Road Trip: Wheat Harvest Version

My first job on the farm was driving a pickup while my dad picked up fence posts. I was in elementary school at the time. Long before I had my driver's license, I moved trucks around in the harvest field. These were the days before my dad had a grain cart to haul the grain from the combine to the truck. So I'd move the truck closer to the wheat so my dad didn't have to go as far to dump the bin load each round.

When I got my farm permit, I drove the wheat trucks to the Iuka Co-op. Our hired man, Ed, was my patient navigator the first year. He taught me the fine points of waiting in line, unrolling the tarp, how to dump the truck and instructions in the fine art of elevator etiquette. But, after that, I made dozens of trips to the elevator during wheat harvest each year.

When Randy and I were first married, I worked at The Hutchinson News, so I didn't drive the truck, except on weekends. After I "retired" from that job and the kids got a little older, I was back in the driver's seat again.

However, I've never driven our semi. This is the second wheat harvest we've had it. I know I could learn. But we've had a hired man available to do it, so my job has transitioned to go-fer and cook.

The other evening, after one of our rain delays during harvest, our hired man wasn't back yet, so Randy asked if I'd like to go with him as he drove the semi with a load of wheat to Zenith.

It's definitely a different perspective, viewing the familiar Zenith Road from a loftier perch.

We arrived at our destination - our favorite prairie skyscraper.

Randy unrolled the tarp.

He pulled the semi onto the scales at the co-op office, where they weigh the loaded truck. With the orange probe, they get a sample of the wheat and test for quality, including weight, moisture, protein and foreign matter.

This was taken in 2015. This trip, I was inside the truck cab.

Through the rearview mirror, we could see that they wanted us to take the truck to location "B" - inside the elevator. 

These elevators were designed long before there were big semi trucks. It's a tight squeeze.

If I were the driver, I would much rather dump at the outside pit, location "C."

Photo from 2015 - the outside dump location

I captured Randy's shadow in the mirror behind us as he waited for the wheat to flow into the elevator pit. After so many harvests, I like finding different images that tell the story.

Photo from 2015, showing co-op guys opening the hatches.

Once the truck is in position, the co-op workers open the hatches underneath the truck. The semi truck is emptied through gravity. (We also have a tandem truck that has a lift to dump the grain. For photos of that, click HERE.)

With the grain unloaded, Randy pulled back onto the scales for an empty weight. We also pick up the ticket which gives a record of how much wheat we delivered that trip and its quality. 

Then, it was back to the field to fill 'er up again.

The farmer or landlord pays a storage fee to the co-op based on the amount of time the grain was stored before being sold. Then, it belongs to the co-op. When the co-op sells it, most is trucked out of the elevator to the buyer. (In the past, rail travel helped move a lot of grain, too, but most of it is trucked these days, at least in this area.)

FYI:  When I pulled up a blog post from last year, I saw that wheat was $5.15 on June 23. Wheat closed at $3.15 on the board at Zenith yesterday. 

Thankfully, we were able to start cutting again yesterday afternoon after our Tuesday rain delay. We had to move to a different location. It is a slow process, since the wheat is down fairly badly and he's still having to battle some mud. But the wheat yields are still above average, though quality has suffered with the rains.

Still, we're glad to be back at it! Every swath puts us a little closer to done.

Harvesting Memories: Take Two

A note from Kim:  I have been having some internet issues the past few days, so I am reposting a blog from 2010, the first year of Kim's County Line. Television isn't the only thing with re-runs these days.

I've been around for my share of harvests. In fact, I entered this world at harvest time more than 50 years ago. However, back in 1957, it had rained enough that harvest was momentarily stopped just in time for my arrival into this world. So my Dad didn't even have to get off the combine to take my mom to the hospital.

However, I was not around for the harvest pictured above. I rediscovered the photo when I was digging through a box, looking for some other photos. It was one we brought home from Randy's folks' house. When we were going through all the "stuff" of their lives, we got down to the photos and everyone was tired of sorting.

As an admitted photo fiend, I didn't want to throw them away, so I said I'd take them home and store them until people wanted to go through them and divide the rest of them. That day never came. So here they still sit, taking up space in my basement.

Anyway, with harvest in full swing, I thought it was perfect timing to find a photo of a harvest from days gone by. I don't know who the people are or the year it was taken. I assume they are some of Randy's relatives. My Grandpa Leonard, who was also a farmer, had a similar photo hanging in his home office in Haskell County.

It does make me thankful for modern equipment. And I also appreciate that I don't have to feed a crew that big. Sure, I have a couple of extra people at the table or gathered around for our impromptu field "picnics." But I count at least nine people in the long-ago harvest crew. That would be a lot of meat and potatoes!

