Hello, welcome to Kate's Ag.
Today is another day on the Montana farm, and it's just early right now so I'm not in
the combine yet.
My dad's out with Trevor teaching him a little bit more and we've got the third combine here
today although the air conditioning isn't fixed so we'll probably only run it until
it gets too hot and the grain cart is also here so I'll keep you updated on the happenings
of today Go shut the auger off you're running wheat
all over the place Yikes!
What do you mean broke the window out of the trailer Oh Oh Oh
now Trevor's shutting his door of his combine just match my speed
What are you up to right now Dad we're about to go combining all three combines now Cornell
team showed up so we can get Harvest yes the Cornell Bee Club basically so now I'm in the
combine I've just started it off and my dad's going to get in his combine right here and
then Trevor is going to run his which is the furthest one we've got our Grain Cart driver
over here okay ok you can hear me Kate?
yes I have a copy ok we're gonna putt on out there Kate but
we're going to let these run a minute or two to warm up before we start loading them up
okay okay sounds good so my dad's going to go first and then I'll go and then Trevor
will follow although Trevor has the biggest grain tank
Yeah we'll go out and find our short rows you know and just line up
let me go about 100 yards or so and then the next person starts the next so when we go
to dump you can dump me and you guys aren't so maxed out totally full and that he has
time to get to you and dump you too we're just staggering when the combines start kind
of like a Race So that the grain cart can unload one and then the next and the next
seamlessly and we're not all full at the same time so we can keep the operation moving smoothly
I'm still in Turtle speed because my combine takes a little while to warm up it's important
for these big machines that you don't just hop right in them and start harvesting there
is a weird noise going on with my combine not right now but when the header is running
and it's not going through wheat so we're wondering if it's going to have a breakdown
this year I'm really hoping not but it's definitely a likely scenario Dad I think this row right
that I'm right next to is facing my way they need to come down next to me and leave that
one for Trevor oh I see what you're doing sorry now my dad's starting in the wheat swath
give me a little ways Kate so oh so you know the cart guy can get done with me and drive
straight over to you you know what I mean?
okay sounds good so once my dad gets far enough I'll turn my machine on which I'm doing right
now I'm full of fuel and everything seems to be working properly right now I hear a
bunch of almost wheat kernels it sounds like in my header here going "chchchchc" so I'm
wondering if this is the same issue I had last year it's always hard to tell if these
noises are what you're supposed to hear in the combines or not because the combines generally
make quite a lot of noise so I always second guess myself a million times before deciding
if anything's wrong now Trevor started combining as well so we've got our whole crew going
I'm going to stop at the end of my pass here because I feel like I hear an unusual noise
so we're just going to check my the front of my combine to see if it's all good because
I did have an issue last year with the feeder house but it's probably okay now not totally
sure so my dad's just getting out of his combine there now I shut the machine off or the the
header so my dad said I just have to let it go for now I laid my header on the ground
so he could check it out now my dad's going to turn around and start his next pass now
we'll all be taking our passes heading back up it is making that weird noise when there's
not any Wheat going through it so I'm sure something's going on but it's just a matter
of when we find out now we're on our pass headed south and I guess my Uncle Chris swathed
all of the fields back and forth because it's not the most Pleasant thing to swath across
the row
you know going forward cause Darcy's truck is not going to hold all three dumps because
I already got a dump in him go ahead leave me a couple minutes worth of cutting from
the end of the field that how long it takes me to dump you know
You can putt behind me if you want don't get behind me though so you don't get in the dust
so my dad's explaining to Lucas our cart driver that is going to get some practice by dumping
on the go with my dad but if he doesn't feel comfortable he can do stops with us I'll try
to dump on the go with him Ok I'm going to put out my auger if you just
hang out and them come dump me go ahead and start drifting in towards
my row keep going line up you know the front end on that inside tire track right there
in front of you slow down for me wait for me now so I can catch up now once my dad finishes
unloading I'm going to put my auger out okay now zoom around and go get the other guys
faster oh my goodness it's going pretty slow so I don't know if I'll make it by the time
I'm at the end of the row here so Lucas is just lining the grain cart up with my auger
right now we'll probably be at the end of the row before he gets here but we'll see
we can always do a little dump on the go and then stop did you stop there or we can you
can keep going unless you don't feel comfortable maybe if you could even the cart out a little
bit Trevor the third dump is kind of complicated
you might want to you know have him stop for yours because you'll have to move around to
fill the cart okay just yeah you can stop now
I'm not at the window yet that's okay we have to dump uh head in this direction because
when you get in there his next pass he's going to have to wait again and drive around to
dump you have to stop up stop back up they move your combine over to one side so we can
get in without driving on the wheat you'll see me do it eventually but I haven't had
to do it yet then next time if you want to do a stop um unload Lucas you can just let
me know so I don't get I don't understand what's happening Lucas is definitely struggling
a little bit on cart but he's figuring it out so that's what's important now I'm picking
my header up and going to my next pass so now I'm set in my new pass I just ran something
through the combine I didn't know what it was and you're really not supposed to run
anything through the combine but it didn't look that big but I think I maybe should have
stopped not totally sure now the grain cart's going to the truck to dump so the whole process
is first the wheat is swathed by what's called a swather and it's laid down into rows that's
very specific to our process in our area because we have a little bug called saw fly which
buries into the stem of the wheat and it lays eggs so once it does that the wheat falls
over and we can't pick it up with the big combine headers that just cut it immediately
and I don't think the rows over here are facing the right direction of again no somebody's
going to have to road down to this end and then take one of them back up
you're going to have to go away and turn around and come back up again
Darcy's talking to the grain cart driver
yeah you can just be down here and grab one of these going back shut it down or shut it
off and come around again you're just get away from the trailer so that you aren't rubbing
against it looks like the grain cart's having a little bit of problems with the truck because
that's Darcy on the radio and then Trevor just realized that there's no more rows headed
this direction so he's gonna have to rode the combine to the other end and take one
of the rows back up headed South with us so I'm driving about a 15 16 foot pickup header
right now so that would be the next process after swathing is to pick it up in the combines
and then the combines empty their grain tank into the grain cart that you've seen multiple
times in the field and then the grain cart will empty itself into the truck and then
from the truck it gets emptied into the grain bin or delivered to an elevator Trevor's driving
by me right now to take one of these rows back up and my dad's already on his path headed
headed up as well so that means we're just about finished with this field oh Lucas thinks
he broke something on the grain cart I'm just gonna let some air out of my seat right now
Shut the auger off you're running wheat all over the place
yikes hopefully all is all right with the grain cart sometimes these bolts can break
on it and that's a pretty typical thing but anything else make us not have a grain cart
Mark this trailer is out he broke the window out of the trailer in the back
oooh that's not good broke the window out of the trailer in the back oh no
I'll be up there in a minute what do you mean broke the window out of the
trailer oh oh okay yeah is it running out oh no yeah it is I'm going to try and tape
it
Darcy's got to tape the truck because it's running out the wheat grain is running out
and that's never a good thing because first of all it's not good to have wheat kernels
just laying around in the field and then it's also not good economically for the farm either
so this is going to be the last pass in this field well actually this half then we'll start
on the next half of the field because my uncle split them into two sections so now I just
made my turn and I'm starting on my last pass another method of harvesting wheat is to straight
cut it and that means when the wheat is kind of already standing in the field as it grows
you just take your combine and it has little teeth that cut it off lay it onto a belt that
moves it into the center of the combine where it's thrashed so that the chaff comes off
and then the wheat kernel is augered Into The Grain part which is what we're harvesting
that method is a lot more efficient because you don't have to have swathers going through
and pay an extra employee as well as fuel costs and the cost of running another piece
