South Sask harvest 2011 (lentil pics added)

[putsie]

Looks like harvest is finally showing up around here. A few guys with peas are starting to take samples and should be rolling increasingly as the week passes. We've been busy around here swathing Canola and desicating lentils in the evenings. The combine and grain cart is out, sitting, ready to go. Probably be trying lentils in the next day or so. Still have 250 acres of canola to come down, 500 acres of lentils to spray and the combine ready to roll tomorrow or Wed. Everything always happens at once.

I think I'll post all my harvest pics in this one thread as they come. I won't have time to post a pile all at once so we'll do a few as harvest goes. Gonna be busy around here the next 6 weeks or more.

Hope you all enjoy.




Swathing Canola....opening round.







All done that field (1/4 section). Done for the evening actually, Was dark by the time I got moved down south to the next field. Decided to get up early rather than swath the opening round in the dark (and tired)



6:00am fuel up





I love the look of a swathed field.





This is looking back to the opposite corner, (where the neighbors white water truck is in the distance) to were I started. This was a full 1/2 section (1milex 1/2 mile)


Got back to the yard, the combing and header had been pulled out.



The next canola was a little too green yet so I resorted to doing a little "trail repair" for the rest of the afternoon. We have a couple dirt trails to our land west of the main farm yard that took a beating fromt the rain and flooding this past spring. Had to make it passable for the truck to haul grain on.





.....Next time, lentil harvest. Maybe some pea harvesting from the neighborhood as well.

[Jordon Ellefson]

Nice. that swathed canola looks like our lawn when we mow it

[steelin81]

That first field looked a little bit lodged, Thats the nice thing about a sp swather and cutting back and forth. What varieties of canola were you cutting.

[putsie]

Yes, that first field was lodged a little, it had an extra storm pass over it with heavy winds. Swathing was a bit more of a challenge on that 1/4 than I anticipated. I think the the variety also had a lot to do with it because we had another 1/4 section of it elsewhere that was quite short and hard to cut though flooding issues in the spring probably didn't help either. Those fields are a Dekalb variety, whatever the newest variety # that is, I can't recall. The rest was a Viterra branded variety that we ordered because everything else was sold out. It was a nice surprise, it looks really good, was a pleasure to swath compared to the Dekalb. Sure was glad we had the 600 acres of that and and the 320 of the other when it came time for swathing. There was also 40 acres of some Pioneer brand stuff left over from last year, which was a pretty impressive crop last year so it provide a good comparison for us. It lodged like the Dekalb too but looks like it's just as heavy so it'll be fun to see if the yields differ.

So far the Viterra is winning in my books for next year. The yields will determine the final decision though.

Swathing back and forth on the angle sure beats the hassle of going round and round with a pull type,

[ManitobanFarmerKid]

Thats some nice looking canola... and swather. Our canola isn't quite as ripe as that, and a good amount of it is starting to lodge. Have you guys ever used Liberty Link canola?

[putsie]

Haven't tried the Liberty canola yet. Is that what you guys grow? Know guys who've tried it. There's been a couple guys trying the Exceed hybrid stuff around here to with decent results.

[ManitobanFarmerKid]

We do mostly Liberty, some times we do some Round-Up ready for weed control on a certain field. The Liberty is very good for wetter years and is one of the higher yielding varieties, but it lodges easier then some of the other varieties.
The only other varieties in my area are some new Dekalb varieties supposedly designed for our region, but they aren't looking too good.

[putsie]

The pulse crop harvest is well under way around here. Most guys getting at their lentils right now. Lentil quality looks good but the volume/yields are down considerably from past years. A lot of flooding and the chemicals didn't work as good this year causing some awfully messy fields, but everybody's in the same boat. Fields look better once the combine's have rolled over them lol...












Driving to the field one morning, I got some shots of the some of the neighbors out fits.







Hope you enjoy...