Hit the Ground Running
Sunny, 95 degrees
Humidity 16%
Dew Point: 26 degrees
Wind: S @ 32 mph (gusts to 50)
Forecast: Sunny W/chance of dust
Just West of WaKeeney, I-70 is down to 50 miles per hour. Quite unusual for a Western Interstate, unless there is a blizzard going on.
No snow.
Dust.
A portent of things to come?
In a few minutes we’re driving South on Highway 283. Someone is cutting wheat. Big field East side of the road. A couple of semis. Grain-cart. Flatbed field truck. Combine.
‘Well someone is cutting.’ Carolyn says.
‘That’s Bruce!’ Bob exclaims.
‘No.’ Carolyn retorts. And immediately calls Bruce.
It is Bruce!
A couple of miles later a smug, grinning from ear-to-ear, Bob makes the turn East on the Farm road.
We get to the Farm at 1:45 pm. At 3:15 pm Bob’s in the grain-cart tractor.
We finish the field then move to the field across from the Farm. It’s not the first day of Wheat Harvest 2024, Bruce and John cut some on Monday. But today is the day the East-Coast-City-Boy gets back in the saddle! Must be the ‘real beginning’ of Wheat Harvest 2024!
Wheat harvest 2024 Ends
Cloudy, 95 degrees
Humidity 42%
Dew Point: 19 degrees
Wind: SE @ 22 mph
Forecast: Cloudy/rain
Thursday. June 27th, 7:45 pm.
The ‘rain gage field’ has a cell-linked small weather station on the field. Bruce can log on and see what is happening. Weather wise. Or look out the cab window.
It’s raining.
Intermittent showers. Certainly not enough to quit cutting.
This is our last field for 2024.
It will get done before the Sun goes down.
More stories about Wheat Harvest 2024 coming.
New Addition to the Farm
Sunny, 99 degrees
Humidity 24%
Dew Point: 14 degrees
Wind: SE @ 11 mph
Forecast: Sunny
Shadow Dog dies in 2023.
Max Dog dies in 2024.
Rascal Dog several years earlier.
It is of course the way of life….
but it does leave a hole.
Certainly, a hole Stache Dog feels. A hole beginning to be filled by Savannah Dog. A few months ago, she becomes the newest K-9 member of Trego Center Dairy Farm.
Savannah is a Corgi.
Corgis have a special place on the Farm.
Both Rascal and Max are Corgis.
Although well-known and well pampered, the British Royal Corgis don’t get to lead the ‘dog’s life’ afforded a Trego Center Dairy Corgi.
Corgis are hereditary Head Dogs at the Farm.
They get to ride in any and every motorized vehicle. From the UTVs (farm size ATVs) to the combine. In any situation where several dogs are along for the ride the current Corgi gets priority seating worthy of Delta Airlines. A priority even Stache recognizes.
Stache is a Britney.
A Farm dog with years of seniority. A dog with mad hunting skills.
Birds, cats, squirrels, chipmunks, cars, trucks.
If it moves it has Stache’s full attention.
But even with a shelf full of accolades Stache recognizes Savannah’s Head Dog status. At least he recognizes her potential. Savannah is, after all, still a pup. But Queen Elizabeth II began wielding power effectively at an early age.
As all the Royal Corgis confirm.
Rascal, Max, Heidi & Shadow, Savannah, Stache
Back in the Saddle Again
Partly cloudy, 99 degrees
Humidity 22%
Dew Point: 19 degrees
Wind: S @ 24 mph
Forecast: Sunny
I’m a city boy.
I was born in Southeastern Kansas. Pittsburg. The sixth generation of our clan to live in the Southeastern Kansas, Southwestern Missouri area.
At six i’m forcibly moved to Indiana. Four years later i’m again uprooted. Dirt shaken off and repotted in the Washington D.C. area.
But every Summer we
Mother, Father, Sister & i
go back to Pittsburg. Every other year or so also go at Christmas.
For six generations we have land in the Pittsburg area.
Some cow pastureland near Emporia, Kansas.
Some farm ground near Iantha, Missouri.
The cow land is managed by a lady who lives right in the middle of four sections. One hers. One ours. Two belong to some guy in Florida.
The farm ground we occasionally rent to local farmers. However, the land is more often fallow.
My Father’s death leads my Mother to selling all the ground. The Green family history as landowners comes to an end. All the farm ground i get to see passes by….on the other side of a window.
