Wheat Harvest

It’s time to harvest the wheat, and here comes Harland in the combine.

Here’s the view from inside:

Harvesting wheat is sorta like mowing the lawn:  around and around and around. It’s a bit more complicated though. Lots more knobs and switches. More things to keep an eye on.

When the hopper in the combine is full of grain, Harland unloads it into the grain truck. Here, he moves the truck into the field.

Then he’s outta the truck,

and back into the combine to unload.

And back out into the field.

Back and forth.

Around and around.

Out the back of the combine comes the wheat straw. We typically use this for bedding, but will feed it to the cattle this year if the the drought continues down at the pasture.  (We got 2 INCHES at the pasture last night, whoo hoo!! That’s the first rain there since late April and we’re grateful, but we’ll need more for the cattle to have enough grass to make it through the summer.)

Doesn’t look too appetizing does it? Harland will bale it into large round bales. Later it’ll be ground up and mixed with grain and grass hay.

But for now the harvest continues…

Up next, I’ll have a harvest video for you…..

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Suzanne

Cattle, corn, wheat, beans, mud, snow, ice, and drought. Plenty of fresh air and quiet. Our life is sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes joyous, but never boring.

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8 Responses

  1. Alica says:

    Glad to hear your pasture finally got some rain! How many acres of wheat do you raise?

  2. Alica says:

    Oops…guess I should have said how many acres do you “grow”? Got cows on my mind…. 🙂

    • Suzanne says:

      We usually grow about 100 acres of wheat each year. Not much wheat in this part of the state anymore. Corn and beans pay better. Thanks Alica!

      • Alica says:

        I guess for Kansas, 100 acres isn’t so much…but that’s twice the size of our farm! 🙂 Corn and beans sure have been high…although barley wasn’t too bad when we harvested 2 weeks ago here. I feel bad for farmers who have to buy their feed. Thankfully, we (usually) only buy in supplements and calf feed.

  3. Carol says:

    You and your husband are hard working people, Suzanne! I hope you have more rain coming your way! Once again, lovely pictures.

  4. Karen says:

    It’s so interesting to see how things are done. So much to do! I do hope you get some rain, soon. Wish I could give you some of ours. We have too much. xx

  5. Louise S says:

    You two are just the cutest couple riding in the combine together. Makes me smile. 🙂

  6. Phil M says:

    Thanks for your great pictures and narrative. Can you talk a little about the variation from one farmer to another, in terms of the height at which the combine head is set? I have noticed that soy beans are cut very close to the ground, but it appears that corn can vary from a few inches to over a foot. What factors enter into the decision?

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