Ontario Agriculture

The network for agriculture in Ontario, Canada

I almost made my first round with my R52 Gleaner, but didn't quite make it.
It started out well, ran a moisture test from the front headland at under 14%. Then I started adjusting the concave to get a better sample. Stopping every 100 ft to check to see how much grain I was throwing over. Opened up the fan damper, tightened up the concave again, adjusted the sieve. Still a bit of chaff and heads in the bin, but Beacher Wheat is hard to harvest. Now starting to put some material through this machine, running about 3.8MPH, rebuilt header feeding well. Starting to fiddle with the monitors to learn how they work.
Then all of a sudden the auger in the header is at a standstill. The drive chain has come off the sproket.

There is always cause and effect, I was a bit rash in thinking the chain was the cause, no such luck. It was the effect.
In rebuilding the header, i missed replacing a single washer over a simple eyelette that adjusts the auger position. As a result the eyelet opened up, the auger moved back and was jamming into the stripper bar. No big damage, but not something that gets fixed by putting the chain back on.
I flipped through the manual a few times before I realized what was the source of my angst. Drive to the front of the field and unload, I have some repair work to do.

Started to unload, then had to shut off the unloader to position myself a bit further from the wagon. This R52 is a lot bigger than my old MF540 and its going to take a few rounds to get used to the length of this unload auger. But it wouldn't start again. Damn electronics! Now I am tracing the wiring diagrams, why won't this auger engage?
Drive to the yard. Now I have more to fix.

First I need this auger emptied, and I don't want to drain it through the clean out, there must be 100 bushels in the bin. All the wires look good, but the clutch will not engage. Problem is, with the grain loaded auger the metal dog that goes in front of the sensor for detedting the auger position, has moved just far enough the sensor is not made. Sollution, place a piece of metal over the sensor and everything works. Of course it took and hour and a half to figure this out.

Now I can move my attention to the plugged header. I love my Gleaner. Within 20 min all the damaged parts are off, and repaired. 20 more minutes back on and modified to prevent such a future failure (needed washer now installed). The reverser works! Hard to justify calling it a plug when it is so easy to undo. BUT the little metal cover at the center to access the fingers has gone missing. That would have plugged up my old combine, i didn't ever hear it go through this one. Back out to the field to run this straw through and see if the other repairs are good. The auger slips as I pull in to the field, lilekly need to re-adjust the slip clutch.  That ends my night.  It was getting dark, my combine needs work, and I am getting a bit tired, nothing good will come of doing any more.

Thanks to a 1/2" rain today, well timed for the tassling corn, I can take my time to make the needed replacement and repairs tonight.

 

So the wheat harvest is at a stop, the field barely touched.   But that's ok the rain is very needed.  So far today, more rain than all of June.  But surprisingly, the crops have been hanging on and are lookig good despite the drought.  I credit fall plowing.

Head high by the 4th of July!  Just need rain to take advantage of a good start.

Views: 613

Comment

You need to be a member of Ontario Agriculture to add comments!

Join Ontario Agriculture

Comment by OntAG Admin on July 5, 2012 at 10:48am

Thanks Gus,

Let us know how the wheat runs...glad you got some rain.

Take care.

Comment by Mitch Lang on July 4, 2012 at 2:53am

Your corn looks nice Gus... Must be that fertilizer you used... :)

Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

Harvest is Racing Ahead of the 10-Year Average

Warm, dry weather kept combines rolling across Alberta this week, pushing harvest to 77 per cent complete — a jump of 18 points from last week and well ahead of the five- and ten-year averages of 68 and 54 per cent. Southern Farms Lead the Pack The South remains furthest ahead at 84 per cent complete, followed closely by the North West (80 per cent), Peace (78 per cent), North East (77 per cent) and Central (72 per cent). While progress has been strong province-wide, most producers are now hoping for a good soaking before freeze-up to rebuild depleted soil-moisture reserves. What’s in the Bin Most early crops — winter wheat, fall rye, lentils and peas — are wrapped up. Durum is 92 per cent finished, spring wheat 89 per cent, barley 87 per cent and oats 82 per cent. Chickpeas are 71 per cent off, while mustard leads the oilseed group at 85 per cent. Canola sits just over halfway done at 56 per cent, and flax remains well behind average at 35 per cent. Crop Quality Snapshot Overall gr

