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and uncle started back in 1968 and were
involved for years. Petersen struck out on
his own about 16 years ago.
“It is a different life, but you meet
some great people along the way,” said
Petersen. “One thing I think about a lot
is you’re working for other farmers, and
here’s someone who’s put everything
into this and you’re helping him get that
crop harvested. It’s his year’s work and
you’re helping him get it into the bin.”
Thacker, whose family name is well
established in the southern Alberta
agriculture industry, farmed himself
before moving full-time into custom
harvesting 22 years ago.
Today, his service includes seven
Case 8120 combines equipped with
36-foot headers, grain carts, grain
trucks, crew trailers and tractor-trailer
units. He also offers custom swathing
services as needed—although that’s
mostly inMontana and Alberta. He buys
new combines each year and has the
manufacturer deliver those machines
directly to the first farm he’ll be working
on in a southernMidwest state.
“So when we left Alberta in early
June we had a total of 12 vehicles on the
road,” said Thacker. “That included nine
tractor-trailer units and three pickups.
Going down, because the combines
are delivered to the farm, we can get
moved down in one trip. Coming home,
because we are bringing the combines
with us, it will take two trips to get
everything back into Canada.”
Thacker actually only uses five
combines in the most southern states—
primarily for winter wheat harvest—and
picks up two more in Montana as he
moves into harvesting barley, as well.
He wraps up the season in Alberta with
all combines working until October to
harvest mostly wheat, barley and canola
in Canada.
Operating a custom combining service
takes a lot of co-ordination, said Thacker.
There is not only a fleet of equipment,
but he has up to 17 employees. They
set up camp, usually at full-service
campgrounds, and plan to book about
two weeks of work in any given location
before the next move.
“Costs have increased considerably
in recent years,” he said. “At one time,
we needed to have 300 acres per
machine at one location to make it
economical, and now we need 1,000
acres per machine.”
Thacker said depending on where
he starts—NewMexico or Kansas—it’s
a 2,200- to 2,800-kilometre trip to the
starting point. In the U.S. (with lighter
crops), all equipment will use about
1,500 gallons of diesel fuel per day, and
Fall
2014
grains
West
36
THE CREW:
Shawn Thacker has a crew of 17 employees in his
custom harvesting outfit. The group begins harvest in the southern
U.S. and work its way north to Canada by the fall.