06 Jun Jada: Walking in Combines Proves Challenging

For the harvest season we chose to try out a new header- a 635 flex draper- that would also be good for harvesting soybeans in the fall. The problem we have noticed is they do not tilt as much as the ones we have used the last couple of years- 635 rigid draper. Now walking our combines into gates has proven more challenging than ever. Machines and headers keep getting larger but the gates don’t.

We are either lighting kissing the gates with our headers or unhooking them after an unsuccessful attempt of trying to walk them in. The later option is time consuming and is considered the last resort.

Here are some close calls that had us either giving up and unhooking the headers or intently watching the results- our version of a suspense movie- until we were just barely successful. While some of these photos look deceiving, none of our headers were damaged in our attempts to walk in our combines.

Walking the combine in proves challenging. We made it through barely.

Another view of this close fit.

Walking the machines in such a tight gate always requires spotters.

Another view of our unsuccessful attempt. We had to go get the header trailer.

And we’re still unsure why we even tried this one. I guess you can say we see the glass as half full!

Displayed here is a photo of the previously mentioned Pray for Rain signs which are posted all around town. And that is definitely what we all are doing! Prayers were answered last night at 1 a.m. It started raining and it’s still raining!

All Aboard Harvest is sponsored by High Plains Journal and Syngenta. Jada can be reached at jada@allaboardharvest.com.