Hursh: Comparing crop yields month-over-month

The Saskatchewan crop has become larger as harvest has progressed. Here are some comparisons between the yield estimates in Thursday’s crop report to the estimates made back in early September.   Only a couple crops have seen their yield estimates reduced over the past month.    Oats are down one bushel to 92 bushels an acre. Soybeans are also down a bushel to 39 bushels per acre. Barley remains the same as the provincial estimate made in early September – 71 bushels per acre and field peas are the same at 42. Other crops are up. Durum is up by 3 bushels to 41. Flax is up a bushel to 26.    The canola yield estimate is up 3 bushels to 42. Spring wheat is up one to 51 bushels. Mustard has improved by 51 pounds per acre to 1192 pounds. Canary seed is up 76 pounds to 1419. Lentils are up 128 pounds to a provincial average of 1922.    Chickpeas have the biggest price improvement going to 1817 pounds an acre, an increase of 195 pounds. In most cases, crop quality is good, but price levels

Opinion: Agriculture has always been economic driver

When one looks at the modern machinery of a Canadian Prairie harvest it seems almost like something out of a Robert A. Heinlein, or Isaac Asimov novel I might have read as a youth in the late 1960s or into the 1970s. The computer technology for recording yields on the fly, the technology that allows the combine operator – if it’s not self-driving – to take control of grain carts, the global positioning tech involved, it seems more starship than grain harvest. Such thoughts ran through this writer’s head when I was out taking photos of the Health Foundation’s Farming for Health harvest at Yorkton. But maybe even more amazing is that agriculture has already been ready to adopt new technology through the years. Really in the grand passage of time farming on the Prairies really started a mere ‘blink’ ago – remember Saskatchewan only came into existence as a province in 1905 – and at that time agriculture was still very much horse-powered – horses pulling the plows and binders and sheaf

Saskatchewan Harvest Nears Completion; Yield Estimates Still Top StatsCan

The Saskatchewan harvest is winding down, with the latest provincial yield estimates still topping the Statistics Canada projections released last month. Thursday’s Saskatchewan crop report estimated the provincewide harvest at 93% complete as of Monday, up from 84% a week earlier. That is slightly behind the five-year average of 98% but ahead of the 10-year average of 87%. Last year at this time, the harvest was 97% done. “Dry conditions over the past few weeks allowed harvest to catch up to seasonal averages,” the report said. Harvest progress is most advanced in the west-central region at 96% complete, followed by the southwest and northwest at 95%. The east-central and northeast regions are each 93% harvested, while the southeast sits at 92%. Nearly all winter cereal and pulse crops have been harvested, with chickpeas the exception at 70% complete. Spring cereals are largely off the field, with 98% of spring wheat and barley combined, along with 96% of durum and oats. Amon

Canadian Cattle Association Statement on Canada and Indonesia Signing Final CEPA Text

The Canadian Cattle Association (CCA) welcomes the signing of the Indonesia-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) by Prime Minister Mark Carney and President Prabowo Subianto as a positive step towards further trade diversification in the Indo-Pacific Region. During negotiations and leading up to the announcement, CCA worked closely with the Ministers of Trade and Agriculture and Canadian officials to receive the best meaningful market access outcome for beef, including the immediate phase-out of tariffs for many beef products. CCA was present for the announcement of CEPA during the Team Canada Trade Mission to Indonesia last fall and when Canada’s Minister of International Trade signed an associated Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Canada and Indonesia to establish a bilateral dialogue on sanitary and phytosanitary issues to address market access issues of interest to both Parties, including in the trade of Canadian beef. “We appreciate the efforts of

© 2025   Created by Darren Marsland.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service