It’s harvest season. We finished harvesting soybeans last night and started on the corn today. I thought it might be fun to share the humble beginnings of the foods we enjoy that contain soybeans in one form or another like salad dressing, bread, chips, and cookies. Also all the meats that are raised on soybean protein and dairy products produced with soybean feed products. From the combine seat. Grain cart moves the soybeans from the field to the trucks at the edge of the field. The destination is the grain elevator about 45 miles from the field. Trucks are identified by RFID in the tag hanging in the window. The tag is read at the probe that takes a sample of the load to test for moisture content, foreign material (weed seed, pods, dirt, etc.), test weight (ratio of pounds/bushel), and damage (the primary form of damage is “splits” in soybeans when the round bean is spit into two pieces by the combine). After the sample is taken the tag is read again on the inbound scale and the gross weight is recorded. The results of the sample are displayed on the scrolling sign along with the gross (loaded) weight and instructions on which “pit” to proceed to for unloading. The two main “pits” for unloading soybeans and corn that is over 16% moisture. It takes about 2 minutes to dump 1050 bushels (63,000 pounds) of soybeans in pit #2. It takes about 30 seconds to unload into pit #1. When unloaded you proceed to the outbound scale where the RFID tag is read, the tare (empty) weight is recorded, and a ticket/receipt is printed at your window. A scale ticket from yesterday. From this elevator the soybeans are loaded on rail cars for transport to processing facilities or to export facilities. Corn delivered to this elevator mostly goes to the ethanol plant owned by the elevator.
A few pictures from last night before we were stopped by the snow. Grain cart following combine. And a rare selfie. Unloading from the combine into the grain cart “on the go”. The objective is for the combine to never stop to maintain maximum productivity. Loading the last truck. You can see the snow beginning.
That is awesome, 557! Thanks for sharing. Occasionally I go pheasant hunting in South Dakota. The land we hunt is a working farm, and we actually get to "help" with some of the harvesting during our time there. I have ridden in the combine while harvesting corn and got to drive one of the grain trucks. I appreciate what you do, people like you are what make America great. Thank you!
Are there still a lot of pheasant in SD? We used to have quite a few years ago when several locals raised chicks and turned them out every fall. In those days we had very few wild turkeys as well. Now nobody raises pheasant and we have LOTS of turkeys. Pheasant are now pretty hard to find. We actually have more quail than pheasant now. We lease all our ground to one guy for hunting now. Mainly because he’s very good about keeping other nuts away that shoot cows etc. He likes to be out hunting more than he likes shooting deer. Most years he doesn’t even take anything. He did shoot some turkeys last spring. You can come drive a truck here any time. I usually have one sitting idle due to lack of willing labor. Thanks for your kind words. My “job” is a ball—I can’t imagine doing anything else.
The area in South Dakota is 80 miles west of Sioux Falls, and it is covered up with pheasant. The farmer has a nice side gig going with the hunting, supplements his income nicely. He has around 5,000 acres, and leases another 1,000 or so. He operates the farm with the pheasant in mind, leaving some areas in native grasses and woodlands, and alternating various crops, mostly corn and milo. When I was riding in the combine with him doing the corn, that field was completely full of pheasants. As we were moving along, you could see the pheasant out in front of the combine hauling butt. It was pretty comical. They would run about 30 feet, then stop and turn around to see if we were still coming, then they would run some more, stop, look back, then run again. Then they would get to the edge of the field, and whoosh!, off they would fly. Was really beautiful being out there. I envy that you get to spend your time in the wide open spaces. So the time I drove the truck went like this... me and my buddy had gone with the farmer and his son to one of the leased fields. They were harvesting the corn, and we just went to watch and hang out. Now, there were 4 vehicles out there, the combine, a grain truck, a big giant tractor that was already in the field, and a pick-up truck. The son got called away, so he took the pick-up and left. When the field was done, the son had not returned. The farmer was pretty miffed that the son hadn't returned. He looked at me and said "Can you drive that truck?" I said "I think I can do it." He said "I don't need you to think you can do it, I need you to do it!" I said "Yes Sir, I can do it." So the farmer drove the combine, my friend drove the tractor, and I drove the grain truck back to the farmer's home. The good thing was, the truck was an automatic transmission, so it wasn't that hard. So, if your truck is an automatic, I can drive that thing for sure!
