2008-10-31
2008-10-30
The bridge in the first two pictures isn't much fun to cross with the corn heads on. There is only a couple inches of clearance.
2008-10-29
Still picking corn, but only as fast as we can dry it. It's a slow process. Fortunately the weather looks great for the next few days. Sorry, I haven't been bringing my camera along much lately.
2008-10-26
Picked corn again yesterday and today. The ground is pretty soft, so the tractors are doing some 23 degree tillage pulling wagons out of the fields. The last of the soybeans were finished up today. The wind was really strong today, so we have a lot of broke-over corn stalks now, meaning some yield loss. Moisture is still higher than we would like, and the air temperature is just above freezing. It's also snowing right now.
2008-10-22
We ran late last night to finish soybeans before a big storm. Had a few sprinkles before we finished the field, but we got it done and moved the machinery back to the main farm for some maintenance and oil changes. It was a midnight parade. There are a few acres of replanted soybeans yet to do in a far away field, but we'll get them when we're doing corn in that area. Whenever the weather straightens up, we'll get serious about the corn.
2008-10-21
2008-10-20
2008-10-19
We ran corn until mid afternoon, then we switched over to soybeans. They weren't really dry enough, and the stems were really green, but we got something done. Even with our little 25' headers, it was working the crap out of the 2588. It has an AFX rotor, which is what they say works best in green stem beans. It doesn't rumble the rotor cage like the specialty rotors do, but the engine RPMs were still getting pulled down. Anyway, possible rain tonight and several days this next week, so they might have a chance to ripen a bit more.
2008-10-18
Today marks the start of corn harvest 2008.
2008-10-17
Overcast and sprinkles this morning. It looks like another unproductive day.
2008-10-16
We had some light rain a couple days ago, and we just got back into the soybeans late this afternoon. The temperature has been cooler, and the dew set in real early tonight. Probably only got 40 acres done, but that is still better than nothing.
2008-10-13
We were only able to cut about 15 acres today. It was really humid, so the soybeans took until mid-afternoon to dry out, and then some rain moved into the area.
| YouTube Video Cutting Soybeans |
YouTube Video Testing the AutoSteer System |
2008-10-12
Today was really humid, so we couldn't get started until after lunch. One machine blew out an O-ring on the auto-steer valve, which caused a few minutes of down time.
2008-10-11
We are now cutting soybeans that are dry, but the stems are still green, and it is taking a lot of power to thresh them. For extra fun, they are wrapping on the reel. One machine ate a 6" chuck of steel this morning, and the other blew out the weld on the feeder reverser cylinder.
2008-10-10
2008-10-09
2008-10-08
Yesterday was overcast and foggy, with some light rain, but it didn't add up to much. I think we'll fire up the clipper ships tomorrow and see if those soybeans are ripe yet.
2008-10-03
We cut about 80 acres today before deciding to quit for a while. We're caught up to the ripe soybeans. This field had been flooded earlier this year, so part of it was replanted, and other parts had a weak stand.
2008-10-02
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2008-10-01
We're still cutting soybeans, but we're quickly running out of ripe beans to cut.
| YouTube Video Harvesting Soybeans with Auto-Steer |