Harvest 21

 We started harvest a week and a half ago.  It got of to a slow start because the Auger Cart tractor was in and out of the shop with electrical problems.  So, we opened up a few fields without it.  The corn dried down quickly in the last week and we are now moving full speed ahead.  I spent about $3000 on parts and labor in August getting the combine ready for harvest.  We were trying to find any potential problems ahead of time, so here's hoping that we have no major breakdowns.  I had backed off of my yield projections in the last few weeks prior to harvest when that really hot week seemed to shut down the plants and they started drying up faster than I expected.  But, now that we have been in the fields awhile, I think the yields might be better than what I anticipated.  We are hoping to start taking out some soybeans this week as it looks like they are drying down quickly.

As everyone knows, finding employees is tough right now.  That includes elevators finding seasonal help to operate scales and to dump trucks at the pits.  The first few days of harvest, at some elevators, the truckers had to get out and dump their own trucks.  They have help now, but operating hours have been shortened a little.  And some of the help has needed some coaching and training.

This is what happens when the elevator help doesn't shut and latch the hopper bottom doors!

After it happens the second time, someone gets a lecture!

A loader tractor and a couple of scoop shovels cleaned up the spills, and hopefully that will be the last!

When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands.

Deuteronomy 24:19