August 17th 2010 Wheat harvest was finally underway. Several attempts were made earlier in the month but moisture was always too high and the straw too green. That hadn't changed, however with 3 inches of heavy rain in the not too distant future moisture and quality would take a nose dive so the decision was made to ram the grain through. Moisture was around 18% when we started, by mid afternoon it crept down to 14%. The straw was soaking wet and no attempt to bail it was made. It was so hard threshing the concaves had to be closed to 0.8 to get the heads to thresh properly. This didn't do the straw much good! Yields are not bad, but considering how the crop looked through the year a bit disappointing. High fusarium levels in the grain resulted in a lot of tombstone kernels and small kernels with secondary infection being blown out the rear end. In order to dry the wheat, we segregated it based on moisture, 16-19% wheat went in a drier bin, and the 14-15% wheat was put in the overhead hopper tank. Plan was to dry the dryer wheat in the corn dryer, then transfer the wet wheat and run it through the corn dryer later as it would require drastically different settings. With the late harvest, help was non existent. Only two of us were around. I ran the combine while another shuttled grain back and forth using 2 dump wagons. We had the grain cart set up at the far end of the very long fields so the combine could empty at both ends. It wasn't the most efficient way of doing it but with no help it worked very well and the combine only had to wait once. Spring wheat harvest video. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ August 20th 2010 The weather forecast was correct, 3 inches of heavy rain fell about 6 hours after we finished cutting for the year. We fired up the corn dryer and ran the wheat through quite quickly. Set up to transfer the wheat and dry the high moisture grain as well. Each time you handle wheat with fusarium you can reduce it by about 1%. Out of the field the level was 8-9%, out of the cleaner in the storage bin it was down to 2%. We'll move and reclean the wheat a few more times and it should make milling grade. However it is a very time consuming process. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ August 27th 2010 Finally a stretch of dry weather in what has turned into one of the wettest August's on record for our area. The straw was still in decent shape, spite laying in the windrow under heavy rain for 10 days. Raking wasn't an option but I rented a NH windrow inverter as I'd hear they don't lose as much straw than a rake. It worked exceptionally well! No loss in yield, shook the windrows apart and lay it nice and fluffy on top of the stubble. I highly recommend using one if you end up with a matted wet windrow. Less than one day and it will be ready to bale. I must also be a glutton for punishment as well as I decided to cut all the second cut hay as well. I think I just like that new discbine too much. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ August 29th 2010 Baling day. Hired a contractor to come in and bale the 75ac with a big square baler. This was our first experience with one and I can safely say I'll never round bale straw again. The no help trend continued this week and I was able to pick all the bales 2 at a time. Round bales would have been an eternity. Fluffing the windrows worked very well and the moisture tester on the baler said 7-11% moisture. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ August 30th 2010 Wrapped up picking bales and stacking them in the hayloft of an old barn. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------