Then i marry a farmer’s daughter.
My life changes.
In many ways.
One way is a reawakened love of land. And working land. And big sky. And big animals. And big machinery.
Over the years i’ve gotten to help with many farm chores. Drive many kinds of farm equipment. And discover that this city-boy’s best destiny is being a grain-cart driver.
The Best Part of the Day
Cloudy, 95 degrees
Humidity 15%
Dew Point: 21 degrees
Wind: SSW @ 10 mph
Forecast: Sunny
There’s something about wheat harvest at Trego Center Dairy.
Something about cutting 80-bushel wheat in a big flat field. A quarter section without terraces or channels to cross.
Something about running a grain-cart next to a combine at 5-miles an hour.
Not a wheat berry on the ground.
Something about wheat piled evenly up to the bows in a semi.
Something about a harvest field full of perfect something moments.
There’s a feeling that all is right with the world.
But all these moments are dwarfed by the moment at the edge of the field when dinner arrives.
There’s a Trego Center Dairy tradition of fine food in the field.
A tradition brought to soaring heights by Elfriede.
This year Carolyn, Jan and Pam made Elfriede’s memory proud!
The Same but Different
Cloudy, 95 degrees
Humidity 12%
Dew Point: 17 degrees
Wind: S @ 25 mph
Forecast: Sunny/Windy
Wheat fields are all the same.
But all different!
At first glance it’s wheat. Wheat growing in rows. Long rows.
At second glance it’s wheat looking awesome. Wheat that’s all the same height. Wheat so thick you can’t see the ground.
‘Thick as the hair on a dog’s back.’ Elfriede Mai.
Amber waves of grain. 70-80-90 bushels an acre. Wheat that’s a joy to harvest.
Or it’s wheat that needs help. All different heights. Too short. Too many weeds. Bare patches. Can easily see dry ground between the between the stocks. 20-30 bushels an acre.
This is farming.
As Chief Dan George notes in the movie Little Big Man ‘Well, sometimes the magic works. Sometimes, it doesn’t.’
Farming magic involves many unpredictable things. Like temperature. Not too hot. Not too cold. Rain. Not too much. Not too little.
Hail.
Wind.
Aphids. Armyworms. Stink bugs. Hessian flies. Grasshoppers.
There is some predictable magic effecting a wheat field. Most notably….skill.
Farming skill takes years to develop. Years of ‘reading’ the land. Years to learn when to work the ground, to plant, to fertilize, to choose the right seed.
The better the farmer the better the crop.
A great farmer can’t overcome a drought, but a great farmer will get the best crop possible during a drought.
Sitting in a grain-cart tractor the wheat often looks the same.
Field to field.
But with enough experience a city boy can see that every field tells a story.
A 240-day story.
Repairs in the Field
Partly Cloudy, 98 degrees
Humidity 23%
Dew Point: 22 degrees
Wind: SSW @ 25 mph
Forecast: Sunny
Every year before wheat harvest the combine goes to BTI (Bucklin Tractor & Implement) in Ness City. At BTI the combine is cleaned up. Fixed up. Tuned up. Packaged up. Sent home.
Throughout the year several of the tractors will also go to BTI Ness City for the same service.
Cared for equipment is
happy equipment.
Even with proper preventative maintenance things happen. Things break. After all these are very big toys doing very hard work.
Wednesday morning. 20 minutes into cutting. Bruce comes to the edge of the field to off load a combine bin full of wheat.
The grain-cart is standing still.
The combine is standing still.
The combine auger spout is in the grain cart.
Go figure.
Nothing is broken. Repeated use has just loosened the bolts holding the spout onto the auger tube. An easy fix.
Except….
these are very big toys.
We back the flatbed field truck under the combine auger. Set up the step ladder on the flatbed. Consider the distance from the top of the ladder to the auger.
Reconsider the stepladder.
Consider the wind.
Reconsider the stepladder stability.
Reconsider the wind.
Head to the grain bins where the tractor with the very stable frontend loader is waiting. It’s PTO (power take off) is running the auger that takes wheat from the bottom of the semis and puts it on top of the grain bin.
A little bit of juggling tractor, flatbed, combine and we’re ready to reattach the spout.
Flatbed to
stepladder to
loader bucket to
reattaching spout.
