One of THOSE Days

When the day doesn't go as planned at harvest, you have to keep plugging away. Just ask Chris Zenker about one day last week.

The previous day had been blue sky perfect for the Zenker family's harvest. The soybeans cut sweet and poured big into the grain carts. Supper in the field was hot and tasty. And a full moon watched placidly as the crew moved equipment for an early start the next day.

But this is North Dakota -- near the tiny town of Gackle, to be precise -- and two consecutive perfect days in October are rare. So the Zenkers weren't surprised that the next day was... challenging.

First, Chris and brother Mike headed for a cornfield back in the hills where the "road" was a rutted path rollercoastering between fields, pastures and prairie potholes. They went to chop corn for the family's feedlot but didn't get far before the grill in their well-seasoned grain truck started seeping steam. As the acrid aroma of antifreeze drifted on the early morning breeze, Mike pulled the truck to the edge of the field, called for help and popped the hood to assess the damage. The truck was toast, at least for the day.

Before long the cavalry came over the hill in the form of a semi pulling a dump trailer. It wasn't well suited to that particular "road," but the Zenkers didn't have much choice. They had to get some corn chopped before going back to beans.

A couple hours later under grey skies the crew had switched missions and fields. Now they were back in soybeans on fields that sloped downward to cattails and to some of the many mini lakes that pock the region. Up and down, across and back, three combines worked one small field after another. Chris drove one combine, his wife Christina another and brother Mike the third. Uncle Warren jockeyed a grain cart between fields to waiting semis with grain trailers attached.

The crew made good progress and was breaking for lunch when the header on one of the combines threw a shoe. Over lunch the crew debated - -Could they do a quick weld or should they wait a day for a part? The new part vote won and one of the combines was out of commission for the day. Strike two.

Fate tossed the Zenkers yet another curve shortly after they got back in the field. Perhaps to make up lost time, the grain cart driver tried to take a shortcut through a low area to a hilltop where semis and grain trailers were parked waiting to be filled. The 25-ton Steiger Quadtrac probably could have made it through... but not pulling a full grain cart. The cart's tires started sinking into the mud and soon the frame rested on a pile of sticky, black goo. No going forward or backward.

Here's one thing I love about farmers: There was no panic and minimal amount of cursing. The Zenkers set out to solve the problem.

Step one was to relieve the cart of its 60,000 lbs. of grain. They backed a semi down the hill until its rear tires were almost in the mud and it sat adjacent to the cart. Then they swung the cart's auger and began to pump soybeans into the trailer… not too many beans because the semi had to pull the trailer back up a steep hill. When the first trailer was gone, they backed up another and repeated the process. The cart was not completely empty but it weighed a lot less.

Step two involved bringing a John Deere 9460 R 4WD tractor from the farm and hooking it to the back of the grain cart with a clevis. Next, the 4WD and the Quadtrac engaged transmissions and began to back the whole mess out of the mud. The rescue was done in about 35 minutes, but the ribbing and joking would go on for the rest of the day.

Not a bad day after all, just an eventful one.

Jim Patrico can be reached at jim.patrico@dtn.com

Follow Jim Patrico on Twitter @jimpatrico

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