The combine pictured above was owned by my parents. It was a 1957 model, just like me. My Mom and Dad gave all the grandkids a history book several years ago and included family and farm photos and stories. It was a great gift (and one that I haven't yet passed along to my kids. I am storing the books for safekeeping. My sister says her kids have to be 30 before they get their books. I think that's a good idea, since I pull them out all the time and use the photos and information.)

My Dad, who is also a saver, kept sales receipts and other records. I think it's fascinating that a brand new combine had a $6,275 price tag. Let's just say the price for new combines has gone up faster than the price of grain.

In 1964, my sisters and I posed with my Dad in the photo below. I would have been 7. I hadn't debuted as a harvest helper yet, but by this age, I was already driving the pickup in the field while my Dad picked up fence posts. My sister, Lisa, worked the foot pedals on the pickup, since we needed to use the clutch. I do remember it took us a little while to get the hang of it.

Maybe that's why my Dad had me helping in the harvest field at about age 12. I was the oldest child and the first to qualify for harvest duty. I began moving the grain trucks around in the wheat field before I was old enough to make trips to the elevator. After my Dad would make another swath with the combine, I'd move the truck closer so he didn't have to take time driving to the truck. I don't know whether that was really helpful or whether it was a job to get me used to driving the truck.
I can't remember for sure, but I think this old truck was still around the farm when I started, though we had bigger and more modern trucks, too.

When I had my license, I was promoted to a "real" truck driver and took loads of wheat to the Iuka Coop. I remember being coached by my Dad and also by another truck driver named Ed, who taught me the fine points of waiting in line, unrolling the tarp, how to dump the truck and instruction in the fine art of elevator etiquette.

My Dad always said I was a better truck driver than any teenage boy would be. I don't think he was just "saying" that. I know I wasn't whipping the truck around corners to show off, gunning the engine or anything like that.

That's not to say I wasn't trying to impress. I distinctly remember putting on makeup and eye shadow before going to the field for the day. Those cute custom harvesting crew drivers might see me when I got out to unroll the tarp at the coop.

When I think back about that now, I can't help but laugh at myself. I doubt those drivers were looking in my direction - other than to see if it was their turn to drive onto the scales at the elevator. And any efforts to "doll" myself up were probably lost in a cloud of wheat dust anyway.

But I think it's a natural phenomenon among teenage girl truck drivers. I seem to remember a certain truck driver named Jill who was definitely interested in the whole seeing-and-being-seen part of trips to the elevator.

Yes, the truck driving skill was passed down to the next generation here on the County Line. She was all about working on her tan while waiting on Dad to load the truck.
There also was some multi-generational teamwork going on at my childhood farm during harvest. My Mom took these photos from the Moore family harvest, featuring my nephew Brian as combine driver. My Dad was his personal consultant. My brother kept irrigation systems going, but he happened to be available for a three-generation shot.
The equipment has changed. The technology has changed. But the teamwork to accomplish the harvest is still there. Brian was driving the combine on ground homesteaded by his great-great-great-grandfather. He's the sixth generation to work the Pratt County land.

Brian, Kent & Bob Moore

Randy is the fifth generation of his family to farm in Stafford County. I'm proud to be part of this century-old tradition on the Kansas plains.

***

More from Harvest 2015 is sure to come.

The Big Rig

Well, we're movin' on up,
To the semi side.
To a huge ol' big rig, ridin' high.

Movin on up,
To the semi side.
We finally got a piece of the pie.

Yes, I have a revised version of The Jeffersons' theme song floating around in my head after we added a semi and grain trailer to the fleet at the County Line last week. We have finally joined the big leagues, I guess, since many of our farm friends and family members have had semis for years.

My alter ego -- the teenaged truck driver from the 1970s -- is approaching this newest addition to the farm fleet with a little trepidation, if the truth is told.

Even if it does have air conditioning.

The 1999 International 9200 with a Detroit engine and a 10-speed transmission has been around the block a few times. In fact, it has 640,000 miles on it. So while it's new to us, it is by no means new. The DMF grain trailer is 32 feet long.

The decision to go truck shopping happened in the middle of harvest. A little rain during harvest can be a dangerous thing: It gives your husband time to think AND time to shop. Throw in the fact that we've had truck problems the last couple of harvests, and "Cha-Ching" goes the wallet!

With a large corn crop sitting in the fields, the semi should come in handy for hauling grain to the elevator. Since we don't irrigate and hadn't raised corn until the last two years, we hadn't seriously considered a semi before now. 

Randy also tells me that semis and trailers are more affordable than they used to be, especially the well-used ones. (It kind of sounds like me rationalizing that the baby/toddler clothes were on sale, doesn't it? Only my pièce de résistance isn't nearly so expensive!) 

But how could we resist the purchase when a Black Ice air freshener or two were thrown in - free of charge. (Kind of like those ball caps you get when you buy a tractor.)