Basic HTML Version
hawn Thacker knows the signs.
When he sees turtles moving up onto the road where
he’s working in east–central Colorado, it’s a good
indicator that there’s rain on the way that could interrupt winter
wheat harvest.
After 22 years on the custom combining circuit in the U.S.,
Thacker, who operates out of a home base at Burdett in
southern Alberta, is familiar with the pattern. Turtles and snakes
moving to higher ground in the morning is a likely sign there will
be some weather later in the day. Humid, daytime temperatures
reach 26°C to 32°C, and then come the thunderstorms in the
late afternoon and evening. And often, along with the heavy
rain comes hail.
“It is just part of the monsoon system in
this part of the U.S.,” said Thacker during
a mid-June interview. “You can get those
thunderstorms nearly every day. I have
seen us all set to go and we’re just waiting
because the grain is a bit tough, and then a
storm will move through with hail and in 15
minutes it takes out 2,000 acres of wheat
right in front of you. And then you just have
to move on.”
That same day, a bit further east in western Kansas, Lee
Petersen and his Saskatchewan-based custom combining crew
are also harvesting winter wheat. They had to leave quite a bit of
crop behind in Oklahoma because that area had received about
10 inches of rain over three weeks—the crop was getting very
weedy and the farmer decided he would cut it for winter feed.
“We’ve had a bit of rain since we’ve been here in Kansas,”
said Petersen, who farms at Hodgeville, Saskatchewan, when
he’s not custom combining. “But we are combining today. The
forecast is for 50 per cent chance of rain for the next five days,
so we’ll see what happens. This area is a long ways from being
out of the drought, but it is probably the greenest I’ve seen it in
a few years.”
Those weather concerns are a fact of life for these Canadian-
based custom combiners. And yes, there are plenty of “facts
of life” in the custom harvesting business. You need a sizeable
investment in machinery, trailers and trucks. You have to line
up and manage a reliable work crew for the season. You have
to move what amounts to the equivalent of a small circus
anywhere from 2,500 to 3,000 kilometres just to get to your
work starting point. You’re away from home for three to four
months. You have to set up camp and then move the whole
operation every week to 10 days or so as
you edge north. And then, on top of all
that, you have to keep your eye on the sky—
what’s the weather going to do today?
Both Thacker and Petersen said most
of the U.S. winter wheat harvest is a race
against the clock and the weather. When
the crop is ready, it is ready. Farmers want
it harvested in a timely fashion, because if
there is a delay weather can downgrade
quality and yield very quickly. A hailstorm can wipe it out
completely. Because of the weather systems, the U.S. winter
wheat crop doesn’t enjoy the relatively wide harvest window
found across the Canadian Prairies.
Storms can be a daily concern, and most farmers are
hoping for a four-, five-, or six-day break in the weather to get
the crop harvested.
The custom combining business isn’t for everyone, “but it
does get into your blood, a bit,” said Petersen, whose father
Fall
2014
grainswest.com
35
Harvesters
forHire
Sailing the AmberWaves
by LEE HART • Photography by MARK ORENSTEIN
“It is a different life,
but you meet some
great people along the
way.”
–Lee Petersen
S