20 Oct Kimberly: Staying busy

We have been staying busy during bean harvest here in North Dakota. We have five machines in Westhope, two in Bowdon, one in the Elgin and Lemmon, South Dakota, area and two in Kensal, South Dakota. Thankfully, this weather has finally turned around and allowing us to get things done.

While everyone is out on the road working, Karlie and myself gave the loft at our shop some TLC. We had time while the employees were away to get all the bedrooms painted. It’s amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do to a place. We managed to get that all done and make sure the living area and bathroom were clean and ready for the employees once they get home.

Mychal has been around home for the past week with two machines and covering a lot of ground. He has cut our beans as well as that of four other farmers and has now made the move 25 miles north to Fessenden, North Dakota, to cut more beans in that area. The beans in that area have been averaging anywhere from 40 to 50 bushels an acre, which is very good for this area, and averaging 13% moisture.

Roger has finished his job in New England and sent two machines to Kensal with three employees to run that crew. They are running with the farmer so they will have four machines total going in that area.

Roger and his crew left New England and headed a little farther south to Lemmon, South Dakota to work on beans and corn. They have been cutting there for a few days and could possibly start corn this week. Beans around that area have been averaging 45 bushels per acre and are being hauled to an elevator.

We have an employee that was with us last year back for our fall harvest this year. Since we run with the farmer in Kensal, we usually send three employees there to do that job and since he was there last year, we sent him and two other employees to do it this year. It helps when we have employees that are willing to step up and help when we need to have our machines split up. The beans are averaging 33 to 46 bushels per acre with a moisture anywhere from 9.9 to 11.6%. The lines are starting to get long at the elevator and the trucks have been taking an hour to get back to the field at times. Thankfully, they have not had to stop the combine as they have been able to get the cart full and that would wait for the next truck to show up.

Logan and Cole are still on beans in Westhope, which are averaging 30 bushels per acre, but the end is in sight. They are hoping to finish up the beans by the end of the week and move on to corn.

It took a few weeks to get moving on the beans but now that we have, we are covering a lot of ground and bean harvest is going by fast. The past few days we have had the perfect fall weather and I am not ready for that to change, I like the 60s and sun that we are having.

Kimberly Neumiller can be reached at kimberly@allaboardharvest.com.

Thank you to our 2023 All Aboard Fall Harvest sponsors: High Plains Journal, Unverferth Manufacturing Co., Inc., Pivot Bio, T-L Irrigation, ITC Holdings, Corp., Trail King, and U.S. Custom Harvesters, Inc.