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View of the day-Part of the new team we are working with...a Massey 9790 and a CaseIH 2588.
We drove back up to Canora to get the Shop trailer and the combine. Al drove the combine down...about 40 miles, so he had lots of time to check out the scenery.
The Massey had a bit of an issue yesterday...a racoon had decided the engine compartment would be a nice warm place to spend the night. The farmers alway check the compartment before starting the engine in the morning, but this racoon must have been a teenager...asleep in some far corner. When they started it up, the racoon hit the fan and removed a few of the fins before there was time to stop.
This was not problem enough. They were told the part was in Regina, so they drove in to get it, only to find out that it was the wrong one. When they did another search with the right part number this time, the only replacement fan was in Chicago. Fortunately they discovered that a fan from a Gleaner would fit just as well. It did and they were back in business.
Marilyn took the shop trailer home and found a parking spot for it...no easy task with all the equipment in the yard...then started to clean out the camper. She threw some lunch together for Al, then went back out to the field for the rest of the night. There was supposed to be some drone pictures, but just as she was firing it up...the battery in the tablet was dead, and so was the phone, so there would be no flight this day.
We finished the field around 10pm...it was getting tough, so it was just in time.
Al went out early today, but they weren't able to get started very early. The 2588 was down due to a bum alternator. That was a bit easier to remedy, since they are a common part. They had moved over to a new field and got rolling around 11am. The rest of the day went without incident.
This field was finished by 8:30pm and the combines moved back to the farmyard to park for the night. The truckers were kept hopping all day.
These farmers are the ones who rent our quarter of land, so tomorrow...for the first time since we purchased it seven years ago...we will actually combine our own field.
The life of a harvester...
View of the day-All lined up for the last day of service.
Yesterday, was a good day for combining...even with a couple of rogue showers. The canola finally got finished at 10:30 pm.
Today was oats day, but there wouldn't be an early start, due to the dew. It was also DEF fluid day and because the farmer doesn't have any machines that require diesel exhaust fluid, there is no need for a tank and pump. This means we have to fill by the jug...a lot slower than the pump.
With everything serviced up, we had lunch in the camper and waited for the call. Once it came Al headed out to the field with the rest of the crew. While they were out slugging through the oats, there was another crew in the yard putting up a new building...that looked like fun.
Marilyn's job for the day was to get the camper all ready to move back home. She had help from her "mouse traps" who were doing a great job...not one rodent this season. There were several around, most not real sociable...although they did show up when the scraps came out.
There was one that was quite friendly and it appeared it wanted to tag along.
Once the camper was ready to go, Marilyn went out to the field to check out how things were going and to get the drone up to see some field bagging. The field was getting swathed ahead of the combines and there were concerns that the combines might catch up to it and be held up. That never happened because the straw was so green and tough that there were no land speed records set. It was one of those times where, if you were watching from the road, you would have to line up the combine with a post just to make sure they were moving. Well, maybe not that bad.
Marilyn went back to the camper, hooked up and headed south. Now that is a new one...heading south to get home. She got the camper back to the home without incident and lined it up on the lawn for unloading.
Al finally got the oats finished, moved back to the yard, then came back home. The farmer is done for the season.
But are we...
View of the day-This moose was just strolling along the road on the way into town.
Friday, it was "where's the memory card"? Even with extra sets of eyes, it was still evading being found. Marilyn moved the truck well out of the way and even figured maybe the big tool magnet might pick it up. It did not.
The next plan was to download a "metal detector" app on her phone. It actually worked pretty well, but not to find the memory card. Finally she got a rake and started combing through the grass in hopes it would bring it to the top. It didn't get to the top, but it got flipped over so the shiny brass pins caught the light and the card was found. Yay! And it still worked. Double yay!
There was combining going on during the search, but after the card was found, Marilyn's work was done for the day. The combines only ran for a couple hours, but the straw was really tough, so Al had the rest of the day off. Since it was Marilyn's weekend to work at Staples and there was a Terrier hockey game in Yorkton, we both went back home.
It was cold and cloudy on Saturday, while Marilyn worked at Staples, Al went back to the camper after lunch, but there was no combining.
Sunday, Marilyn worked again and since there was still no combining, Al met her in Canora for Chinese buffet.
Today, the combines actually got rolling for half a day, enough to get down to the last field of canola which they will start tomorrow.
We even saw the sun for a short stint today...
View of the day-Finally back at it...late in the day.
