Another slow day. William and Bella had to take a few steers to the sale barn. Then it was left to the boys and I to handle the corn. The field we are in is close to the bins so we don’t have to haul it too far. Becker showed up to run the grain cart. Unloading on the go, is much faster. We put two cameras on the grain cart; one to see behind the cart and one to see inside the cart to watch the corn dumping. I’ll get some pictures or video on them.

The cattle haulers returned home. Next they had some cattle rustling to do. They were moving cows and calves around to get ready for weaning. Only one calf escaped but they quickly corralled him back into the lot.

Late after noon, it started to drizzle enough that we had to stop the combine. The video below was taken just before then.

I have to decided to capture this harvest season day by day as much as possible. We have started pretty much on schedule with only a few “hiccups”. Stopping and starting because of cattle work, wells going dry, hauling water, meetings, drizzle ect. The corn is testing around 22%. So we can only fill the drying bin so much at a time.

Day 1:

Mike came with his weigh wagon to calibrate the GreenStar monitor. Got the cheat sheets out to remind me of what buttons to push. Only had to call the guys at the dealership twice for all the different settings. At the Farm Progress show, we were told that the dealership will be able to see our screen on their computer to see what in the world we are trying to describe.

The kids have cleaned out the bins and replaced the doors. The boys’ job is to watch the auger dump loading the bins. Bella is to keep track of the pastures and water situation.

The following video is a short one. It was taken before I had the idea of a daily harvest log. If you would like to follow along with our daily harvest activities, subscribe to the post updates in the sidebar. New entries will be sent to your email. And ask any questions you might have.

What We Did At The Show

I must say I enjoyed the Farm Progress Show this year. Mostly because William and I went on Tuesday when it was perfect weather. We started the morning at the gate waiting for it to open after the big ceremony with the parade of a motorcycle. Making a bee line to the hospitality tent, we met some people we knew right away. At the tent was Illinois State Univ. Ag Dept. breakfast. We ate and talked to some professors and alums. Afterwards KJ gave us a ride on his golf cart to the area with the livestock equipment where we ordered a hay hauler from another ISU grad who was manning his exhibit.

I am always disappointed in the lack of livestock exhibitors at the Farm Progress Show. It’s all corn all the time. It seems to me. Anyway we talked to a lady who had vet supplies. She explained this electronic immobilizer for cattle that was very interesting. William would really like a brand for our cows. So we discussed that. She gave us a tip on locating a dry ice supply.

William just had to hear the Quebe Sisters sing and I wanted to win an Ipad. I didn’t feel like sitting for the whole performance but I wanted that Ipad. The sisters and band were really good. Well, we sat but I didn’t win it. They went thru about 5 names of people who weren’t present, one we even knew. Those idiots.

Then it was off to the Morton Buildings where we entered for the $50,000 towards a building. We have been talking about putting up a barn for our cattle for years. I told William, “I am done talking. Let’s just build the @#^% thing.”

Stopped at the John Deere tent and looked over the new combine, of course. (more about that later). William wanted to talk to someone who knew something about the trouble we have been having with one of our tractors. But no one new anything. Went in the tent to look at the new GreenStar Monitoring system. The technician there gave us a walk thru the new features. The new screens will have video available. The GreenStar expert at your dealership will eventually be able to see your monitor on his computer to walk you thru the settings. Was so interested in talking about the monitor, I missed the tweetup.

Then it was on to the seed dealers; Pioneer, Wyffels, & Stine. Talked to some nice guys there. Another ISU grad. William told them where their seed was lacking and what was good. Looked at a few plots. After this we were ready to head home.

QR Codes where everywhere. I think they just wanted to show off.

Lots of people were paying to give John Deere advertisement.  William said they were making more money on shirt sales than tractors.

I want one of these. And we have an old bin to do it. Will try to get the boys working on that.

Last but definitely the most expensive a big green combine. Praise God a radio with an audio input. Lots of cup, deep cup holders and cubby holes for a phone and stuff.(Refer back to my storage complaints: here & here) William questioned the Deere draper header. There is a big slat on both sides that grain could fall thru. And I can’t believe I didn’t even check out the refrigerator. Our dealer said it is more like plug in cooler anyway.

Well that is a wrap up of our experience at the Farm Progress Show. I was very pouty that I didn’t go home with a free Ipad. If you went and wrote about it like Dave did on his blog, leave a link in the comments.

