Janel: Bin work

Northeastern North Dakota—We are harvesting spring wheat way up north now at what I call Combine City, USA. I’ve been coming here for about 20 years now and it’s always full of combines at wheat harvest time. Most of the work we do here is bin work.  The wheat we’ve cut so far made over 80 bushels per acre. The wheat and canola look very good here this year. The soybeans look great too. I haven’t seen any corn fields in this area this year. Last year I saw many fields of corn but heard it was all destroyed because when the farmers finally got to harvesting it late this spring the test weight was around 30 pounds per bushel. That’s not good enough quality and honestly no elevator wants it because it’d be difficult to get rid of it. I think it’s rejected under 50 pounds per bushel. The crops grown here typically are field peas, spring wheat, canola and soybeans. Corn needs heat to grow and to be harvested on time but here the weather didn’t cooperate.

One farmer we work for in this area has a grain dryer so we started cutting the wheat at 17% moisture. If we were hauling to the elevator it’d have to be less than 14% moisture. Up here in North Dakota the weather can be very tricky though. I’ve seen it rain all day every day for many consecutive days many times. Typically, there are only so many days of decent harvesting weather here and then the weather can turn wet and cold and stay that way. There’s been a lot of wheat cut in the month of October here over the years.  Back in 2004, I was here until Oct. 4 and then went home to cut soybeans and pick corn. Typically, if we can cut we should be cutting and getting it done before the weather goes bad.

Our forecast is partly sunny and highs in the 60s. I am hoping we can cut every single day until we are finished up in a few weeks. We are always pushed to get out of here because we’ve got fall crops at home that we’ve got to harvest and being on time is a must!

All Aboard Wheat Harvest is sponsored by Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children, Unverferth Manufacturing Co., Inc, BASF, AgriPro, Gleaner and High Plains Journal. Janel Schemper can be reached at janel@allaboardharvest.com.

Schemper Harvesting

I’m loaded and going to the bin site. I’m also meeting one of our trucks on this gravel road. The dust flies, oh and the rocks do too. The rule is to always always always slow down under 20 mph when meeting others on gravel roads. However, the loaded truck has the right of way, meaning that if someone were to stop it’d be the empty truck and the loaded truck keeps going past, slowly though, of course!

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A load of spring wheat about to be unloaded into the grain bin.

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Bin work in North Dakota is common.

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Waiting in line at the bins to unload spring wheat.

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Waiting in line at the grain bin site. Pretty fancy place!

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Unloading into the auger.

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Unloading at the auger.

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Our trucks sitting in line at the bin site.

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Have I ever mentioned here how much I love the trees here? They are so beautiful!

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Such a beautiful site and the trees grow so tall and all look so good!

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Isn’t that amazing? Trees planted in rows and they grow so well here in northeastern North Dakota!

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Unloading my load of spring wheat into the auger at the bin site.

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Here’s the tricky part! Learning how to run it and making sure it’s done correctly! Instructions are written on the window!

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We work in the dark too.

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Good thing for great lights at the bin site!

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Unloading a load of spring wheat late at night.

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Here’s a field of canola that’s still green. With heat and wind it’ll change to a golden color real fast. Canola needs cut as soon as it’s ready because wind can easily shatter it.

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It’s over waist tall. A great looking crop. I bet this will make over 2,500 pounds per acre, probably over 3,000.

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One of the heaviest canola crops I’ve ever seen. Looks like 3,000 pound canola.

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It’s pretty green yet. It needs heat and sunshine to ripen before it’s cut!

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Miss Moo and a North Dakota sunset.

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I went to the field and did some maintenance work and it was super windy. The wheat was 18% so it was a no go.  All I want to do is be in the field and harvesting the day away. I went to the camper and had ice cream and Moo was my audience and yes, she had some too because it’s her favorite!

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Looks like we’ll be having sweet corn for supper! The gardens are amazing here and always something that I look forward to when we get to North Dakota! I really want some garden fresh tomatoes but they aren’t ready yet. They were replanted because the first ones planted got froze in late spring. 

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This is Combine City, USA. I call it that because there’s so many crews that stop here and harvest crops. I love this downtown harvest style look! That’s pretty amazing!

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That’s pretty awesome and just my style! I love combines!

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I’ve been coming here to harvest crops for many years. It’s an amazing place to cut especially when the weather is cooperative with harvest!

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