Yesterday was a super-do-nothing day, even though the sun was shining and the wind was blowing. There was a lot of drying to get done, so we waited...mostly in the camper. We did get some fresh air when we went into Canora to fill one of the propane tanks and have coffee with our combine hauler, who we ran into at the fuel tanks.
Today, we had to wait for the sun to come out and do its job before we could start. Marilyn thought she better charge up the drone batteries and empty the memory card, so she grabbed them out of the backseat of the truck to bring them into the camper. Only problem was the finger nail size micro SD card, with all the video and pictures from the drone had slipped out from under the batteries and fallen in the tall grass.
Al finally got to go combining around 3pm and it was right by the yard, so while they were busy making dust, Marilyn was on her hands and knees with a pair of scissors cutting the grass around where she thought the SD card had fallen. There were a few cats to keep her company while she searched, but they didn't help out at all. It remains missing.
Marilyn took Al out some sandwiches and rode around for a while. With no grain cart, the tandem came out to unload on the go...perfectly.
Maybe in the morning light the SD card will be visible...
View of the day-Almost all day...the view out the camper door...rain, rain and more rain.
Al went out early to blow the rads out on the combine. It had sprinkled during the night, but was merely overcast in the morning. Al got the rads almost done when it started raining, so he had to call it quits.
We went into Canora to check out the Chinese buffet, then came back home to do nothing, except look out the window at the rain...and one of us checked his eyelids for cracks.
Last on the list for the day was to go up to Rawhides for supper again. This time we were joined by Al's toy buddy, Roger and his wife Linda from Lipton...and we got to celebrate his birthday. Won't say what number birthday, though.
Warm and windy forecast for tomorrow...
View of the day-We found the antifreeze leak problem in this one inch diameter hose. The combination of the large leak blowing into the fan made for a sticky mess in the engine compartment...and everywhere else down the side of the combine.
Al went into town early to get antifreeze to replace all that had blown out. He was able to get it right away, since the Tempo opened at 7am. On the other hand, when he went to the local parts store, he had quite the wait, since they didn't open until 9am and by then, there was a lineup of vehicles on the street waiting to get in. Even when he got in, they had to wait for all the phone calls to get answered.
He finally got out with the hose and clamps that he went in for and by the time he got out to the field, the tall skinny farmer had gone into the engine compartment and gotten the old one off. He volunteered to go back in and put the new one on, which was a relief to both Al and Marilyn. Al dumped what was left on the combine from last night, then started combining.
The farmer was right about one thing...three strikes yesterday, meant smooth sailing today.
Al combined all day while Marilyn made a run into Yorkton for a theatre meeting. She brought a late lunch out for Al and rode around for the rest of the night. There was a threat of rain and it sprinkled for the last hour that they combined...although not heavy enough to run off the header and cause the crew to quit.
The last hour in the rain was necessary to get the field done. It slowed down productivity, but by 1am the combines headed back for the yard.
Tippy-taps on the roof mean we might get to sleep in tomorrow...
View of the day-Service call for the combine...one of two for the day.
So much for no rain. It sprinkled through the night, then when Al got up this morning to meet Colin, the mechanic, it started raining again. The combines were about 10 miles NW of the yard and it hadn't rained as much up there...but it was still too wet to start very early.
The guys got the thermostat installed, but when they went to start the combine to see if it worked, the combine wouldn't start. Upon further inspection, the lift pump for the fuel had a broken wire and the other one had rubbed through from one of the shields on the side. We needed a new pump.
Of course, it's Sunday and nothing is open...although you can call parts departments for a $50 fee. We needed the pump, so Al called Rocky Mtn Equip...they were no help...couldn't even look to see if there was another one in the area. Al then called down to Windthorst...different story there. They found one in the parts depot in Regina and had it put in the "will call" box for us. We were off to Regina 252 km one way from our new work spot.
We took the north way into the city, grabbed the part then drove right back to the farm. On the way in, we got a text from the farmer saying it had rained again and there was no rush to get back, however, on the way back, he texted to tell us they had started combining because...you know the line..."it only rained a tenth at the field".
We got out to the combine and started taking off the old pump while we waited for the mechanic to come back. He showed up with all the right tools and before you knew it, the combine had started and was running like a top.
Al went out to the field to start combining while Marilyn went back to the camper to do a bit of plumbing. We figured we better fill the fresh water tank in the camper, since it was supposed to get down to freezing overnight.
Marilyn went back out to the field to ride around with Al. He noticed the cab wasn't very warm and the heater was cranked up fairly high. We thought perhaps when the thermostat went in, the heater valve got turned off...or perhaps it was never on. We stopped to see if we could turn it on...but first we had to find it.
