We started cutting grain today. In a normal year, it could take from 2-3 weeks to harvest all our grain sorghum. This year, with the life-sucking drought? 2-3 days maybe. It is so hot and dry, the sky is a smokey grey of wispy smoke as the sun has burned all the blue out of South Texas.
If you haven't been around during grain harvest, let's follow along. Above is the combine cutting grain. Our combine is fairly new, and is fast. It's really fast when the grain is so poor.
Once the hopper in the combine is full, we dump it into the grain buggy via an auger. You can see the red pile of grain at the top of the combine and then see the red stream falling from the auger into the buggy. Payne is learning how to operate the buggy this year. It has to go at the same speed as the combine and in just the right spot for a successful off load.
The grain buggy then dumps its load into the grain truck. We usually use our 18-wheeler, our own grain truck, and hire extra trucks. This year, we are just using our small grain truck. With Martin on the combine and either Payne or Raymond on the buggy, Jon is free to be in charge of getting the grain to the elevator in the truck.
The last stop is the co-op. Here Jon is dumping the grain into the pit.
This is a wonderful photo documentary of grain harvesting.
Posted by: MOM | Tuesday, July 21, 2009 at 01:32 PM