We were beginning to wonder if harvest was ever going to start. Everyone was tired of all the little projects and getting a bit restless. Finally, the day came this week.
We checked fields a couple times last week and nearly every day this week. On Wednesday we moved to a field to begin cutting soybeans. As usual, it was a battle just getting that far. You would think after prepping this long everything would be ready but there is always something. The combine had not been fueled up. We found a slow leak on a head cart tire. And the grain cart tractor battery was dead (sitting at the fuel pump).
When we got to the field I decided to try cutting some beans. We hadn’t planned to start until Thursday but I just wanted to make sure everything worked. Turned out a couple sickle bar bolts were hitting so we fixed that. The CB radio in the grain cart tractor didn’t work nor did the new one I installed. I also made a few needed adjustments to the combine. I ultimately harvested a couple loads. But everyone knows Wednesday didn’t count as the “first day.” It was only a trial run.
On the first day we officially started harvest – Thursday – I made some more adjustments. By then it was after 11 and the beans were just about fit to run, so I got started. Things went well and I don’t think I got out of the seat for more than 4 hours! Yields were solid.
In the next hour or two I caught a couple rocks that I had to pull out of the head. Around 6:30 p.m., I turned at the end of the field and headed the other way. I could instantly smell smoke. I hoped a neighbor was burning something but no such luck. I couldn’t see any smoke in the sky. I dumped the combine and cut it down to determine whether there was a fire.
We found a hot spot smoldering up behind the engine compartment. In the process of putting it out, embers spread, causing more smoldering hotspots around the machine. We spent the next five hours blowing off the machine, spraying water on hotspots and checking for fires. It was a long first day. We got home just before midnight!