Saturday, May 10, 2014

Yesterday evening, after we had to stop planting soybeans because of a small rain, Gene Williams arrived from Wright-Stemle with our new header.  This JD 640FD will attach to our new S680 combine.  This header is the one used to harvest wheat and soybeans.  It has a special attachment that allows the combine to automatically control the cutting height during wheat harvest.  For soybeans, the header is set up differently.  The cutterbar is set to be flexible through a 7.5″ range, and rides directly on the soil for harvesting.

John inspects the new JD 640FD flex draper header.

Wheat harvest should be here in 4-5 weeks.  The dealer will send a specialist here to the farm for a day or two to assist with the initial setup of the new combine and header.  He will also accompany me on the initial running in the field.  I will appreciate such babysitting in order to make sure I’m operating these new machines in the most productive manner.

We are rejoicing over the 1/2 inch rain of yesterday evening and night.  This will release some fields of soybeans ( 2 days- worth of planting) that were ‘stuck’ under hard crusted soil.