Well it has been a long time since either Lane or I updated this and I apologize for that.  Not Sure where the fall went but once the combining is done then all kinds of tasks dominate my time and usually don’t have time to type an update. This year was especially busy for me as I had a hernia repaired on Nov 13 so had to get all heavy lifting tasks done. It all went well and now I’m just getting back to work. Started hauling grain with 2 loads yesterday to quill lake and 4 loads today and tomorrow to Saskatoon. When I booked these loads I never dreamt it would be -3 and drizzle.  I’m too attached to my iron and have a pain in my stomach seeing the truck and trailer covered in salt.  I have 2 more loads next week to Saskatoon and some local hauls in between and then I’ve bought me a Christmas present, I have the unit booked in for a truck wash. Then it will likely sit for a while as I hit the road in January with speaking tours.

I’ve booked 2 loads a day so it means for an early unload and then early afternoon. First dump was scheduled for 7 am so I left home at 4:21 and arrived at 6:21 and was dumped and back on the road by 7.  I’ve actually got extra time so killing time until my 2 pm dump.

Red Sovines “Teddy Bear” was playing just as i hit the highway which was a very suitable song given my task today.

Had the family help me set up all the augers as I’m still not supposed to lift and this way I can cut my loading time in half

Last picture is my version of Christmas light display!

I’m promising myself to do more regular updates so make sure and check back regularily so you can keep up with me just living my dream.

Merry Christmas everyone.

A mild Fall has meant everyone in NW Saskatchewan finished harvest. Behind schedule with all the rain, we’re still happy with the 2015 crop year and anxiously look to 2016 with optimism.

I don’t know many industries that after a long grueling haul to the finish line look forward to the next season quite the way farmers do. Its what we do, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

A beautiful Sept day came about on the 12 th of September. A SW wind brought temps near 30 degrees which meant we finished up the gravel pits quarter of canola and started on one at home but by 3 ‎we switched to our standing wheat which was then dry. Was disappointed to find out that the header that we borrowed from a neighbor was not going to work so I’m back to swathing in front of Marie combining and Lane using our St cut header on his combine. 

CPS a local Ag Inputs retailer brought out a wonderful chicken supper lastnight to the field. It turned out to be a gorgeous evening for supper in the field. A big thanks to Bryan and Brenda for a great night. But it was short lived and soon the hum of the equipment was back at it into the night. ‎

Oh Yeah forgot to mention this is the ruts after Marie got stuck two nights ago no bad at all really

A weeks delay but we are back to‎ combining. Canola is dry so we will spend a day on it then hope to be back to our standing wheat. With all the recent rains our fields are wet so the cart will be taking small loads across 2 water crossings and 3/4 mile on the road to semis parked on the side of the road. It will be slow but we are going. Â

Knocking on 1/3 done so we need to keep the hammer down.

I’m a nerd – first time we’ve farmed along blacktop so I take pics with equipment. Road is compliments of new BHP mine just south of us.

Swathing barley and canola and just starting to combine barley with peas all done.

Check out Global Regina tonight for information about the upcoming rain and LDS Farms racing that rain.

It has been a busy couple of weeks after sadly leaving the our lake property for the last ‎time of the year on August 9, harvest was fast approaching. We had already preharvested (sprayed to cause uniform dry down to allow for straight cutting) some peas by the time we had left for the lake but it takes a couple of weeks before harvesting can begin. The combines were out of the shed and we were doing some final checks and maintenance on them to ensure they were ready when the crops were. Marie and I attended a local New Holland dealers “combine clinic” where they had a session on maintenance tips (Marie snuck away and got grocery shopping done), then a presenter from Prairie Agriculture Machinery Institute (PAMI) presenting on setting your combine for maximum efficiency to reduce losses and finally a presentation on using your monitors in the combine to their fullest potential. Overall the day was ok but it turned out to be not such a “free” event as during the maintenance presentation there were some tips that I thought would be additions to our combines so ended up taking on in to get some service work done on it.  

August 13th was the day this year harvest 2015 started for LDS Farms. I had a Board meeting that day ‎at CMI (local grain Terminal) which I was hoping to be done by noon and then Landon and I were heading to Winkler MB to pick up our new grain trailers that had just rolled off the assembly line. Well the meeting turned into a 3pm adjournment and it was blistering hot out. I thought maybe we should try those peas. Marie and Logan we in outlook helping her mom after a surgery so it was just Landon and I. He had stayed at a friend’s while I was at my meeting. I raced to pick him up and said let’s go try those peas. He anxiously agreed because he could wait to get back into the grain cart tractor for another season. We called up our trusty “go for” Harold and asked can you give us a ride, we are going to try the peas. For sure was his response so I headed off with the combine and header and Landon right behind in the 7140 and grain cart.

