A combine harvester is a very important piece of kit for us, as all we grow are combinable crops. This past week or so the combine has been on my mind more than usual during harvest, and I fear a time of reckoning is not far away.
The Combine Story
Our combine is quite old. It was already old when it came to us for harvest in 2011, and had done over 1200 engine hours, which is quite a bit. Things were a bit tight financially and our combine was needing major repairs, so when this one came available my thinking was it would do us for 5 seasons. By that time I hoped things might have improved enough for us to consider a newer combine, but it is now in its 7th season with us. Don’t get me wrong, it has been a really good and reliable combine, but I fear it is starting to show its age.
In an earlier post I mentioned that we’d had to get Stuart out to look at an oil leak. This is still on going, and I have nursed the combine through harvest with a view to getting it fixed when it is in for its winter service. I was giving the combine its routine 100 hour service this morning, and noticed another oil leak. I’ve seen this one before, and I know it is quite a big job to repair, so this is definitely one for the winter time. With harvest nearing an end, I’ll keep an eye on it and the relevant oil level, with a view to adding it to the winter repair list.
Unfortunately I had to get Stuart out again this afternoon. I’d stopped to move a tractor and trailer, and the noise I heard coming from the cleaning fan was not good. Turns out the thrust bearing is going, and when he took it apart, various other bits are going too. So I had to stop this afternoon while he orders up the bits to get it fixed.
And so I am going to have to think about replacing it. It is the usual dilemma of how much money do you spend on repairs before calling a halt, and changing it? The middle of harvest is not the time to think about changing, so we’ll revisit it sometime before Christmas. The idea of changing it was at the back of my mind earlier, and I’d organised a demonstration of a New Holland combine for last week. It was only here for a couple of hours, but it was enough for me to consider changing make. I’ll discuss the whole thing in a later blog post.
On a brighter note, Brian and I managed to make repairs to the straw chopper, so although my thrust is going at least my chopper is working!
Harvest Progress
Since I last posted we have made good progress despite the efforts of the weather. As of Sunday night we were 80% through harvest, with only a few fields left to do that were ready. This coming week will see us catch up, and be waiting for perhaps 10 days until the last of it ripens off.
Yields and quality have been fairly good, with almost all the Laureate making the grade for malting, and what Concerto has been lifted has done so too. We were struggling for space at one point, but East of Scotland Farmers managed to lift the last of the Laureate, which allowed us to move the Concerto down to that shed. This in turn allowed us to start harvesting the third variety of spring barley we have – Belgravia. We started it on Saturday, and we had cut all that was ready by Sunday evening.
Robert Doig was in lifting his potatoes this week. I had meant to get some photos, but he was over the ground so fast I never got down.
Finally we are trying an experiment by selling some straw in the bout through Tayforth Machinery Ring.
They organise the baling, and there were two massive square balers in on Sunday baling a field. I had to go and stack them with the forklift after, and they will be lifted by lorry at some point in the next few weeks.