September 1, 2016

View of the day-Look ma, no hands...what a straight line Al is cutting.

What a productive day we had today. The yard was on the way to the next field, so it was easier to stop at the tanks there, rather than fun the fuel trucks to the field.

We got out early to take some pictures with the drone...still way to windy to get it up to high, but we did get the lineup and then everyone moved to the yard to fuel up. 

We moved about 10 miles south of the yard to start in a full section. This one was quite nice with long straight runs and very few obstacles, so it wasn't the full 640 acres, but it was still big. The cart drivers were kept busy with all five combines running smoothly until one of the grain carts was crossing a grass strip just one too many times. 

This cart and tractor are wheeled as opposed to the other one that has tracks on both. The spot he crossed must have been rolled over enough times that he just punched through when he was loaded. The other cart got over beside him so he could unload some of the wheat and once that was done, he was able to drive out of the holes under his own steam...no pulling needed.

Of course, while this was all going on, the other combines were filling up. This was pretty much the only time we all had to stop and wait for the buggys...actually gave us some time to stretch our legs and get rid of some coffee.

We got that whole section done, then moved another 10 or so miles to the next half section field. This one was full of sloughs and water runs, so the auto steer was out of the question. Some of the pieces got so small that we felt like we were running into ourselves when we turned around. We lost one machine due to a gear box of some sort, so we were down to four with two carts and we just managed to finish up as the sun was setting. Good thing, too...that would have been quite the experience in the dark. Kind of took us back to some of those Balcarres fields of the past.

We had enough daylight left to drive back to the yard to call it a night. We are now done with the spring wheat and the straight headers and will suit up for the canola swaths tomorrow.

And, oh...those beaver houses are huge this year...