The old engines had them nice and handy on the back where you could find them right when you got to the top of the ladder. Not the new one. They have the valve on the front side of the engine, down so low that someone has to hold you by the ankles as you go head first down the narrow passage that is the engine compartment. Al had a long reach and was able to get to it without getting stuck. We hoped that would fix the issue.
We cranked up again and got halfway down the swath, when the over heating alarm came on. We stopped right away to inspect, only to find the hose that the heater valve was on had sprung a leak and there was antifreeze blown all over the engine compartment from the fan. We had a 10 litre jug of antifreeze in the pickup across the field, but we couldn't take any chances driving across with the alarm going off. The farmer was down by the pickup and came over with it...10 litres didn't even show in the top tank. With no more antifreeze to be found this late at night. We were done for the day.
The farmer says that bad luck comes in three, so there will be smooth sailing tomorrow. We can only hope...
View of the day-Working with some yellow ones.
Yesterday we waited for the call to combine, but since there was rain the night before, the only call we got was to stay home. We had a bunch of stuff to do, so it worked out fine for us.
This morning, we got the word that we would start around 11, so we grabbed what we needed, then headed up with both pickups. Once Al had the combine set, we got moved to the field, then Marilyn went back to Yorkton to do another three hour painting. A sunset beach scene.
Al had lost the thermostat in the combine, so it was a bit cool...he actually had to wear his jacket and those who know him, know that is rare. After Marilyn finished her class, she went out to get the new thermostat from Rocky Mtn Equip, then headed out to the field...after a short stop back at the camper to turn on the water heater. That would have made for an even colder night for Al.
We combined until around 9:30 then everyone shut down. A green combine had been added to the mix during the day, so there are a few acres being covered now.
And the rain stayed away...
View of the day-Combine moving day as Shane from Kardynal Transport does the heavy lifting.
We should have gotten to sleep in this morning, but with thoughts of all the things we had to do...it just didn't happen.
We went into town to run a few errands...get the mail and the local paper to get caught up. We also had to go out to the CaseIH dealership to pick up some toys that Al had ordered a while back. He was quite keen to dig into them, since they were sealed cases with the possibility of one of the six toys in each case being a "chase" unit...a rose gold, or copper colored replica of the regular style.
These were 1/64 scale CaseIH 2017 Farm Show combines, with no model number, just a 175 years sticker on the side. While Al was driving down to Kipling, Marilyn got to open them up and share the news from each one...yay or nay.
Luckily, we got one in each case of the two that we bought! Al is planning on keeping one and there have been several people bidding for the other one.
We met the truck driver on the way to Kipling and after loading up...actually Shane, the driver, did that all on his own...we had a chat with the farmer. We got the pickup rigged up with the pilot vehicle signage, added a radio for contact and headed out in the rain. Fortunately it was a light rain, so at least the combine didn't get too dusty on the road.
The trip up was uneventful...if you don't count the idiot drivers on four wheels who just don't get wide loads. There was a stop in Yorkton to fuel the big rig, then we were off to our final destination.
It had rained a bit more at the farm yard, but we got the combine unloaded without rutting it up too much at all. We did a bit of servicing, and Marilyn tried to get the autosteer working with some new cabling that she had been given at the Rocky Mountain CaseIH dealership in Yorkton. It was still a "no go", so the tech from Rocky offered to come out tomorrow and look at it.
We stopped at the camper to grab the satellite receiver so Al could watch his NFL football game at home. But before heading home, Marilyn talked Al into driving up to Stenen...about 20 miles north...for supper.
The old school in Stenen...population 91...has been transformed into a western themed restaurant. They have added on to it over the past few years, including a firepit area.
When we pulled into town, Al thought there must be a funeral somewhere since there were so many vehicles lining the streets. The restaurant is very popular in the area and it was full! Excellent meal and they even changed the channel on the TV in our room so Al could see his NFL game.
The drive home to Yorkton seemed to take forever...
View of the day-Parked just in time as the New Holland heads for cover from the rain.
We were all set to move the camper home, had it all closed up and hooked to the pickup. Al had the shop trailer hooked to "Rusty", the half ton Dodge and just as we were ready to roll, he got a text message from a farmer who used to work at H&R a few years back. He was wondering if we could fit in some canola harvesting to our busy schedule. Since we were all loaded anyway, and were technically finished for the season, we decided to take him up on the offer.
We were heading into unharvested territory for us...north of Yorkton about 40 miles, just north of Canora. We stopped for a quick lunch as we passed through Yorkton, then headed out to the farm to get organized. We only had the camper to set up, since the combine wouldn't be getting moved until tomorrow.
