Wheat Harvest Run Profile

May 1 – All of the hired help has arrived.  This year, we have two foreign guys to work on the crew.  One is from England and one is from Australia, here on training visas.  Everyone is learning to adjust to the living quarters, as most are used to a room of their own at home.

May 2-5 – Everyone is helping to make sure all the trucks are washed and waxed before beginning to load the combines on the trailers and hook up the trailers to the trucks.  Meals are fun as Karen has to find out their likes and dislikes and try to introduce new ideas to them.  She has been making sure to get food from the grocery store for a starting stock for the season, and getting the freezer full of meat to prepare the first meals with.

May 6 – Carl, Vic, the foreman, and the six hired guys have gone to Hays, Kansas, to attend a Safety Meeting sponsored by U.S. Custom Harvesters, Inc.  This is very informative and has a lot of good instruction on how to avoid accidents and what to do if one should happen.  We try to attend at least one safety meeting each year.  We also have safety videotapes for the crew to watch.

May 7 – Carl has gone to Colorado to check with customers and to look at the progress of the wheat in that area.  The hired help is taking the day off.  It is time to relax and do some shopping to get last-minute things they have forgotten to bring.  Tonight’s supper is turkey, potatoes and gravy, mixed vegetables, and ice cream for dessert.

May 8 – Today Karen baked a fresh rhubarb cake with some rhubarb that Joyce brought to her.  Most of the guys had never tasted this and were not sure they wanted to either.  But after they did, it was liked by all.  Sandy, Vic’s wife, who is Karen’s assistant for cooking and cleaning, has been here to help prepare meals also.  Carl is back home this evening.

May 9-16 – Still doing training for the hired help.  Karen and Sandy are making sure they have everything moved to the house trailers:  cooking equipment, computer and records, clothing and the necessary items.  Carl and the crew are doing up the last minute things around the shop building and house as we will leave on the 17^th to start the harvest season for 2001.

May 17 – We left from Mankato, Kansas this morning.  Carl is in the lead truck pulling our house trailer.  The rest of the crew follows – either in a truck pulling a combine on a trailer or in a pickup pulling the bunk trailer.  Sandy is in a pickup pulling her and Vic’s trailer.  The morning goes by quickly as everyone is nervous at this first time of pulling oversized loads.  We stop for lunch at our usual stopping place and the café is a welcome site to relax and eat and talk over any problems that have surfaced.  We have traveled this same route and stopped in the same town for many years so most of the townspeople stop by to visit and check on the wheat condition in different areas that we go to.  We’re back on the road after lunch and have no problems.  We take a few breaks to check on tires and chains.  We make it to the Texas state line before dark.  We will stop at the next town as we will not make to the town where we’ll start cutting and we cannot pull oversized loads after dark.

May 18 – We leave from Vernon, Texas this morning and make it to Throckmorton, Texas by 9:30 a.m.  Now it is time to park the trailer houses and hook up the electricity, water, sewer, telephone, and cable TV.  Carl directs someone to put up the two-way radio antenna so Karen will have a base station to communicate with him and all the combine operators and truck drivers when needed.  Lunch is in the local café.  Of course, a lot of townspeople know us so they come by to welcome us and inquire about the forecast for this year’s harvest.  It has been very dry in this area so the acres and, of course, the yield will be down in comparison to the last few years.  Carl goes out to look at the fields the customers think will be the first to cut so he can judge them for himself.  The hired help unload the combines from the trailers and line up things so as not to get anything run into by another vehicle.  Vic makes sure everything is being done safely and in order.  Carl comes back to report on what he has found for field conditions.  Looks like we will start to harvest the wheat tomorrow.  Carl checks with the elevator to see if they will take a sample load and what moisture they need it to be.  Karen and Sandy have supper fixed and the house trailers straightened out after the move.

May 19 – Breakfast is pancakes and sausage with coffee, juice or milk.  Everyone is anxious to start the day but clouds are coming and before noon, it is raining.  So far this year, this area has been without enough rain and one wonders why the rain is here now.  But, no one really complains much today.  Lunch is sandwiches and salads with a dessert.  The afternoon is spent looking around the elevator and getting to know how to drive onto the scales and which way to go to dump the load of wheat.  Supper is at the café again.