Scott at our dealership will be elated to know that I am finally done working on the yield maps for 2010. You would think that it wouldn’t take much. Just print them out. Wishful thinking. We adjust each field for actual yield from elevator ticket totals making the maps more accurate. I had to calculate the total bushels from the tickets to the dry weight. This wasn’t hard just took time since there are about 35 individual fields. We had replant fields that had to be merged with the rest of their field since they were harvested on a different date. Hugo (I think that is what he said) at Apex support helped me with that maneuver. Then I had to go back and resize the small maps after I figured out how to enlarge them. Here is an update Apex could work on that would save a ton of time: If the map page with the legend below would give the perimeter of the map on the  print out or exported file. Then I wouldn’t need to go back and forth adjusting the placement of the map to best fit in the allotted space.

If you click on the map image it will take you to the full size file. This corn field is in Salt Creek bottom. The map shows the water damage from the wet spring. On the north the red shows the flooding from the creek. On the south water drains from a couple of hills toward the creek. Where the green shaded areas appear to the west, that is the sandy soil where the yield is usually the worst. While we have seen some good prices for the 2010 crop, we had below average yields. I’m off to email the maps to our landlords. I hope I can remember how to make all the map adjustments next year or Scott will wish I lost his number.

In this screencast I talk about the difference in yields in a corn and bean fields for last year. The GreenStar Apex mapping shows the yield difference in the harvested field.

My first screen cast. Constructive criticism only please.

After letting William drive for a while, he complained that the seat was too low. Well besides my being 4 inches shorter than he, I don’t want the seat cutting the circulation in my legs. I reminded him that both Phil on Deadliest Catch and Alex on Ice Road Truckers both were hospitalized from blood clots caused by sitting for long periods. He didn’t think I had much to worry about. Those guys sat for months and months. I am in the combine for around 40 days. I didn’t tell him about what I saw on the show Monsters Inside Me.

This little soybean was hanging from a cob web in the combine’s front window. Last year I didn’t have much good to say about beans. Much like most years. But this year has been different. The plants are maturing evenly. The stems are not tough. Plus the yields are pretty good for all the rain we have had. Fortunately, William decided to plant more beans this year. The corn yields are below average. They did not take the wet spring / summer as well as the beans. So hopefully with good yields and a decent price the bean will carry the day. (year)

I would have knocked on wood after my last post. That day I had another conversation with Loren after the head quit raising on its own. I thought there was an adjustment that I hit wrong. He said to check the hydraulic levels. They were fine. I kept running. Then the head wouldn’t raise at all. Next BGC died and buzzers went off, lights flashed. We had a problem. By this time I was letting William drive. He got  it running again but there was no steering. Struggling with the wheel, he backed it to the other end of the field. We called the service dept. They said we shouldn’t have kept it running after it died. It may have burned up the main gear case that is lubricated by hydraulic pump. A story was told of how someone just did that last week. His combine was still in the shop. It was a big mess. We thought we were screwed.

If you have to have a service truck come out, you want one this size.

Not this size.
It means that the problem is bad enough that the combine needs to be worked on in the shop and you can’t drive it there. So after John determined that there was no hydraulic pressure anywhere. He called for the semi to haul it back to the dealership. I have never seen how a combine is loaded on a trailer to transport. So I got an education. While I stood around taking pictures thinking this should make a great blog post, the guys loaded up the combine.

After the trailer was unhooked, the combine was dragged by huge strap up on to the trailer.

Then the trailer is hooked back up to the semi. The ground was too soft, William pulled semi and all out of the field to the road.

So BGC was off to the shop.

The good Lord was smiling on us this day. It turned out a shaft to the hydraulic pump broke. The mechanics were able to fix it the next day.  BGC was running again the day after that. And, knock on wood, it is running great.

After two weeks or so, here is the Harvest Status Report
BigGreenCombine: no breakdowns.
Grain Bins: one fan has gone out
Elevators: The first one we have been hauling to is putting in a new dump pit (supposed to be finished weeks ago) is having electrical problems on and off.
Yields: Corn- Highest field was 178 bu/a, Lowest field was 67 bu/a
            Beans- Haven’t started yet. Will start after the next rains coming in.
Rain: 3.7 in. for Sept.
Cattle: One cow (Mable) escaped the pasture and went for a stroll down the road. Put a new solar fencer on the electric fence. William put some round bales in to keep everyone happy.

Phone call to Loren while in the cab of the combine in the field:
Me: Loren, the automatic head height isn’t working. I have to us the manual adjust.
Loren: When you push the 1, 2. or 3 button does the head move?
Me: It moves a little but hardly at all.
Loren: Do you have the sensor bars down underneath the head?
Me: I don’t know.
Loren: Go check. And give me a call if you need help.

I didn’t call him back. The auto head height works like a dream when the bars are down where they can do their sensing.

For those who don’t know: These bars make the head move up and down automatically with the terrain. Love ‘em. You really miss these neat little features when they don’t work or forget how to make them work. Thanks Loren.