Hope Deferred (Again)

I know I"ve used that biblical quotation before here. Most likely a reference to bad weather at harvest time. It was one that great Uncle Arthur used on occasion. He was a great one for quotations for most occasions. Many from the bible, some from Shakespeare, some unknown.
This one comes to mind most days lately as the predominantly cloudy and damp weather continues to put harvest on hold.
We did get a rare sunny afternoon today after the fog cleared. Last night's light rain cancelled out any drying that happened in the fields.
Stats are still putting harvest at the 80% complete mark which is well behind the normal for this time of year.
I saw several fields of flax today in my travels. Some still standing and some swathed. Still looking good, just too wet to combine. The standing canola appeared to have some empty pods, likely threshed out by wind or the wet snowfall we had.
Took this photo out the window driving by a field of flax today.

Six Months Late

I'm six months late but the 2015 harvest officially ended here on May 1. Those flax swaths from last fall were good and dry (and dusty). Poor quality after a winter  laying in the field but hindsight is 20:20 now and I should have harvested it damp last fall.
Lucky to have plenty of help being the weekend with brothers, nephews, sister and niece in laws around at various times doing trucking, straw raking, moving machinery and just generally available for any little job needing doing. Nothing got burned, broken or stuck in the mud, well just a little bit with the truck but it could have been worse and hopefully we will have that mudhole filled in and drive able by this time tomorrow.
A few minor problems but the most annoying was the length of barbed wire, complete with a fence picket that somebody thought it would be fun to throw into the outside swath in hopes it might get picked up by the combine causing plenty of damage. Fortunately I saw it before starting the swath.  I guess somebody did not like me closing the gate to the field to keep people from driving over the swaths through the winter and decided to show their displeasure this way. I have a few ideas what to do with people like that but unfortunately none of them are legal so enough said.

Harvesting in Spring

It finally happened today. Ran out of ground to anhydrous, so had to hitch onto the combine and pick up the flax swaths that got left out last fall. Got a good start anyway. Ground mostly firm, flax so dry it won't even register on the tester. Kind of an ugly sample though. Laying out all winter did not do it any favours. Hopefully someone will want to buy it.

It was a long day but went by quickly as tractor work so often does when I"m totally immersed in the job. Watching out for mud, straw wrapping on shafts, pickup stalling and rolling up swath like a snowball. Flax straw hitting the cylinder with a might thump but the John Deere posi torque drive pushing it through. Watching for deer antlers laying in the swath (found one). To be continued..

It Ain't Over

...til its over. To quote the legendary baseball player, Yogi Berra . Although I think it might be over for me as far as harvest 2015 goes. Even though the sun shone well today it was not enough to melt the layer of snow we had last night. The next few days forecast to be warm and sunny will melt that snow and actually make the swaths wetter. Freeze drying overnight will help a little if we get enough days. It is unlikely there will be enough drying days though.
Here is some video of the harvest so far. Picking up wheat swath with the Case IH 1660 combine and flax swath with the John Deere 7721 on some of the few days when the weather and crop were both ready. Up til this year I could usually straight cut all the wheat and leave the flax stand til ready and then swath right ahead of the combine. This year the crops just did not ripen or dry off as normal. Climate change? Global cooling? Whatever, in hindsight I should have swathed everything at least a couple of weeks earlier than I did. The straight cut header never came out of the shed for the first time since I bought it.

