Harvest 2016 Episode 2

Part two of harvest 2016 on my farm. More to come as I get it edited. Keeping busy in the combine lately and down to the last field.

Getting It Together

This picture from almost two weeks ago shows my pull type combine "headerless" as it was in the process of being put back together. The neighbour had the field finished by the time this combine was back in working condition so it will sit in the shed all winter with untested new parts. I haven't got the parts bill yet but the number $1300 sticks in my mind from talking to the partsman. Guess it could have been worse and burned the whole combine to the ground.
It was just by chance that I was checking some of the shafts when I shut down for that night and this top feeder shaft felt uncomfortably warm. With zero wind the fine flax dust had settled all over the machine so there was plenty of combustibles just waiting to ignite if hot bearing parts had landed in them. As it turned out, the bearing was gone and the shaft was just rubbing metal to metal. Hence the need for a new shaft. Then we found another shaft down under the feeder house that was also turning in the bearing and worn beyond hope. About that time I decided to call for help and get the field custom harvested before the weather turned bad.
I have to give credit to the New agtalk forums where I first read about this tendency to hot bearings on that series of JD combine feeder houses.
Now I have to decide,, sell the flax for $14.25 per bushel today or wait for the price to rise (or fall) through the winter and spring. Getting the grain sold before the farm yards fill in with snow and necessitates hours of snow plowing to get the semi in (and out of) the yard is a good reason to sell now.

Change as good as a rest

As the old saying goes. I ran the pull type combine yesterday for a change. Gave the IH self propelled a rest as I harvested the last field of wheat. Like most days, the hardest work is in getting ready. Move a round baler and tractor to get the pull type combine and tractor out of the shed. The usual greasing of the combine and fueling up the tractor all take time. Then I decided to unload that wagon load of tough wheat from last week into the truck box. Figured I'd put a hopper of today's super dry wheat on top and it would mix as it augered into the bin. Happened to have the wrong tractor on the wagon for this job. The old Cockshutt 40 has such a small hydraulic system that it does not have enough oil to raise the dump wagon high enough to unload completely. So I ended up shoveling a good part of the load off the wagon. Sunny warm weather was not the best conditions for this job but I survived. Numerous other little jobs like bolting the fins on the straw chopper and adjusting the knives. Cleaning the oats out of the hopper sump on the pull type. And probably a good many others that I have forgotten by now. After all that I enjoyed a good nine hours of rest in the air ride seat of the tractor combining the last field of wheat.