We found a spot to park in, close enough to power and water, then set the dish up...priorities, you know. We managed to finish just as it started to rain, which shut down the two New Hollands and one CaseIH combine that were combining right near the yard.
We headed back to Yorkton to spend the night at home. We had errands to run in town and were looking forward to a "house" shower with soft water for a change.
Tomorrow, the combine...
View of the day-Service work today, so we had to take a picture before taking the old unloading auger chain off for replacement...just in case.
Al was out early to clean the combine and headers off...three-quarters clean, also, just in case. After it was clean, we proceeded to change the chain, which didn't take long once we had a look at the "map".
Next on our list was the high speed transport header trailer. If you recall from an earlier post, we were having issues with this new trailer. We hadn't had to use it, since the header has its own wheels for short distances, but now, it was time to get the big one rolling.
Our original issue was that the two axles at the back were so close together that the header wouldn't fit between the bracket and the wheels.
We used the combine to lift the back of the header trailer, to make it easier to move the back axle out of the way. We used to use the combine for lifting trailers a lot, back in the "old days". We used "percussion persuasion"(the sledge hammer)to nudge them back a bit at a time...we left one of the bolts in loose at all times so we wouldn't have a catastrophe. Little did we know, moving the axle would be the easy part.
Next we had to figure out which beam on the header the bracket would go under. This required lining up the header to the trailer and a pile of trial and error lifting and setting down. We actually did all of this today without any heavy "discussions"...considering this was new territory for us, that was a miracle.
We had gone online to see if there were any pictures of other headers on these trailers. What few there were, were so blurry we couldn't glean any info from them. This trailer was built for a 40 ft header and ours is only 35, so that was another issue.
We finally figured it out...to our satisfaction, at least...and it was on the trailer.
It looks pretty good, but we have to see how it makes it down the road loaded.
Tomorrow we haul a few things north...before the rain...and it is coming, judging by the actions of the black flies...
View of the day-Looks like someone let the air out of these bins...or they are very tired.
This happened a couple weeks ago at Marilyn's sisters place at Carlyle. Three of the same bins in a row and as the trucker was loading out of the middle one, it laid over and took the last one with it. The hopper cones were bolted to the cement pads and hung on for dear life, but the top part of them didn't fair so well. They both had grain in them, but it had been cleaned up with the grain vac in this picture.
Well there has been a certain amount of feedback about the blog "slowdown". This harvest has been like none other in our harvest career. The fact that we can start combining before 9am and run until 11pm...or even later if there were trucks...is unheard of for this length of time. This was where the slowdown came in...we were doing exactly the same thing every day and the view was exactly the same every day. We could have almost "cut and pasted" every day for a new blog. Marilyn don't roll like that.
This past weekend was Marilyn's to work at Staples back in Yorkton. She went up on Friday to get a few errands done...the camper had water issues and some new fittings were in order. She had an early shift on Saturday, then a script selection meeting in the evening for the annual Christmas dinner theatre.
While she was slaving away at Staples, Al was working with the rest of the crew to get the last field finished for our farmers. They wrapped up around 6pm and had supper brought in by Al's brother Jeff who is the Pioneer seed salesman.
With our main job done, Al did a bit of calling around to see if anyone else needed a harvester. The farmer we had lined up back in the spring and had visited with a few weeks ago, figured that since things were going so well, they would be able to finish on their own. Another neighbor that this farmer had borrowed a grain bagger from had a combine break down, so he called a couple guys in to help...Al was back in business. Marilyn was pulling the Sunday shift back at Staples.
Now, Marilyn got the short end of the stick while she was gone. Friday, the crew had supper in the field, brought out by the other crew that we were working with. Saturday, Jeff brought a chicken feed down from Moosomin, and Sunday, the farmer brought out pizzas from Kipling for the crew.
Marilyn got back to the camper late on Sunday, since she decided to attend the staff barbecue and awards supper held out at JC Beach in Yorkton. She received the "Swiss army knife" award for being able to fix anything, with anything that is handy.
Monday, there was only a little bit left for the farmer, since he had both his downed combines back in service. Marilyn gave Al a ride out in the morning so there wouldn't be and extra vehicle when he drove the combine back after finishing.
Marilyn had missed out on the "grain bagging" experience last time, since she was working in Yorkton. She almost missed it again, but managed to see a bag get started. This picture has a completed bag on the left and the new bag ready to get started on the right.
