Harvest 2013

Last week my older brother Jay and younger brother David called. It was corn harvest and they wanted me to know I was welcome to come over to where they were farming for a ride along. They had purchased a new 8 row corn head for the combine and thought I would like to see how it worked. Those of you who don't farm or didn't grow up on a farm may never understand the draw that spring and fall have to those of us who grew up the changing of the seasons being an important event. I got in my truck and drove over for a bit of the harvest experience. I think for me the draw is not so much the sights and sounds as it is the smells. Especially the smell of harvesting corn.

This is the combine coming down through the field. It doesn't look too large from here.

This is a closer view. The tank on top is almost full of corn. It holds about 250 bushels. That would be about 14,000 pounds of corn. My older brother Jay is driving. The machine in total is about the size of a two car garage or a small house.

He has reached the end of the field and is unloading the corn into wagons to be hauled to the grain elevator. One load from the combine will fill one of those wagons.

This is the view from the driver's seat looking down at corn plants being pulled into the head. The grain will go into the combine's tank and the rest will be ejected from the rear of the machine. I had the opportunity to drive for a little while. It is always an amazing experience. Some many things going on that you need to monitor and so much the machine does with little interaction from the driver. The new head has ground hugging sensors so once it is lowered into position at the end of the row it adusts automatically to the contours of the ground. If you spend several thousand dollars more and buy a GPS unit you can basically just ride along yelling at everyone you see: "Look no hands!!!!" It had a different meaning 50 years ago when harvesting was a very dangerous profession and lots of farmers had at least on arm that had a hook instead of a hand.





My older brother Jay up on a wagon pushing corn away from the edge so it doesn't spill on the way to the elevator. The tractor pulling the wagons is another miracle of modern technology. It is a 275+ horsepower beast with an infinite variable transmission. The brain box of this monster determines the most efficient engine and transmission combination to get the job done. It saves a lot of fuel and wear and tear on the machine. The top speed on the road is 32 MPH. Since the front axel has suspension and the cab and seat are isolated it is a smooth ride down the road at that speed. My 40 horsepower Kubota has a maximum speed of 18 MPH and on the same road with no suspension will bounce you out of the seat.

My brothers are minimum tillage farmers and have spent years honing their craft. They finally feel in their late 50's and early 60's they understand how to raise a very good crop of corn. They would not share what the yeild was on this farm and frankly it is none of my business but from the smiles on their faces I would say it has been a very good year.