Good news, bad news

The good news first. I got in 3 or more good days harvesting and finished the cereal grains.The bad news, I still have 130 or so acres flax swaths waiting to be harvested. And both combines incapacitated and an eighty percent chance of rain tomorrow. Yes, the flax tested dry (9.7 percent moisture) this afternoon. When I finished the oats I tried a sample of flax. The IH is a fantastic combine on cereals and canola but an absolute failure on flax. It wrapped up tight with flax straw on the beater within the first minute of picking up swath. That means a laborious session with hooks and hack saw blades to get it unplugged. At least I got enough flax in the hopper for a moisture test.  Headed for the five mile drive  home to park the flax wrapped IH and figured I'd head back with the JD pull type and at least get an hour of combining flax before dark. Already 4:30 with darkening skies and the wind dropped to nothing so I knew it would be a short run.
Far shorter than I expected though. The JD never even got out of the shed. Turned the key and the Magnum barely cranked the engine. Those 15 year old batteries finally failed. I'd been expecting that for the past year or so. That is about double the life most get out of a  set of tractor batteries and I guess they don't owe me anything. Luckily they held out for the weekend and I got one flax field done at least.
That John Deere 7721 pull type just eats up flax swaths but even it has a few spots I have to watch and check frequently for flax straw wrapping. I came very close to burning it down last harvest when flax wrapped so tight on a rotating shaft that it started to smoke and burnt the paint off the cylinder housing.

First flax field was not great yielding due to excess moisture and weed re-growth. The next two look much better . The last wheat field was excellent . Clean and heavy. Unfortunately bleached by weather and laying in the swath through rains. The moose crap in the sample is a little worrisome and will almost surely down grade it to feed status. Laying swaths in moose/deer country has it's drawbacks.
The wheat at 15.7 percent moisture was a point above dry but considering the forecast of rain there was no way I was going to wait any longer. Got in my best and longest harvest day of the season yesterday cleaning off a good 80 acres of wheat. Pushed the old IH pretty hard on those heavy wheat swaths but it never plugged or broke anything even working late into the night when the straw got so damp and wet that it would hardly feed off the pickup.
Really nice sunset yesterday and I took a picture of it through the window as I was combining Figured it would make a good one for the Sask Scenery facebook page but it turned out pretty unimpressive on the screen.

I even got a chance to vote in the federal election late today. I'd decided earlier in the day that no way was I going to waste at least an hour of harvesting time driving to town and back to vote. Figured I'd exercise my right not to vote.  But, seeing as I was shut down my mechanical problems late in the day I decided I needed my mail and groceries anyway so it made the trip to town worth while.
Oh well, if it does rain and I can't harvest for the next few days there is always this ......

Another Day In The Field

Not the greatest photo but the one I took today turned out to be invisible so this one is from yesterday. . Just one small problem in a series of bigger ones . I am going to try and be like Bud E. Shepherd and remain an optimist and have a positive attitude though.
With that in mind I will not complain about getting stuck in the mud with the swather (again) and pulling it out myself (with a little help from the tractor). Flax swathing went well aside from that. The walk for the tractor through moose territory was uneventful thankfully.
And of course the biggest bright spot in the day was that I did not burn down the combine even though there was smoke coming out of the feeder house from the smoldering bundle of flax straw that had somehow wrapped and accumulated on the return auger shaft just above the cylinder on the 7721 combine. I really need a new pair of gloves without holes in them. Although the holes in mine did help me detect where the hot spots were on the combine. No serious burns luckily.
Again on the positive side it was a beautiful warm day with record breaking high temperature. Exactly what I need to get the harvest done. I would prefer not to have wasted at least two of the good hours on mud and fires but hopefully there will be more weather like it. I need a few good days.

Harvest Done

It took a while but harvest 2013 is finally complete as of Oct. 29. Frost in the mornings and ice on the sloughs. Hard starting cold engines but the last swath went up the feeder house and now I just have to pile and burn the straw. At least it was comfortable working with the heater keeping the cab warm . No grain dust to endure. A far cry from the 1942 harvest here on Winstanley Grove when they had to deal with snow, engine breakdowns and other problems.
I had good intentions of getting the crop sold before winter set in but as usual, the best laid plans of mice and men, etc. Flax price is good but the best I can get is December delivery. Seeing as I am still waiting to deliver my September contracted canola I guess I will not be surprised to be moving the grain in January. All the fun of clearing snowed in yards and grain bins in freezing cold temperatures comes to mind.
In other news tractor number 2 has a breakdown. Water pump appears to have sprung a fairly major leak on the tractor. Not unheard of on a sixty year old tractor but a little unexpected as  I am pretty sure I just replaced the pump a couple of years ago.