As the grain cart loads into the small hopper, it is sent to the back of the bag. The tractor that is on the bagger itself, is running in neutral and as the bag fills, the grain "pushes" the tractor ahead. Pretty neat to watch.
The problem with this storage, according to the farmer, is the wildlife. Over the winter, the birds like to peck at it and the deer find it irresistible to walk on with their pointy hooves. Otherwise it is great temporary storage.
Marilyn had gone into Kipling to look for those elusive plumbing parts for the bypass valve that was leaking in the storage compartment in the camper. There had been no luck in Yorkton on the weekend, so she tried Home Hardware. She got the parts back to the camper...the hose was not a common size...just enough bigger than 1/2" that they wouldn't work.
Next, she drove down to Carlyle to the RV place. They fixed her up with a valve that should work, so she went back to the camper. This one didn't work either. By this time, Al was finished combining and had moved the combine back to the shop trailer in the yard, so he got to go for a ride...back to Carlyle to try again. This time we got the right one, and the water problem had been solved.
So. At this point, it would appear that we are finished for the season. That is too bizarre. We just started August 8...but considering the weather and grain conditions...it was a crazy fast run. We ended up doing just under 3000 acres!
Tomorrow we clean off the combine and headers, do a bit of fixing, then try to get our new header trailer set up to actually hold the header without hitting any brackets or wheels. Wednesday, our hauler will be taking the combine back to Yorkton and we will take the camper home.
We're not washing it off just yet...with the forecast of rain and seeing all the crop that is still out around the Yorkton area, we might be making dust, yet again...
Call us if you need some help...
View of the day-Dusty conditions in the canola, as one field gets lapped up and across the road, some flax is getting swathed.
Yesterday was more of the same...picking up swaths. This year has been unbelievable...we can start at 9am and run until 11pm. Day after day, after day. A lot of acres are getting covered with five machines getting 130 to 150 acres a day.
We had a couple of slight hiccups yesterday. First, Al had picked up some barbed wire again and it wrapped around the front of the rotor. He managed to get a bog chunk of it out, then Marilyn wrangled out the last stubborn pieces.
At the end of the day a bearing went out on the re-thrasher unit. We got it apart relatively easy, then Al went into Windthorst this morning to get parts. We were hoping it wouldn't be like the last repair...come apart easy and a nightmare to put back together. Fortunately it wasn't, and it went back together in a snap.
More of the same tomorrow...combining, that is...
View of the day-More of the same...up and back in the canola.
Yesterday we got an early start, but it didn't last long as Al picked up some barbed wire in one of the swaths. The wire got wrapped around the front of the rotor, so we had to spend an hour or so getting in through a four inch slot under the feederhouse. Not an easy task, but we eventually got it out.
Marilyn took over combining in the afternoon to give Al some time off. He went back to the camper to watch the Saskatchewan Roughriders win their annual grudge football game with the Winnipeg Bombers.
Today we had an early start again...once all the filters got blown out, that is. Even with all the wind blowing, they get pretty dirty. Once clean, Al was back at it.
Marilyn brought lunch out, then went back to the camper to make the coffee Al ordered with lunch...but she forgot to take. She went back to the camper and Al continued picking up canola.
He continued until just after 10pm when they had filled the trucks and quit for the night. More of the same tomorrow...
View of the day-The buggy man is challenged even more with getting around the swaths, as we are in canola.
The combines got rolling around 9am and put in 12 good hours of picking up canola swaths. Even with the moves between fields, each combine got over 140 acres covered today...talk about productivity!!
We had a strong wind for most of the day, but at sunset, it completely disappeared. This made it hard to find the swaths in the haze, so we hope there weren't any strays left out there.
More harvest weather predicted, so tomorrow will be another busy day...
View of the day-A brisk wind blows as the machines were serviced for action today.
We had a few random sprinkles during the night, but not enough to delay the 10am starting time this morning. Marilyn shuttled drivers to trucks in various parts of the field to help ease the racing around that the poor cart driver was subject to. He has a job like herding cats, to try to keep all the machines in the same general area of the field. With only cell phone communication, the instructions tend to get delayed just long enough to make them useless when one of the "cats" veers off.
With all five machines running it didn't take long to cut 350 acres. As a matter of fact, the combines were getting cleaned off before 5pm. The spring wheat was finished.
Al brought the combine back to the yard to blow out the rads, filters and change headers. Since we were done with the straight cutting, we needed to get set up to start in on the canola swaths tomorrow.
Perfect weather for the Labor Day weekend...and more importantly, harvest...
