Wednesday, September 25, 2019

The weather has been quite favorable this week for the harvesting of soybeans.  Although the morning dew delays the day’s start until almost noon, the work of the day has gone relatively smooth.  You can tell when the sun goes down, that the dew is beginning to gather again.  In those conditions, you just tilt your header back a bit and that allows you to continue a while longer into the evening.

It has been fun for me to operate this S780 combine in soybeans.  In fact, soybean harvest is my favorite task as a farmer.  Before the arrival of RR technology, soybean harvest was FAR from anyone’s favorite.  It was not fun to try to grind through the foxtail, cocklebur, giant ragweed, jimsonweed and others.  But now, we can cut fields that are almost free of weeds, making the task a pleasure.  Ross has also been getting along quite well with his new CIH 8250.  For both the machines, it took a couple days of learning, and calibrating and adjusting, but now they seem to be working fine.  The soybeans we dump into the trucks sure look great.

Approaching the end of the rows, getting ready to turn around and cut again.

We prefer to unload on-the-go. It takes a skilled operator to run the grain cart in the soybean field. Brandon does that well.

The soybeans look nice as they drop into the grain cart.

John came along on the Gator. I tried to unload on-the-go into the Gator, but it didn’t hold much!

Yesterday afternoon, I had a special visitor to the combine.   Molly came out to ride with me, and we had the best couple hours together.  We talked about the soybeans, Legos, puzzles, and her favorite princesses.  What fun!

Nothing better than a granddaughter who wants to ride along with her grandpa.

We will continue with soybeans for a couple more days, or until we run out of soybeans that are dry enough to cut.  It will take a while longer for many of them to mature, in the fields that were replanted or merely planted late because of the wet wet wet spring.   When we get caught up to the ‘greener’ soybeans, we will return to harvesting some corn.

Larry is here again today, disking corn stalks, preparing for wheat planting.  He may get to begin the wheat this evening–or tomorrow–depending on how his day goes.  We like to begin wheat planting on September 25, or as soon as possible after that.  In the fall, harvesting and planting occur simultaneously!

Thanks to our Maker for the beautiful sunset He made Tuesday evening.

Progress is being made.  Grateful for that.