Jada: Harvesting on the Homefront

Part of the Hoffman Harvesting crew has moved home and began harvesting on the home front once again. I think my dad was happy to see them pull in the field and start cutting. Meanwhile the rest of the crew is still working away in Roscoe.

The spring wheat looks wonderful in South Dakota but the yield is much lower than farmers anticipated. The wheat we were cutting today was yielding in the 30’s and is being hauled to the bins. Dad has once again become a harvester. You could find him in the field running grain cart. It’s nice to have him around. We also had some fun visitors today. My nephews Bryce and Brady as well as Matt, a friend from the Hoven elevator joined us in the field today.

It feels like harvest is going slow and that we are cutting further north than we really are because the harvest days have been shorter than normal. We start cutting shortly before noon and end before the sun goes down. The culprit being an odd mixture of humidity and unusually cold August weather. When the wheat gets too tough to do a good job of cutting you gotta quit no matter what time it is. Here are some photos of us cutting in Bowdle on my parent’s land.

Bryce catches a ride with our recruited grain cart operator- farmer dad

My nephew Bryce catches a ride with Dad in the grain cart.

Mattt comes cut a break from his normal job of working at the elevator

Hi Matt! A friend takes a break from his normal job- working at the Hoven elevator- to try his hand at harvesting.

Spreading chaff

There’s no if, ands, or buts about it. I am getting chaffed again! That stuff gets itchy.

6 ft tall Callum poses by one of our sunflower fields we will cut this fall.

Strike a pose! I steal Callum away from the wheat field to take a picture of the 6 ft tall lad by some sunflowers we will cut for my parents this fall.

Andreas and Bryce cut my way.

Bryce joins Andreas in the combine and off they are.

Brady comes to join Grandpa in the tractor

Not to be left out by his older brother, my nephew Brady, comes to join Grandpa [Perry Hoffman] in the grain cart.

Bryce hangs out while we wait for the combines to park for the day

Bryce takes a break from the hard work while waiting for the combines to dump and park for the evening.

The sky shows it may rain

The sky and humidity are signs it might rain… weather.com also shows us that showers are in our future. We’ll just have to play it by ear.

Kaidence and cousins Brady and Bryce play with the flowers.

Kaidence and cousins Brady and Bryce play with the sunflowers. They enjoyed a day of fun together.

Jada can be reached at jada@allaboardharvest.com. All Aboard 2011 is sponsored by High Plains Journal and DuPont Crop Protection.

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