May 20 – Breakfast is scrambled eggs and bacon, with coffee, juice or milk, or a choice of cereal.  It did not rain very much so the combines are headed to a field of wheat south of town.  Carl is in the lead with the service truck and warning lights, with the combines and trucks following.  Vic takes the first sample to see if it is dry enough to continue to harvest.  One of the trucks takes the sample to the elevator while everyone waits to hear the outcome.  “Mobile #3 to Carl,” we hear over the two-way radio.  “Carl … go ahead Mobile #3.  What is the moisture?”  “The moisture is 14% and the elevator man says to go ahead and cut a whole load to test.”  “Good enough guys, let’s get to cutting!”  As the day goes on, the heat goes up and the moisture in the grain goes down so this is a good first day.  Lunch is brought to the field – sloppy joes, tater tots, salad and cookies are cooked and served by Karen and Sandy.  Supper is brought to the field, too – cube steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, vegetable, bread and butter, and chocolate cake for dessert.  This is not a long day as the moisture comes up in the grain by 9:00 p.m.   Everyone is in the trailer court and starting to take showers and clean up by 10:00 p.m.

May 21 – Fried eggs with sausage links, toast, coffee, juice or milk for breakfast today.  Everyone needs a good start for the day even if they only have juice and toast.  The forecast on the Weather Channel is for it to get hot the next couple of days.  Karen is sure glad her trailer has good air-conditioning.   Hamburger sandwiches for lunch, with chips, pork and beans and the rest of the chocolate cake.  The combines started cutting for the day by 11:00 a.m.  Everyone is starting to get into the routine as to what needs to be done each morning for servicing of the machines and trucks.  The truck drivers are responsible for keeping track of each load hauled – which field it came from, where they hauled it to, and the bushels on that load.  They have a record page to be handed in each night, along with the elevator scale tickets.  Karen then enters all this information on the computer in each farmer’s ledger page.  This keeps track of all the fields and lets the farmer know the yield per acre and where the grain is stored.

May 22 – Pancakes and bacon are on the table when the guys come in for breakfast.  Today is supposed to be a hot one so everyone is making sure to fill their water jugs with extra ice.  They get started cutting early as there is no dew and the wind is blowing from the south.  Today, it is packed lunches as the combines and trucks are in different areas of the county.  Melvin has arrived with his combine and truck so he takes two combines and two trucks to the east of town while Carl has two combines and three trucks to the south of town.  Both are hauling the grain to the same elevator so the truck drivers will need to watch their tickets to be sure the correct farmer’s name is on each ticket.  Supper is BBQ meatballs, baked potatoes, and baked beans with cherry pie for dessert.

May 23 – Sausage and egg breakfast casserole or a choice of cereal is the menu for breakfast.  Yesterday, the temperature reached 100 degrees and it’s forecast to be higher today.  Sandy and Karen get the laundry done fast today as it is not taking long for the clothes to dry on the clothesline.  Every day, there are always four to five loads of laundry to do.  Thanks goodness there is a large washer and dryer in the “bunker” (bunk trailer).  Packed lunches again today.  By suppertime, the machines are running in the same field so supper goes faster than last night.  Karen and Sandy take pork cutlets with easy scalloped potatoes, lettuce salad and a cool lemon cake for dessert to the field.  It reached 110 degrees today!  Hope it’s cooler tomorrow.

May 24 – The combines are running early again this morning.  “Wash the windows, check the oil, kick the tires, and let’s get to cutting,” are Carl’s words for this morning’s routine.  The yields here in this area have not been very good.  Some of the acres will not even be harvested as it is not worth the time or money spent because what the grain can be sold for would not cover the harvesting expense.  The market price of grain is low – volume is the only thing to help the farmer come out on top.  To the average consumer, the bread price is high and they think the farmer is getting rich.  Did you know that there is only about four to five cents worth of wheat used in making a loaf of bread?  The rest of the cost is labor, packaging, transportation and advertising.  Today we serve spaghetti, jello salad, garlic bread, and watermelon for dessert.  Supper is roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn and banana pudding.

May 25 – Today is another hot one.  The combines are running early and Vic calls to Carl by mid-afternoon to let him know he has 50 cutting hours on his combine.  (Combines record hours used rather than miles driven.) The combine operators keep a daily log of servicing done on their machines as some grease ports are 10 hours per greasing, some are 50 hours, and there are 100 hour ports.  This log also has any repair parts noted, plus the hour on the machine when the work was done.  It helps to keep track of everything for future reference, if needed.  Lunch is served in the field with a beef casserole, coleslaw, sliced tomatoes, cookies and watermelon.  Karen keeps a log of the meals served and a plan of meals for the upcoming days posted on the refrigerator.  This helps in the planning of grocery store trips and lets Sandy and Karen work ahead on the day’s meals.

