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> I find this very interesting because on our farm the main source of savings has been running 7 (3-4 in the field at a time) 1480 and 1680 combines There is a

> I find this very interesting because on our farm the main source of savings has been running 7 (3-4 in the field at a time) 1480 and 1680 combines There is a balance with labour. Big for their time, but those are not much of a machine by today's standard. A newer, larger machine could easily replace two of them. Maybe three. As harvest is typically the labour bottleneck, I can see how having as few people in the combines as possible is beneficial to the farm. The article would suggest that there are five of them regularly working on the farm. A couple of truck drivers, a cart operator, and that only leaves two to run the combines. If they, like your farm, need four 1680s get the work done they would have to find seasonal help, which can be quite difficult. But naturally other farms may have different needs and requirements.

jelliclesfarm 6y ago
This is certainly a problem. As farms become larger and cost of operating machinery gets higher, for some crops/grains, using herbicides as dessicants is becoming the norm. Glyphosate is used during pre harvest for dessication than as a herbicide. And it’s approved. Canadians have just started cracking down on this so organic standards are maintained. This is a whole another can of worms(also drift) due to massive increase in scale and size of farming because we just have too many mouths to feed.
- randomdata 6y ago
  When was it never not the norm, save 50+ years ago when glyphosate wasn't commercially available? Around here, I don't think I've seen a pickup head used in my entire lifetime. Still see an occasional one sitting in the scrap heap.
JamisonM 6y ago
It is true that lots of my neighbours have trouble finding help, I never do though. We have a crew of retirees that help us at harvest. We retain our staff with working air conditioning and a low-stress environment. Low stress because we have way more harvesting capacity than we need. When we have 4 machines going in the field we are doing at least 1 1/2 what a new machine can do and our labour costs are made back in fuel savings. (Modern combines are absolute pigs on fuel!)

jelliclesfarm 6y ago

This is certainly a problem. As farms become larger and cost of operating machinery gets higher, for some crops/grains, using herbicides as dessicants is becoming the norm. Glyphosate is used during pre harvest for dessication than as a herbicide. And it’s approved. Canadians have just started cracking down on this so organic standards are maintained. This is a whole another can of worms(also drift) due to massive increase in scale and size of farming because we just have too many mouths to feed.

randomdata 6y ago
When was it never not the norm, save 50+ years ago when glyphosate wasn't commercially available? Around here, I don't think I've seen a pickup head used in my entire lifetime. Still see an occasional one sitting in the scrap heap.

JamisonM 6y ago

It is true that lots of my neighbours have trouble finding help, I never do though. We have a crew of retirees that help us at harvest. We retain our staff with working air conditioning and a low-stress environment. Low stress because we have way more harvesting capacity than we need. When we have 4 machines going in the field we are doing at least 1 1/2 what a new machine can do and our labour costs are made back in fuel savings. (Modern combines are absolute pigs on fuel!)