Wow. Almost like dove hunting in South America. Birds everywhere. Do you know if he raises chicks and turns them out or is the population naturally sustained? I had the neighbor across the highway from me stock birds for some buddies of his to hunt. One year they turned out a bunch of chukars. I had never seen one—didn’t know what they were. A couple showed up in my yard and moved in with the laying hens. I thought I was being invaded by an invasive species! A couple years after that we started renting his pasture land and his corn fields for winter grazing after corn harvest. He would plant habitat like milo and cane on the edges of the fields that he didn’t want the cows to eat so I had to fence the patches out with electric fence. I understood why he wanted it but it was a royal pain. I wish he had planted his habitat in places easier to manage. But I guess he wasn’t doing the work. LOL. He was a good guy all around just a little eccentric. Trial by fire! Do or die! I like it. Mine are manual. One 10 speed transmission the other a 13. Here is an almost exact match to the first grain truck I drove—for my uncle in the early 1990’s! 1954 Chevy. Wish I had bought it off his farm sale after he died. I did buy his small square baler. Use it for a few hundred bales a year. Always good memories…
So Glad I caught this thread. When my husband and I are on our driving trips and pass the fields I'm constantly asking question regarding farming...he grew up in rural Kansas and worked on farms as a kid...
I’m happy to answer any questions you have for me. I believe if consumers and producers had more direct intersections without the interference of retailers and processors, we could move towards more sustainable food supplies from an environmental and nutritional/health standpoint.
The pheasant are naturally sustained as far as I know. The farmer maintains plentiful cover and natural areas for the pheasant, plus they have plentiful food. Too bad you didn't buy that old truck. As we get older, we start reminiscing about the old days, and to have items from our past becomes valuable. I'm definitely getting that way... plenty of things from my youth that went by the wayside - I wish I had those things now. Thanks again for sharing the photos. And anytime you want to add more, I am definitely interested in seeing them. Oh... as for me driving the manual transmission trucks, I can do it if you will teach me!
That’s great. Even though pheasant aren’t native they are so traditional now I’d hate to see them disappear everywhere. They are beautiful animals and great for keeping Americans (and the next generation of Americans) engaged in shooting sports. On the other hand, the truck wouldn’t have been very practical. I have my uncle’s cream separator he gave me before he died and his Winchester model 25. Both are more practical than an antique truck. The trucks aren’t too difficult. The easiest way to learn to shift manual semi transmissions is to learn to RPM shift (shift without using the clutch) a motorcycle or manual car or pickup. Once rpm shifting is natural trucks are pretty easy to drive—if you can back up a trailer! You could drive mine tomorrow while I wean calves! Took a few pictures today. Combine and grain cart. A couple of my neighbor’s bins we filled today. Unloading into the “pit” at the elevator. This set up was built by a Japanese company back in the 1980’s. It has since been bought out by a local ethanol cooperative that also merchandises some corn and soybeans as well as produces ethanol. The grate over the pit was the scale. So you weighed loaded, dumped, and weighed out empty without moving. The pit holds about 5000 bushels and the elevator that empties it is big enough you can dump a truck every 45 seconds to 1 minute and never fill the pit. The scale isn’t used anymore as there are new inbound and outbound scales (pictured above in the OP) but it’s still the most efficient pit in this part of the state. I think that’s pretty amazing considering it was conceived by the Japanese over 30 years ago. The new pit (few years old) right next to this one is less than half as efficient overall.
