My Two Days on the Farm
I spent Friday afternoon and all day Saturday cutting wheat for my cousins down in Walla Walla. I started out on Friday driving their older Case IH 2388 and then they kindly allowed me to drive a new Case IH 8230 with about 100 hours on it that they were renting. This is a nice machine to cut wheat with.
On the 2388, the top speed in 100+ bushel wheat was about 2.5 miles per hour with a 30′ header. With the new machine, you could get close to 4 miles an hour with a 40′ Draper header. The biggest issue with the header was its weight. It created a delay in dropping and lowering the header that was much more noticeable than the 2388.
I am attaching a few photos from the two days and I think I probably harvested about 100-120 acres in total. It is very hard with photos to let you know who steep this ground is to harvest. Each of these combines are equipped with Hillco side hill levels to keep the cutting platform level on up to 25 degree slopes. The photo at the bottom was probably close to a 20 degree slope and the one on the right was slightly less than that. If you look at the header you can see that it is sloped downhill from the combine platform. The auger is out ready to dump into the grain cart.
On my second days I was cutting a sidehill several times where the Hillco was unable to keep the platform totally level, but with the four large front tires and rear wheel assist, you are always feel fairly safe.
Remember, for this farm boy, cutting wheat for a day or two is the ultimate vacation.
Paul Neiffer is a certified public accountant and business advisor specializing in income taxation, accounting services, and succession planning for farmers and agribusiness processors. Paul is a principal with CliftonLarsonAllen in Walla Walla, Washington, as well as a regular speaker at national conferences and contributor at agweb.com. Raised on a farm in central Washington, he has been immersed in the ag industry his entire life, including the last 30 years professionally. Paul and his wife purchase an 180 acre ranch in 2016 and enjoy keeping it full of animals.
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