries off the vine, the crop isn't large enough or valuable enough - then 20 to 30 deer causing damage is just salt in the wound!

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Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

I have always heard that those Quad Tracks ride like a Cadillac in the field, I'm kinda jealous. I've rebuilt the transmissions on a few of them but never got to use one in the field. I've also heard that the auto steer really takes the wear and tear out of the driver after being in it all day. Sounds silly cause the only difference is you turning a wheel but I can see where its true. Looks like you have LED lights on it. Oh yea, did you get the stupid deer? Turns out my mom hit one today with her run around car, guess I'm not done with body work:CRY:

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They are really smooth. There is some bouncing and jerking that I haven't experienced in some tire equipped big 8 wheelers. Mainly its when you first drop the chisel and the tractor begins to dig in. On the wear and tear thing on the driver, I'm not sure. You're still having to watch everything, but I can see where you have less fatigue from not having to hold the wheel and keep it in a straight line all that time. It does get boring. Thank goodness for technology aka phones. I remember years ago dreading running a disc or plow. Of course, back then I was in a 4430 or 4850. Those didn't cruise through the field at 6-6.5mph either. Haha

No, I didn't get any of the deer. I just might go back during shot gun season though......

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Originally Posted by 34_40

I'd like to try one of those quads myself. Not sure I could tolerate sitting there for 12 hours (or more!) my attention span isn't that long with all the repetition.

We've recently lowered the bambi population by 5. The young ones don't even run after the shot.
They decimate the cranberries, not by eating them but by walking on the bog. They crush'em or knock the berries off the vine, the crop isn't large enough or valuable enough - then 20 to 30 deer causing damage is just salt in the wound!

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I know when I have down time like that, it is bad on my mind because I start thinking of all things I could do to this or that. :LOL: I had to keep telling myself this might pay for all the Christmas stuff...... Haha

Yeah, deer sure are destructive. It's funny how the state will drop poaching charges after you send them a bill for damages done by their deer. Clint, the owner of this farm, had to go through this a few years back. The DNR really frowns on shooting them from a tractor or combine too. I think it adds more to the challenge. :LOL:

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Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe

Yeah, deer sure are destructive. It's funny how the state will drop poaching charges after you send them a bill for damages done by their deer. Clint, the owner of this farm, had to go through this a few years back. The DNR really frowns on shooting them from a tractor or combine too. I think it adds more to the challenge. :LOL:

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We have a friend who is part of the Wampanoag Indian tribe. For them deer are always in season. So whatever he can harvest will feed the "elders" that are local to us. So some good comes from it. When I was a little squirt we never had deer in the area. They had been hunted out long ago. Then about 10 12 years ago they made their way back. Now we're almost over run it seems.

While we're still on the subject I went to check out a T8040 that was throwing a engine fault and had low power. It was kinda nice to disk with it for a bit even though I had to physically steer the tractor :LOL: Fault code was a faulty engine oil pressure sensor and the power problem was a sooted up air filter do to a leaky exhaust manifold.

here's some more pics

At least it wasn't anything major. Josh has 2 new holland tractors similar to that one. They are pretty nice too. Does that one have the Iveco engine in it? We had a problem with one of the quads 2 weeks ago. It lost all communication in between the ecm, tcm, and cab pod. It turned out to be a terminator in the wiring harness. Good thing the IH parts guy knows the parts they sell the most of because that could have been fun to find with no wiring schematics. :LOL:

I usually keep one of those terminators in my carry electrical bag. The T8000's still run the 9.0 cummins, when they went to the T.8XX's that's when they went to the Iveco engine. I haven't done much with them other than a few Def problems, which we sell elimination kits for them now. Turns out the power problem was the turbo more than anything. The exhaust housing was loose on the turbo and peeled off the outside 3/16 off the exhaust wheel off when the housing moved. There was also a shrapnel hole going from the exhaust side to the charge section. I think he'll notice a power difference with a new charger :LOL:

Yeah, I'm guessing so. :LOL: