Concaves & Chickens

It was time to prepare for our next type of harvest here on the farm. Milton worked on cleaning up, waxing, and changing concaves on the combine.  This photo was taken prior to the washing and waxing, he had it put away in the shed before I remembered to get one of his handy work!

The concaves are parts of the combine.  Don't let them fool you, they are heavy, so he called on his trusty farm wife to come help him! He is holding one of them in this photo.

See the metal rod, I'm holding the other end.  Too hard to get a photo while working to include me! I promise I'm there.

Inside view of a Case IH 6088 combine anyone?

The chirps are growing quickly and if we are outside in the early morning we can hear those lovely roosters we have too!  

We have started letting them out midday and they do enjoy it!  The cleaning of the chicken coop was long overdue.  Time got away from us.  They gathered the items needed.  The mule, a couple shovels, and straw.  

The red thing on PV's head is a Frogg Togg. Seriously a great purchase in my eyes.  She loves it on hot days and Milton has one too. Although he doesn't wear his on his head! :) 

Off to get straw! Watch out farm yard animals and people, young driver!

That pretty much sums up our current events.  I'm hoping this week to get some photos of our current crops to show you.  Corn, soybeans, and milo are growing in our fields!

Thanks for stopping by!
Julie

Wheat Harvest 2015 - Kansas Style - 1

This year's blog posts during wheat harvest will include more details than in the past. These will be for you the readers to get a closer gander, some for our landlords that follow us online, and the rest is for us to look back on.  I hope it will begin a conversation about agriculture and provide some education.  If you have questions, please do not hesitate to ask in comments or on our Facebook page.  

If you are interested in when we drilled the wheat last September, check out the post Wheat Sowing 2015!

On June 20, 2015,our wheat harvest officially began.  About a week before, Milton tried to cut a field but it was still too wet.  It was a good test run though since we have a "new to us" Case IH 6088 combine  with monitors and such.  Practice always helps with new things!

We headed south of our church to some ground (YH32) that we rent to begin harvest. The weather in our part of Kansas was very hot and windy.  This type is good to dry the ground out and help the wheat to turn. 

The ground is still wet to some degree and the tires on the combine collect mud, but the wheat is really quite ready to harvest.  The moisture is in the area of upper twelves to thirteens.  This is a good area for it to be.

The fields in our township are buzzing with machines!  Other farmers have made their way to the field as well.  This will probably last for at least 10-12 days for us, unless rain or breakdowns keep us from cutting.  

The days will be long for my husband as he runs both the combine and grain drill.  We plant soybeans and grain sorghum (milo) after the wheat is cut in the fields.  So he will probably rise very early come next week to plant and then hop in the combine late morning. That's where he will be until late night.

I will spend my time fervently praying for safety, strength, and energy for the man that provides for our family.  I will provide meals, weigh trucks, haul snacks to the field, take combine rides, and haul his kiddo to her destinations! 

Please pray for all farm families that are in the midst of wheat harvest and planting.  It's always greatly appreciated.

Day one stats:

3:30 pm Started cutting at YH32
88 Acres approximately harvested
7 truck loads delivered to our bins at home
4298 bushels approximately harvested 
10:30 pm Stopped cutting for day
97 degrees hot & windy weather

Thanks for stopping by!
Julie

It was really dry last September and October! 

The Red Machine that Made my Farmer's Valentines!

My farmer husband is a man of few words, few expressions, and a great deal of patience. If you have been following us for the past two years you probably know this already.  I, on the other hand am slightly different.  I'm a tad bit more outgoing, expressive, and have more patience than I used to. 

Gift giving is something I enjoy and I also enjoy receiving them, I will be honest my hubs, not so much.  He could go without any gifts ever, or so he likes to say that!

Today Valentine's day or some call it a "commercial holiday" came around this year and although I would LOVE flowers or a card from my husband he was more than thrilled with what was sitting in the farm yard come late this morning!  So my gift giving abilities were not needed!

His Valentine's day brought something red, something he's been waiting for since December, and although used ( 5 years) it's like brand new to us! 

Even the littlest farmer got right in to check out "her seat"!


Being a farmer's wife is always a learning process I think.  I went into this marriage having one mindset and as the years have gone by I've learned that was not the one needed to be married to my forever Valentine.  

I think this Valentine's gift will suffice for many many many years to come. I will be writing a farewell post this week on our 1688 Case IH that worked for 14 years quite well for our farm.  Be sure to check back to read it!

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Thanks for stopping by!
Julie

Combines, Cattle, and the Slowness of Winter

Life on the farm becomes a slower pace for us in the winter.  Since we only have feeder calves for livestock we are different from other ranchers/farmers. For example my friend Laurie over at Country Linked they have a different operation for livestock or Jennifer at Heim Dairy as well.   Our main income is from our grain crops we raise, but during the winter we feed the calves to supplement income.  And give my father in law and husband something to do, like that ever really runs out! NOT!

The calves are usually delivered in October or November.  We have a cattle buyer that my father in law has worked with for years.  He goes to the sale and purchases for us and delivers by semi to our farm location.  Usually it's in  two or three different loads at various times.

Once the calves have settled for a day we will work the them.  This entails us giving them shots and branding them.  To be honest I really enjoy helping with this part of the livestock operation.

It brings back memories of my childhood days.  My posts Fall Farm Happenings and Time to Sell show some of the livestock we have had and what occurs. Some people are against working cattle like we do, but my philosphy is this.  If you don't like that type of meat or grain, don't buy it. Agree to disagree.











The end of they year is a time when our farm really looks at what we have done in the past year and gets our things ready for the new year.  Our farm year end is not December 31st, so it's not so much for us to get ready for tax time.  It's more about reviewing what we bought, sold, and what is left.  Also how we want to look at the following year.   Although we review things throughout the year, one can take a deeper look due to the slower pace of life.

This year it was finally time for Milton and I to purchase a combine.  This isn't something you take lightly as a used one can be as pricey as a home.   We have been talking, thinking, researching, and praying on it for about two years.  2014 marked the time for us to make a purchase.

I am excited about this purchase because I was a part of it and learned things.  I was able to witness my husband's knowledge about farm machinery and taking our time gave us the opportunity to discuss it until we both agreed.

I promise better pictures later!

Our new to us combine isn't at the farm yet, but just like the cattle buyer, it comes from someone we trust.  Someone they bought their last combine from.  Building relationships is very important not only in farm life but in life in general.  In this internet, world wide web, social media world it's good to just be able to shake hands, discuss face to face, and know that your gut is feeling good with the choice.

Our winter is spent with my husband waking early to feed the livestock and review our other farm equipment, do farm books, and search for a new combine header.  Before we know it he will be planting, harvesting, and working long days.  So we will relish our slower than normal days now, even if it's bitterly cold out!

Thanks for stopping by!
Julie

Corn Header Maintenance

My husband decided this year the header needed some maintenance completed.  I thought I would show you what he has replaced on it.  Although you want to get your full use out of parts, it's best to keep an eye on the areas of your machinery and replace before they break completely.

This year he is installing new gathering chains and sprockets.   You can see in this photo the old sprocket is on the left and the new one is on the right.  Yea, that one on the left is pretty worn!  The gathering chains

This photos shows both newly installed into the header.

Corn harvest was underway but due to 4.5 inches of rain we are unable to keep going.  We are hoping tomorrow afternoon we can try again.  Our granddaughter was able to come out this past weekend and ride the combine!

Just a little update from the farm!  Hope all is going well for you and yours!  Our daughter started first grade and loves it so far!

Thanks for stopping by!
Julie