While this was all happening I was texting with a good friend of mine, Mike who was trying his peas as well and they were dry so I was excited that ours might be as well. It turns out they were 15.8% moisture and 16% is considered dry so it was go time. We took a semi out to the field and before we knew what was happening #harvest15 (twitter hastag) was started. Landon quickly remembered all that was involved and we managed to get 1200 bushels harvested by 7:30 pm that night when it became too tough to harvest due to the onset of the evening dew. Peas stay dry but the pods and stem get real rubbery and stringy. We went home and made ourselves some supper (Landon was head chef) and showered and went to bed anxious for the next full day when we could really get some production done. 

Landon and I checked the combine over and got everything set for the day including getting the auger hooked up to the tractor and servicing it. Then we raced to humboldt as our second combine was ready after getting the service work done to it. We drove the combine home and out in our shed and then headed up to the field. Uncle Kenny was called into action as CMI who we had signed up a contract to sell some of our peas to were able to take delivery right from the field. He hauled them in and Landon and I harvested more while he was away. He made two loads by 3 pm and then Lane was able to be home from his SK Canola Board meeting. I can only imagine his anxiousness to get home and see the combine rolling and start hauling.  ‎It is an awesome feeling not to mention a big relief to be hauling straight to the terminal with the peas never getting angered into a bin and then augered back out again.  It saves so much time and costs, part of the reason we like to grow peas and have a portion contracted for fall delivery. Elevators typically have space and anxious to buy grain to get it filled so they can get some early shipping.  Lane was able to get two more loads in before they closed at 6 for the weekend. He pulled under the probe at 5:59 literally but they dumped him with a smile and closed the gate behind him. We filled the truck again and finished 80 ac that day. Having hauled all the production in we checked out accuracy of the grain cart scale which was within 99.5% so we’re happy with that. That 80 ac piece yielded 57.8 bushels per acre which put a smile on our faces. Compared to last year when our peas yielded 15 bu/ac this is a bumper crop.Â
These are our two trucks unloading at CMI

Landon has really matured and doing an excellent job on the grain cart for being 11 years old. He came across the field the other day and the way he was driving I was sure it was Lane and surprises when Landon pulled under the spout like an old pro. At the end of the days he is sure to park the unit in a safe spot, he locks up the cab, takes out the ipad(used for scales), rolls the tarp and puts out the auger, just in case it rains. Lane even commented on the radio the other day at how nice and clean he keeps his cab. All of this makes a father so proud.

Rain delayed us on Saturday so Landon and I took the opportunity to go get the trailers. We left at 3 pm Sunday afternoon and drove through to Portage la Prairie arriving there at 10:30 pm. Found a quiet place to park and crashed in the bunk. Landon was right at home in there as it reminded him of tenting but with hard walls. We got up at 6, grabbed a coffee and juice and hit the road again for Winkler and 1.5 hours south. We got there hooked up and then did a factory tour. It was impressive to see how quickly it moves through the line and gets prepped for delivery. With the sun shining we headed for home, but not before finding a roadside stand selling fresh sweet corn, we had ourselves a back haul of 12 cobs of freshly picked corn. I almost cried when we hit rain just outside yorkton and my shinny trailers now were dull. This meant an early morning wash the next morning to get them polished up again. 

Combining resumed that afternoon with Landon carting again and Logan ‎running me from one end of the field to the trucks on a quad so that I could dump the cart for Landon. It hurt dumping the first  load into those new trailers but that’s what we bought them for. More loads to the terminal but we are saving some for seed for next year so Lane set up the auger and we filled 2 bins to be used for the next couple years. Lane even got our picture on the Global news.

2 loads go to Saskatoon so I left Thursday morning at 5am to make it back in hopes of combining again. On the way ran into rain again, so when I got home Lane had the pressure washer out and Marie helped me wash up the shine again, Logan saw this and said “boy this is going to be a long harvest if dad keeps washing his trailers.” The sun shone and by 1:30 we were back combining which turned into being a bonus day as the forecast had us getting rain but we managed to harvest a full day again. We are down to 60 acres left of peas but stopped again for a rain delay. The peas have gone flat to the ground so harvesting them is challenging and slow but very happy with the outcome. We will start swathing barley as soon as the rain stops and the fields are dry enough so with an excellent forecast for next week we will hopefully be in full swing with both combines and me back hauling grain and out of the combine. Another reason I enjoyed the peas as I get some combining time! 

1/2 inch of rain so far today. Let’s hope and pray that’s it. Got stuck once with combine already. Don’t need that again. ‎