Harvest time is upon us in full swing. Most of the soybeans in the state have been harvested, with a few lingering fields. Corn is on the minds of most farmers, as they hope for dry weather to dry the crop in the field as much as possible.

With combines rolling, grain loss is always a concern. Of course, calibrating harvest operations to avoid grain loss is a little easier than it used to be when you had to set the machine, combine a few rows across the field, jump out to check how much grain was going over onto the ground and reset again.

Then, there are times when grain loss occurs even when the machine is set perfectly, but the operator, namely me, makes a big mistake. I hate to admit it, but this has occurred too many times to count over the years and I’m sure I’m the only farmer to ever experience these silly mistakes.

A few years ago as I was combining corn, I noticed a group of hunters pulling into the field with their pickups as I approached the end. I figured that they wanted to ask to hunt pheasants on our land. I stopped the combine at the end of the field as one of the hunters walked up to the combine pointing to the rear of the machine. I looked at him for a minute, quite puzzled.

He said, “Is the unloading auger supposed to be running and dumping corn on the ground while you are combining?” In shock, I looked back to see that my unloading auger had been put back into place after dumping last time, but I forgot to shut off the auger. I ran an entire round through the field with the auger running. Sheepishly I replied, “No. Thanks for catching that.”

This incident is similar to the time I opened the clean out trap door on the unloading auger to clear out the chaff, but forgot to shut the trap door properly. So, the next time I ran the unloading auger, about 10 bushels of grain dumped on the ground before I realized what had happened.

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Another time I had pulled several gravity wagons into the field and began unloading corn in one of the wagons, but couldn’t figure out why the grain wasn’t piling up. Then, I realized the mistake, jumped quickly to the ground and shut the door on the gravity wagon, but not before about 25 bushels had run onto the ground. Another silly mistake on my part.

So, if you were thinking you were having a hard day in the field, just remember some of my greatest mistakes and it might make your day seem a little better.

Here is this week's discussion question. What is the biggest mistake you've made during harvest? You can share your stories and observations here.

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