IL wheat harvest pics.

After we got done with the spraying this morning we finished up wheat for the year. We harvested about 60 acres with a IH 403 and JD 45. We spread it out over 4 days. These pics were this afternoon finishing up the last 10-12 acres out of 40 we did for a neighbor. With two combine operators a truck driver and a guy on the grain cart we can harvest about 4 acres per hour, if everything holds together! It was hot and dirty but the wheat was good and we got done before it rained. We will cut about 20 acres of oats in a week or so. Maybe I will remember to take my camera and get some pics from the seat.
bill



Here they come. 60 acres and no serious down time. The biggest breakdown was I had the rivets come loose in the sickle head wednesday evening.



There I am pushing my ole 45 trying to keep out of the way of the "giant" IH combine! My grandad bought one just like this brand new in 1963 from the Fairview Farmers Elevator.



45 round back, 730 gas, 68 auger wagon and a 1953 studebaker, what a set-up!



The second truck, 1949 F4 ford.
We are a full service custom harvest outfit. Those two trucks hauled every bushel off of 40 acres to a bin a couple miles away. Truck driver said it was kinda hot running the trucks in the heat the last couple of days.

That is really neat to see all that vintage equipment still being used. Thanks for the post


Gene

Bill do you need to dry the grain once harvested? It looks very moist there.

Mitch

Bill,

Thanks for the pictures. That's really neat.

Tom in TN

Nice!! Thanks for posting the picures. You guys know how to have fun.

Bill,

With my fuzzy old memory, I have to say that the Ford is a 1951 model. The '48 through '50 models had the grill with several horizontal bars and what we called the "bug-eye" headlights.

Stan

I bet you guys had a lot of fun. At the dealer I work for we just delivered a combine with a 42 foot header. The machine is all business

That's really, really neat. Stepping back in time like that. :>)

Gotta ask ya tho, what purpose does the grain cart actually serve? Other than moving the grain an extra time?

Why don't the combines just auger into the trucks?

Allan

That little 45 has a pretty small hopper. Cant get across the field and back so the grain cart chases and keeps the hopper empty. Sometimes we get in a big hurry and unload on the go.
bill

I will have to ask the owner but I think you are right. I have a 49 KB-5 and I bet that is what I was thinking about.
bill

Nope, the wheat was running 11-12% moisture yesterday. Usually have to wait till afternoon when the dew burns off. It was an overcast day yesterday and rained before dark. Still raining this morning.
bill

Thanks for the neat pics. About a week ago I was south of Ogallala Ne. when a trucker told me there were a couple of old cabless Deeres running about five miles south of where we were located so I hopped in the pickup and beat it down there but by then they were on the other end of the field so I couldn't get a good look. They looked like round backs but that's about all I could see of them.

Running a modern one with a 40 foot head is neat but I still get a big thrill out of watching the old ones run. They don't have a computer that makes you pull your hair out! Jim

About all the big farmers around here use them.Can dump on the go.No stopping.That combines not shelling an acre of corn when it's unloading.Improves efficiency I would guess 25-33%.I like it,can fill 1000 bu. in my semi in 4 minutes.Mark

Bill,

what part of Illinois are you in? We went up from Paducah to Champaign a few weeks ago and I was surprised to see so much wheat...there as well as in Kentucky and Tennessee along I-24.

Everyone over in Central Indiana used to raise wheat 50-some years ago, but I had never seen much in Illinois and Iowa when I lived there in the late '50s, '60s and '70s.

Stan