of equipment that breaks down and requires maintenance but then you may lose you know
50 60 70 percent of your crop to Saw Fly if you do decide to wait that long so it really
just depends we typically swath all of our winter wheat which is what we're harvesting
right now hard red winter and we usually will straight cut durum which is basically quite
similar to wheat but it's used for pasta in the end then we also straight cut our barley
which typically it's malt barley used for beer unless it doesn't meet the right specifications
and then our barley will be used for pig feed or something like that and sold at a much
lower price all of our crops are harvested at the same time of year end of July to August
so even though we say spring and winter wheat it's really just a different crop variety
that's all harvested at the same time and the main difference is when you plant spring
wheat is planted in the spring so it can't freeze after winter is kind of over so around
April and harvested right now and then or in a couple of weeks and then winter wheat
is planted in the fall so right after harvest we'll begin thinking about seeding and winter
wheat needs to freeze in order to produce a head and a head holds the grain kernels
that we're looking to harvest so that's a very very crucial step in the process is the
freezing of the winter wheat but on the contrary spring wheat can't freeze and then barley
is also planted in April in the spring alongside spring wheat but then if I was to start on
the next pass we would need the grain cart operating fairly soon so I might just go and
see what's going on so I'll finish up this row
so this is what happened to the truck your big doors open yeah sorry yeah I just saw
it on your last pass it might have come open as well gosh now Trevor's shutting his door
of his Combine
Wearing a Kate's Ag t-shirt so now I rev the combine up so the auger will work in full
swing now I'm headed over to the back to start filling it hopefully I'm still in the center
it doesn't look like the center to me it looks like I'm too far over but we'll see I didn't
load it super full in the front but we can always go back and load it a little bit more
so now I waited until I cleared the truck to put my auger back because some trucks your
auger doesn't clear Trevor is doing a really good job on his first truck dump and this
is the field we're working in right now this is the field we just finished and then those
are the 15 grain bins over there in the distance Trevor just radioed and said his belt stopped
working but I figured it it was because he got off the seat because typically when I
get off the seat the whole header stopped disengages as a safety feature and then I
have to shut the back off the front off and idle it down but I guess he didn't get off
the seat so it's interesting why that happened but it's working again so we're all good we're
going by where my great-grandfather home steaded in 1912 right now that's the white grain elevator
which I've done a video on actually and the field right next to it's in summer fallow
but the field we're working in is right here so very very close
now the grain cart driver is coming to pick me up I'm pretty full as well he just got
done dumping with dad so hopefully we can do this one on the go at least I think we
can all right let's see how this goes I'm only
going 2.4 so it should be a good speed for him to be able to line up and us to and unload
gotta get my radio just in case the faster match my speed
could you say that again didn't hear you
I just said match my speed so a little tiny bit faster a little bit faster tiny bit faster
still see how I'm out running you a little bit you can slow down a little bit for him
Kate I know but I'm going to so I am I did slow down okay that's perfect awesome job
so it took a minute but he lined up perfectly and we're doing a good unload good to go awesome
so that was a pretty okay grain cart dump a little bit off at first but we ended up
figuring it out and that wasn't too bad at all I think he wanted to stop i want you to
go unload that Third combine right now but that was my Uncle Chris letting letting him
know to unload the other combine but it ended up working out I really wanted to do an unload
on the go I didn't want to have to stop again so I just kind of wanted to work through it
with him rather than just stop and say you know we're all good but then Trevor he has
the hardest dump of all of them in the grain cart because three combine unloads will fill
up the cart so basically the other two don't really have to pay attention as to where the
grain's falling out because they're not going to fill it up whereas Trevor will probably
fill up the front and either have to slow down a bit and kind of work um the combine
with the cart or move his auger back a little bit so that the grain puts it in a different
spot in the cart and it doesn't overflow in one area and not the other well thank you
so much for watching be sure to like and subscribe ok byeeee bye