Harvest at the Farm, part 1
The time of year where a “field trip” is actually to a field. (Split into a few posts because of length.)
Zach had to work in Mac yesterday, and it happened to coincide with the beginning of harvest for my folks, so Zach worked the morning here in town and picked us up after ST to head out to Mac, then I drove the kids to the farm.
They were cutting both soybeans and corn. The entire field isn’t ready to cut, but some parts are. (they weren’t all planted at the same time)
The corn combine has a “buddy seat” in it so that another adult can ride along. My Mom rode along this round to make sure the kids stayed safe their first ride on a combine.
Turning around at the end of the row and picking me up.
Because corn is so specialized, you can only use a corn combine for corn. The machine doesn’t cut the stalks, instead, it strips all the leaves and husks of corns off the stalk, leaving the stalk mostly in tact. Inside the machine it strips the husks off, strips the corn off the cob, and then spits the leaves, husks and corncobs back out and the corn goes into the bin.
Watching the stalks being stripped and the corn going in.
At the end of the row, the bin was full, and the semi truck driver had arrived, so we headed back to the driveway where Mom and the driver were waiting. The semi truck holds 3 loads of corn, so two grain trailers plus the corn still in the combine bins all fit into the truck. With the price of gas, it is cheaper now to hire a semi to come out rather than truck it into town yourself. (plus the hour or two it takes while waiting in line at the elevator to dump the load). The following picture is the process of emptying the trailers and combine into the semi truck. The kids stayed in the cab of the combine.
You can see the corn in the trailer as the process starts (taken from the stairs landing at the combine door)
The grain trailers are empty, so Dad takes the combine to empty it.
Off to take a quick break inside and get a drink.
(will continue…)
Very cool to see how a modern farm works!