Life on the farm

[ponytug]

Gosh I remember those Gleaner's as well. They always struck me as Rube Goldberg mixtures of sheet metal, gears, and cranks.

I had a similar decision about the value of education after a particularly grueling day haying that had me hacking up alfalfa dust for a couple of days...

All the best,

Peter

 

[grsthegreat]

It doesn't take too many days of hand loading 3 wire alfalfa hay bales on a trailer to see that heading off to college isnt a bad idea.

 

[lman]

I remember my father using a Gleaner E that was similar to the combine above. There was no cab on it and when he combined soybeans all day, he entire body would be black from the soybean dust. There were times when he would pick corn all day in January with no cab. Surprisingly he did not get frostbite or COPD from breathing all the dust. He made it to 93.

 

[LouNY]

Heck compared to the Gleaner that I grew up on that was a fancy new one.
Ours was a pull type that had the engine removed and a pto kit installed.
A 5ft head on it and lucky me sitting right in the middle of that filthy dirty dusty
damned thing filling and tying bags. Such a lovely job hang a bunch of sacks over the back of the seat (50 per bundle)
put two bags on the fill tubes a whole bunch of short pieces of baler twine tyed next too you to tie the sacks shut when full.
Start out with two empty sacks flip the diverter to start filling the first sack, when it got filled flip the diverter to the other sack
unhook the first and tie it shut, then lay it on the discharge chute, mount another bag on the chute, as soon as the other bag was full switch and repeat, continue for the rest of the day, just 4 to 6 hours is all. Mainly because you couldn't start combining till the dew was dry.

Of course that gave you plenty of time to get cows milked, calfs fed, cows out to pasture and the barn cleaned. Then 4-6 hours of the various field work have corn or small grains or tillage, then bring the cows in milk them clean up feed calfs go home eat supper wash and go to bed, repeat the next day.

 

[ponytug]

Yup. And being thankful that you got a good crop in that year.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

OMG! I do have some soul mates here...so you know what I'm saying, when I tell you that several mornings I woke up and had to find a wash basin, because I could barely open my eyes. They say what doesn't kill you makes you tougher; we must be a pretty tough crew!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

It doesn't take too many days of hand loading 3 wire alfalfa hay bales on a trailer to see that heading off to college isnt a bad idea.

I always said I went to college because I grew up on a farm.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Heck compared to the Gleaner that I grew up on that was a fancy new one.
Ours was a pull type that had the engine removed and a pto kit installed.
A 5ft head on it and lucky me sitting right in the middle of that filthy dirty dusty
damned thing filling and tying bags. Such a lovely job hang a bunch of sacks over the back of the seat (50 per bundle)
put two bags on the fill tubes a whole bunch of short pieces of baler twine tyed next too you to tie the sacks shut when full.
Start out with two empty sacks flip the diverter to start filling the first sack, when it got filled flip the diverter to the other sack
unhook the first and tie it shut, then lay it on the discharge chute, mount another bag on the chute, as soon as the other bag was full switch and repeat, continue for the rest of the day, just 4 to 6 hours is all. Mainly because you couldn't start combining till the dew was dry.

Of course that gave you plenty of time to get cows milked, calfs fed, cows out to pasture and the barn cleaned. Then 4-6 hours of the various field work have corn or small grains or tillage, then bring the cows in milk them clean up feed calfs go home eat supper wash and go to bed, repeat the next day.

You forgot to mention that you also had to service the tractor and combines somewhere along the line. Yeah, we had to quit when it cooled off and the wheat started getting damp and tough; or else you found your combine all clogged up and you spent an hour pulling straw. We did our servicing mostly in the mornings after the sun burned of the morning dew. Gas, grease and water for the radiators.

I remember one farm where we cut wheat, were host to an exchange student from Sweden. He showed us a film of them harvesting wheat in Sweden. The wheat looked to be at least 6 feet tall; it took the whole family to run the combine. They cut the wheat low; the combine separated the grain, it went into sacks, and the straw was bailed and dropped out the back like a bailer does. Huge machine, pulled by a tractor.

I recall the wheat here being very tall in those days; in fact my little brother got lost one harvest in the tall wheat. The wheat today is much shorter, I assume so that they don't have to deal with all that straw. I know it used to tick me off because when I was plowing, even the rolling cutters wouldn't always take care of it; it kept fouling up the plow, making it ride up. Stop and pull straw.

 

[ponytug]

Yes, a lot of grass/grain genetics since WWII has been directed towards reducing plant height in favor of grain production, with spectacular results in corn, wheat and rice. In former times, the extra straw was a useful item as animal fodder and bedding, but with the changes in animal husbandry after WWII, that changed, and shorter varieties won out. The stalks have also been bred to be stiffer to be more resistant to being flattened by wind.

Cultivators have improved dramatically as well, to better chop and till in residue, trying to preserve organic matter in tilled fields. Night and day from when I was a kid when five foot tall corn stalks post harvest were the norm, and as were drifts of corn leaves in the road ditches.

All the best,

Peter

 

[ultrarunner]

You forgot to mention that you also had to service the tractor and combines somewhere along the line. Yeah, we had to quit when it cooled off and the wheat started getting damp and tough; or else you found your combine all clogged up and you spent an hour pulling straw. We did our servicing mostly in the mornings after the sun burned of the morning dew. Gas, grease and water for the radiators.

I remember one farm where we cut wheat, were host to an exchange student from Sweden. He showed us a film of them harvesting wheat in Sweden. The wheat looked to be at least 6 feet tall; it took the whole family to run the combine. They cut the wheat low; the combine separated the grain, it went into sacks, and the straw was bailed and dropped out the back like a bailer does. Huge machine, pulled by a tractor.

I recall the wheat here being very tall in those days; in fact my little brother got lost one harvest in the tall wheat. The wheat today is much shorter, I assume so that they don't have to deal with all that straw. I know it used to tick me off because when I was plowing, even the rolling cutters wouldn't always take care of it; it kept fouling up the plow, making it ride up. Stop and pull straw.

The straw that broke the combine or is it camel?