May 26 – French toast, bacon, juice, coffee or milk is served for breakfast this morning.  Carl tells the hired men that today, they will be cutting wheat that will be used for next year’s seed and they will be putting it in storage bins on the customer’s farm.  They will need to be sure to keep track of the loads hauled to each bin and what field they came from.  It is important as there are different varieties that must be kept separate.  They will also need to keep close track of the moisture content of the grain.

May 27 – Cereal and sweet rolls are on the menu for breakfast this morning.  We let the guys sleep a little longer this a.m. as all the trucks were emptied last night and there was a light dew on everything.  Carl is out scouting the next field to cut and visiting with the farmers as to where they want the rest of the grain hauled.  Karen and Sandy look at cookbooks – trying to get ideas of menus to fix.  Hamburger sandwiches, taco salad, chips and brownies are for lunch.  There is always plenty of iced tea and water served, too.

May 28 – Breakfast pizza, toast, juice, coffee or milk are the breakfast choices for today.  Carl tells the hired guys that we are about to finish cutting in this area and we will be leaving to go to Oklahoma in a few days.  We are done here earlier than normal as the crop has had light yields and not as many acres will be harvested.  This has really made an impact on the local economy.  Porkchops, scalloped potatoes, green beans, bread and butter and apple crisp are served for supper.

May 29 – Scrambled eggs, ham, juice, coffee or milk is on the table for breakfast.  Karen and Sandy are always so busy in the mornings with the laundry, cooking lunch and starting the dessert or salad for supper, doing the truck records of loads from the day before that sometimes they get behind in their time for themselves.  But this morning is more laid back as everyone pitched in to help with the chores before they went to the field.  The wheat is not as good as the truck drivers have a little extra time before leaving town to haul their first loads for the day.  It’s barbecue beef, baked potatoes, creamed peas and chocolate cake for supper.

May 30 – Carl is on the phone early this morning to make sure the crop is still okay in Oklahoma.  He talks to the farmer about a place to park our trailers while we are working on his farm.  He has a place for us to park just east of town.  We will be getting done here today.  Carl has told the truck drivers that, by the end of the afternoon, when they see they are on their last load or so, to get the car washing equipment from Karen and go to the car wash to clean up their trucks.  Tomorrow we will be loading the equipment for the move north.  Karen is making sure she has all the elevator tickets in order and checking with the elevator for total bushels on each customer.  She is preparing the settlement sheets for each farmer.  Tomorrow will be spent paying all the charge accounts here in town – fuel, propane, repairs and groceries.

May 31 – Karen makes an early morning call to her father – today is his birthday.  She tells him of their move tomorrow to Oklahoma and checks on things at home.  He is the cowboy keeping watch over the cattle in the pastures at home.  All the equipment is brought back to town so it can be cleaned off and gotten ready to load for the move.  Sandwiches, potato salad, chips and a relish tray are for lunch today.  We will go to the café for supper.  Karen and Sandy will be extra busy this afternoon getting the trailers ready to move.

June 1 – Cereal and sweet rolls, juice, coffee or milk is out for breakfast.  Then the last trucks are hooked up to the trailer houses.  All the electric cords, sewer hook-ups, water hoses, telephone wires and cable TV lines, and clotheslines and poles are put away for safe travel.  It takes everyone working together to make sure nothing is left behind and the trailer court is cleaned where we were parked.  We will be coming back here next year so we want to leave the area in good shape.  We leave town by sunup as it is best to travel in the cooler part of the day and there’s not as much traffic on the roads at this time.  We make it to our next stop on the harvest run by noon.  We park the equipment at the local elevator.  We eat lunch at the café before pulling the trailer houses to the farm to park them.  After that is done, the combines are unloaded and in the field cutting a couple of hours later.  The farmer is checking on the quality and yield soon after the first load is hauled to town to the elevator.  Supper is chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, and corn with a cool four-layer pudding for dessert.

June 2 – Carl and Vic have gone to town in the service truck to get fuel for the combines.  This is an every morning job and sometimes, they go again in the evening if the combines are running a long day.  Fuel prices are affecting our profit margin.  With the low market prices for crops, the farmer is limited as to how much of an increase he can afford in his costs for custom harvesting.  As harvesters, we have to work with the farmer to insure a reasonable profit for both of us.  The yields in this area this year are normal to above normal so the volume of grain will make up the difference so the farmer can afford the increase in harvesting costs to cover the higher fuel costs.

It is hot and dry today!