Cool, wet weather, a bumper crop and plenty of acres prompted the Shady Lane Hutterite colony to ask neighbours and other colonies to help finish its northern Alberta harvest.
Fourteen combines descended on the last few fields in an attempt to complete the harvest before the snow fell.
The colony was concerned by reports of snow at Cleardale, Alta., only a two hour drive north, said David Tschetter, the colony schoolteacher who was assigned a combine for the 18,000 acre harvest.
“That kind of makes everybody a little nervous. We did 4,000 in the last three and a half days. We’re really knocking her down,” Tschetter said Oct. 25 from his combine near the Wanham, Alta., colony.
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“Everybody is going at breakneck speed,” he said.
“There have been quite a few showers in the last couple weeks. Last week everyone was going non-stop. Everyone who has a dryer is drying. There’s lots of tough grain going into grain bags.”
Tschetter said he has not seen such high yields since the colony was established in 2002.
“We’ve had an exceptional crop up here. Everyone’s got bins full or piling it on the ground, or if they have a grain bagger, putting it in bags,” he said.
“It’s quite exciting.”
Farmers in the Peace River area have struggled to get a good harvest after three years of drought.
Rain didn’t arrive until June this year and it looked like it would be a fourth year of miserable crops. A combination of rain and cool weather created two scenarios in the area. Many crops were drowned out on the heavy gumbo and flat land, but yields are surprising farmers on the drained and sandier land.
“Before, we’ve had some really good crops, but low quality and lower prices. This year everything seems to be lining up: record yields, record prices and some decent quality. It’s definitely been the crop we’ve been waiting for.”
Tschetter estimated the canola he was harvesting during the interview was yielding 55 bushels per acre and coming off in excellent condition, although it varied from dry to 14 to 16 percent moisture.
“Guys just want to get it off and deal with it once it’s in the bin.”
Hustling to get the last fields harvested with 14 combines is a delicate dance of trucks, combines, baggers, augers and grain carts that takes plenty of organization, he said.
“A couple of combines get ahead of the pack and clean up the headlands, and then we all get in there and get at it,” Tschetter said. “It’s like we’re all fighting for swaths. We can chew up a quarter in just over an hour.”
He said the colony tries to harvest the larger fields with the full complement of equipment.
“It’s something we’ve never experience before, to say the least.”
Tschetter said the peas averaged 68 bu. per acre, with some low areas dropping to 15 bu. per acre.
Some wheat reached 100 bu. but averaged 85. The winter wheat yielded well but will likely grade only No. 2 or 3 because of the continual fall drizzle.
He’s said he’s looking forward to finishing harvest and getting a good night’s sleep. The harvest crew usually begins around 10:30 a.m. and goes “breakneck speed” until 3:30 am.
“You kind of turn into a zombie,” he said.
Tschetter said he implemented a strict no-kids-under-14 rule near the farm equipment before harvest began. Four years ago, a four-year-old child was killed in an auger accident at the Twilight colony near Falher, just west of Wanham.
“That was a good wake-up call,” said Tschetter, who knows that big equipment, tired operators and children aren’t a good mix.
However, the colony recognizes that it’s exciting to watch several combines in a field at one time eating through the grain, so it allows adults and children to participate in supervised tours to the field to see the harvest.
“With the kids, you certainly can’t tie a piano to a leg,” Tschetter said.
“They’re excited, they want to see harvest, especially when there’s 11 combines in the field. It’s got to be done in a safe manner. Drive them up with a supervisor. I don’t want them to experience a harvest in the inside of cab unsupervised.”
