Christy: No rest for the weary

Labor Day weekend brought the end of our summer wheat harvest, but not the end of harvest for us. We had a really slow start down in Texas, with the first two weeks consisting of rain delays. It really put our schedule off, and it felt like we were playing catch up all the way until we hit Montana. Montana went fast, and North Dakota surprised us by affording us some extra acres. All in all, besides a few breakdowns and one scary and unfortunate field fire, we made it to the finish, only to roll right in to fall harvest. Couldn’t have asked for a better wheat run.

Now, as soon as equipment found its way to our home farm in Minnesota from North Dakota, calls were made to get machines by Brookings, South Dakota, and Round Lake, Minnesota.

Worthington, Minnesota

Worthington, Minnesota

After machines hit the yard, everyone was busy unloading and beginning the process of figuring out what needs to go where. Our first soybean job in Minnesota wasn’t quite ready, so we were blessed to get a few days in readying corn heads and doing maintenance and repairs before getting started.

Worthington, Minnesota

Worthington, Minnesota

Our South Dakota crew had no break before they started cutting. They entered the fields the day after arriving on corn and soybeans. Corn has been yielding around 130 bushels per acre. A few rain delays left soybean fields a little soft, so our trucks stayed on the road to get loaded. Those soybeans in South Dakota have been averaging around 45 to 50 bushels per acre.

The last couple of days around home we’ve been able to start on some early beans. The first couple of fields cut averaged between 50 to 70 bushels per acre, and then today the field we started only did about 35.

Round Lake, Minnesota

Round Lake, Minnesota

Round Lake, Minnesota

Round Lake, Minnesota

It looks like the future will hold green beans very soon. Not many farmers in our area have begun harvesting, and I think things will be closer to full swing in about a week, maybe 10 days. We can maybe start a corn field this weekend. I’m glad we’re starting to make a dent, though, and hope we can really start putting in some hours soon.

Round Lake, Minnesota

Round Lake, Minnesota

While it’s great to be right at home, it has its disadvantages, too. Gary’s shop is only about 4 to 5 miles away from where Paul and I live, but it’s a lot of extra running when, during the summer, we are used to being in campers all together. Add in running Zoey, our daughter, to school and her activities, it makes for a busy schedule on top of aiding the crew in their needs. We make it work though, and it’s still better to be home.

Sometime next week we will need to split a crew off to work on some soybeans in Nebraska. Depending on how many machines head down, it should hopefully wrap in about a week with good weather.

We’ve had a good start between Minnesota and South Dakota and hope it’s a safe and good harvest for all.

Worthington, Minnesota

Christy Paplow can be reached at christy@allaboardharvest.com.

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