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Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Buckwheat Harvest

I thought I would post another video. This one from the cab of the Allis Chalmers CII combine. Sorry it is a little dark. It lightens up later when I get into the sun more. This gives an idea of what it is like to run the combine up and down the swaths of buckwheat during the harvest procedure. It is a rather slow process. This video was taken on October 7.

When I swathed the buckwheat in late August, it was 5' tall in places and fully green with tons of vegetation. I used a small 14' MF swather and even then the swaths behind the swather were huge. It took over a month for the buckwheat to dry down enough to be able to send it through the combine. The seeds themselves were dry enough, but the stalks of the plant were green and wet which made plugging the combine a real concern. As it was, I still ended up plugging the combine several times per day. Next year, I will wait a while longer before I swath and I will cut the plants a little higher leaving taller stubble.

4 comments:

  1. Brings back memories! My dad used a 1965 Gleaner E for 6 years or so then upgraded to a 1968 Gleaner CII. Then sold out in 1989. Wrong time in history to attempt farming (wasn't attempting a specialty niche market like organic). The Gleaner E is currently under restoration and already close to full operating condition! I loved watching the complexity of those pulleys and gears moving as a kid.

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  2. Yes, those combines were so big when I was little! Now the old Gleaners seem pretty small! Would love to see some pictures of the E when it is done.

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  3. I created a wikipedia article with some photos of my dad's machine, taken in 1980 and this year. See:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleaner_E

    To our amazement, the guy I donated it to for restoration managed to get it running and driving last summer after it was parked in the bush since 1986 (23 years!). It has also been sitting in 2 feet of water for the last few years. It needs some work, but not as much as we originally thought.

    I've since found out my dad's CII was a 1967, not 1968. So not likely the same machine. Makes me wonder where it ended up.

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  4. No, the C2 IS a 1967. Still could be the same machine! Who knows? They are tough little combines and I like mine very much. Twin fans and a good, simple threshing mechanism with adjustable rotor speed from the cab...in a 1967 combine? Ahead of its time.

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