Farm Girl Friday on a Thursday

I actually didn’t have anything planned to share for Farm Girl Friday this week.  That is until this podcast turned up somehow on the computer this morning.  This song says it all (I’ve even put it on the iPod).  It’s a perfect description of what life is like this time of year here on the farm.  I love the ‘please, bake for me’ and ‘when I get back, I’ll need an O ring’ lines.  That really is my life.

Leaving on the Combine

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Old Faithful

Well, I guess they aren’t too faithful anymore or else Colin’s Dad wouldn’t have bought the ‘new’ combine.   I thought I’d post a couple of pictures of the old combines.  They had bought the red combine for parts, but it turned out to be in better shape than the old one.  They had one set up to do corn and one to do soy beans.  It was handy having the two of them as corn and soy bean season can overlap.

This is a Cockshutt 545.  It is 35 years old, or so.  It has the corn head on in the picture on the right.

This one is an Oliver 545.   It is the predecessor to the Cockshutt.  It’s closer to 40 years old.  It’s got the soy bean head on in the picture.

They put in long years of service.  We’ve owned them for 25 years.   The last few years though Colin and Dad were spending more time ‘fixing’ the combines than harvesting with them.  They were a huge source of aggravation at a time of year when tempers are already short.   Even fixing the combines was becoming harder and harder.  Manufacturers  aren’t making the parts anymore and new parts don’t fit the old machines.  The old machines are also a little small for the acreage we crop now.

All that being said, the combines aren’t going to the scrap heap.  Colin sold them to Tim, one of his Mennonite friends (and fellow pork producer).  His combine is about the same vintage and he should be able to salvage pieces to keep his old machine going for a few more years.  Hopefully by then prices will turn around and we’ll all be making a living again.

Tim brought his two oldest children with him, he often does.  The Big Sister is 5 and the Little Brother is 3.  Ella had so much fun playing with them in her play yard.  The only problem is they don’t speak English.  Mennonites don’t teach their children English until they start school.  But children speak a universal language, play.  There was only one moment of communication breakdown -Ella took a ball to the eye because she didn’t understand what was said.  She’s ok, not even black.  Boy, Mennonite children sure are well-behaved.  They knew they were going home with Daddy in the combine.  As soon as the combine started up Big Sister took Little Brother by the hand and off they went.  No fuss, no begging to stay, just ‘time’s up let’s go’.  I wish I could remember more of my university German.  Although they speak a dialect, it would helpful.  I was able to pick out a few words to help the afternoon along.

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New Combine

We had some excitement on Thursday.  Colin and Dad went and picked up our new combine and headers.  Well, it’s new to us.  Considering our old combines are older than Colin, it was time for something newer.

This is a 1976 Gleaner combine.  This seems really old, but it actually has very few working hours on it.  In fact, it has less hours than most newer used combines.  We can easily get parts, so why spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a new one.  This combine is larger than the old ones and should allow us to nearly double our output.  It will definitely shorten all the ‘down time’ we had with old combines.

Colin is looking forward to harvesting his soybeans.  This combine has a specialty header for soybeans.   It has a large fan that blows the soybeans into the combine.  This will greatly reduce soybeans falling on the ground.  The combine even has air conditioning, a very nice luxury when combining in August!

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