Weaned a few calves today. Took a few pictures rounding up and sorting. And petting one of the “tame” cows. Her name is “twister” because she was bottle raised and after she ate her bottle of milk she would commence cavorting around like a PRCA bucking bull. She has stayed tame and friendly even out running with the cow herd for about 13 years. Rounding up. Some of the calves after sorting. The calves were hauled home to wean in the feedlot pens and the cows were turned back out in the pasture. Hopefully they don’t tear out the fences looking for their calves. They really miss their 650lb “babies” for a few days. Sorting cows from calves. Twister.
Weaned another bunch of calves yesterday. The “babies” eating their first breakfast this morning without milk.
So is 16 % the point at which you have to dry soya beans? That's quite high compared to wheat. I'm quite good at reversing trailers. My first mobile kitchen was a converted 1954 caravan which was 22' long. I could reverse that into pretty tight spaces in the end. I've never driven a steerable trailer though. That looks very tricky. Our cows are back in the cowshed for winter now. One died this year from a probable heart attack at 9 years old. Luckily its calf was 6 months old so was weaned.
I had to look up chukars. Our partridges are a lot plainer in appearance. Farmer Paul has a few feeders for pheasants but he doesn't shoot them himself. Some local hunters come and have a shoot two or three times a year. I discovered a pheasant's nest with half a dozen eggs in it when I was tidying up with a weed whacker. Very nice hard boiled with mayonnaise. The moorhens off one of the ponds have discovered the feeders so we have a healthy population of them too. I've been told that moorhen's eggs are the best eggs you can eat but I've not had a chance to find out yet.
Soybeans need to be 13% or preferably a little under to store well. The elevator starts docking price on anything delivered over 13%. Sometimes we harvest a few beans in the 15% range but usually by the time we get rolling good the moisture drops to the 8-10% range. Once soybeans are mature they dry down in the field very quickly compared to corn. In the US corn typically needs to be 15% or under to avoid drying charges and shrink. Some ethanol plants will take 17% corn without drying charge because they prefer wetter corn to grind anyway, but they still “shrink” bushels back to 15.5%. I’ve never tried a steerable trailer. Backing trailers just takes practice. And in my opinion 90% of backing is actually positioning yourself correctly before beginning to back up. Spoiled critters! Ours all just got hauled out to corn stalk fields.
Well I had to look up moorhens. LOL. I think the only eggs I’ve had that weren’t chicken were guinea eggs. I couldn’t tell any difference except the shell was thicker. I’ve never had a duck egg even. I knew a guy who practically lived on goose eggs. He has a stroke and died at about 60. Not sure if there was any linkage…
Wonderful pics, friend .. and great information! It's always a small shock to hear things like "before the snow" when it comes to harvests etc. Being in a place with a 12 month growing season, I'm reminded how easy I have it.
Here are a few more pictures. Bagging corn one night. Bags hold around 15,000 bushels. Driving by the wet distillers (ethanol byproduct) pad when delivering corn to the plant. It’s sold for cattle feed. Picking corn. Benefits of working till after dark. You don’t miss any sunsets!
I always learn something from you. Thanks. The only goose eggs we’ve had the last several years got made into new geese.
Thanks. I would like a 12 month growing season…I think. Depends on what I’d have to give up to get it. Do you have plenty of water for growing things?
Yes, pretty good water. For me personally, the primary (or rather, biggest) sacrifice is the lack of proper winters. I appreciate being able to grow outdoors without glasshouses in winter, but I really would prefer at least a few weeks of serious cold.
Yes, pretty good water. For me personally, the primary (or rather, biggest) sacrifice is the lack of proper winters. I appreciate being able to grow outdoors without glasshouses in winter, but I really would prefer at least a few weeks of serious cold.
What a fascinating thread. I love learning about this stuff! Thank you! Growing up in Illinois - travelling around the midwest ....corn, oh corn, oh corn... ahh soy! more corn... rinse / repeat. Ahhhh, childhood road trips. I theoretically have a year round growing season, but what I can grow in the summer is, blech! Southeast Florida here. My tomatoes are really starting to take off, but I'm late getting my green peppers in. Also need to get on the rest - cucumbers, kohlrabi, radishes, carrots, etc. Some of my herbs do well year round. My rosemary is out of control.