After a few polite, ‘You first.’ ‘No. Please. You go ahead.’ Bruce climbs into the frontend loader bucket and begins reattaching the spout.
All in all a fairly easy fix. No one is hurt. The spout is reattached. We’re back cutting wheat.
Repairs in the Field Again
Sunny, 100 degrees
Humidity 13%
Dew Point: 15 degrees
Wind: S @ 22 mph
Forecast: Sunny
The day is done.
Weather wise, time wise we can probably keep going for another hour. But there’s hydraulic oil on the back deck of the combine. Generally, not a good place for hydraulic oil.
Bruce calls BTI.
Discusses the oil.
The monitor warning codes.
A provisional diagnosis is determined. A technician will be out in the morning.
10 a.m. Duane is working on the combine. Seems a line has been rubbing against the combine frame. Eventually a spot is worn through. Hydraulic oil ends up on the back deck of the combine.
It’s a relatively simple fix.
Replace a hydraulic line.
Top off the fluids.
We’re ready to begin cutting at our normal time.
All is right with the World.
A long time ago in a land far, far away, Trego Center Dairy is a dairy.
Of course, the time is not long ago.
A couple of years.
And the land is not far away.
It’s right here.
But in those mythical dairy times the #1 speed dial on the everyone’s cellphone is the Vet.
#2 BTI John Deere mechanic.
Now the #1 speed dial is the BTI John Deere computer technician.
#2 the BTI John Deere mechanic.
Times change.
Family, of course, are still on speed dial….but a bit further down the list.
Somethings don’t change.
Repairs in the Field Again, Again
Sunny, 98 degrees
Humidity 17%
Dew Point: 20 degrees
Wind: S @ 18 mph
Forecast: Sunny
Despite all preharvest preparation things break. Things break on brand new equipment.
It’s the way of life.
At least it’s the way of farming.
Sending equipment to the dealership during harvest just doesn’t happen. Takes too much time. Can’t have equipment down for days at a time when there’s wheat to cut.
Or corn to pick.
Duane fixing the hydraulic hose in the morning doesn’t cut into our cutting time.
We’ve finished one field and are transferring trucks and semis and big green machines to the new field. We’re in the white field truck.
‘When,’ says John,
‘was the last time we made it through harvest without something needing to be fixed?’
‘Hmmmmm’, Bruce considers, ‘Think it was in 2009.’
There’s always something.
These machines are rode hard and occasionally put away wet.
Repairs in the field seem to focus on the combine.
It runs the whole time.
Trucks and tractors and semis have duplicates. Substituting these will slow things down but we can keep cutting.
There is only one combine.
If it ain’t running….ain’t nothin’ running.
Early evening.
We’re in the new field.
Dinner is done.
A few more hours of cutting to do. But….
The combine is sitting at the edge of the field.
Bruce and Clayton Andrew are standing next to it, discussing an ‘unusual’ sound. The sound, they say, of a bearing about to give up being a bearing. They narrow it down to the right side. Specifically, to the right end of the cleaning-fan.
The cleaning-fan runs the whole width of the combine. It blows air to help separate the grain from chaff.
Time to call Duane.
Early the next morning Duane is in the field with his service truck. A truck that fills a city-boy with major truck envy. There are enough tools to take apart (and put together) anything John Deere puts in the field.
Including a 9670 STS
AKA: ‘The Moose’.
As we wait for a new cleaning-fan bearing, Bruce has gone to the highway to meet the BTI messenger, i nose around Duane’s truck.
A leaf-blower
A leaf-blower?
Out in a field farm equipment collects a lot of straw and chaff and dust and occasionally critters. Being able to blow these off a piece of equipment before working on it makes sense.
‘I’ve got a leaf-blower for the same thing,’ Clayton Michael says. He stops by on the way to check his beef cows. Clayton and Duane share a glance. A grin. A shrug. A sympathetic moment.
Guess my ‘city-boy’ is showing.
It’s All About the Wheat
Sunny, 95 degrees
Humidity 19%
Dew Point: 27 degrees
Wind: S @ 23 mph
Forecast: Sunny
Once upon a time at Trego Center Dairy our guiding principle is: ’it’s all about the cows.’
Now at Trego Center Dairy our guiding principle is: ’it’s all about the crops.’
With a nod to family of course! LOL
This week the past nine months at Trego Center Dairy reach fulfillment.
Right here.
tregocenterdairy 