Farm Equipment Tour: How to Drive a Combine

Thanks David! I wish everybody got the chance to do what they love…

Thanks

Thanks! I’ve been slowly upgrading equipment. Glad you enjoyed it!

You actually would be amazed at how well that thing steers through down corn. You can’t tell if you are still on the right rows or not but it usually gets it right. First combine I ever remember was dads 7700 turbo. What a beast.

Thanks Allen!

Thanks Marc!

Dodge Brothers Farm and Ranch Keep up the great work!

Good question Haylee! Fortunately, hay making takes place at a time when there isn’t much going on in the grain farming operations. Cattle fencing can usually be worked on during bad weather when we can’t be in the fields anyway. Just the other night I started hauling our cattle manure at supper time when we had our drying bin filled up for the day. I didn’t get done til midnight. It takes some sacrifice and some creativity to find time to make it all work, but we love it! Couldn’t do it without the support and help of the rest of the family!

Thanks a lot for the encouraging comments! I can’t take credit for this idea. Lots of people asked for this video in the comments of other harvest videos.

Thanks! That’s really nice 👍

Thanks David! One thing that is really important to me here is to always make videos that can be watched by people of all ages. You will never hear swearing or crude jokes on this channel. Thanks for watching and be sure to let me know if there’s anything that you would like to see or anything that you wonder about.

Thanks Jerry!

Thanks a lot! I really enjoy this.

@Dodge Brothers Farm and RanchThank you very much. I grew up in Palo Alto county Iowa. Some of what you are saying I have know a long time. But it is always good to learn something new. Watching your videos I see the same things from years ago being done with greater efficiency. How a piece of machinery like combines, planters ect perform are not new, but how and how fast it is done is the amazing and neat stuff. I love technology and improving efficiency. Every fall I would plow gardens for local people with a Ford 9n and a 2 bottom plow to make a few dollars. Nowadays I hardly ever see a molboard working in a field.

Thanks! Another interesting note for you: every bag of seed corn has 80,000 seeds in it since planting population is measured in seeds per acre. That means some bags will weigh as little as 32 pounds while others can be upwards of 65 pounds. The standard for a bushel of corn is 56 pounds. Generally at harvest time it takes between 80,000 and 90,000 kernels to weigh 56 pounds so that’s why I go with 85,000 for yield estimates.

Thanks Ron! Although I don’t know if this is the official reason, I have always assumed that it has to do with the direction of sliding friction. The grain cart tires are never powered so they are in essence “working” in the opposite direction as the tractor tires even though they are rotating the same direction.

Thanks a lot Brandon!

Thanks!

Thanks Ron!

Thank you Gerald!

You may not know this but I am a Massey Harris collector. I have a 33 wide front that my dad and I bought together at an auction when I was a kid and I have a 44 narrow front that used to belong to my great uncle who passed away four years ago. I have always loved the “old masseys” since I was a little boy, but he really got me excited about them. Super happy to have his old 44. Anyway, I should definitely show some gps stuff in a future video. Thanks for the tip!

Thanks George! Now when you are watching farming videos you can feel really smart knowing that the driver just grabbed the steering wheel based on the proper understanding of the beeping noises. And if you ever find yourself in a situation where being able to drive a modern combine could save a bunch of people, you will be a hero!

Thanks for watching and encouraging me!

My grandma (dads
mom) was 70 years old when I was born. She was born in 1915. We were very close and I love thinking back on the stories she used to tell me. She’s gone now, but I wish she could watch my videos. I think she’d just shake her head and say “why you need all those tv screens in the combine is beyond me. We picked ear corn by hand into a horse drawn wagon!”

My best ideas always come from you guys in the comments! Thanks for watching and taking a second to leave an encouraging comment!

That’s cool. I’ll have to check one out!

Thanks! I’m really glad you enjoyed it.

I started out running dads John Deere 7700 turbo. Then we got a 7720 and I thought I had won the lottery!

Thanks for the encouragement! We always have a list of things that need replaced or repaired and it’s always a game of sorts to figure out how to prioritize. I’m fortunate to have a good job with a good farm and a great boss to work with. We got lucky on the down corn lottery so far this year. Some guys right around us got it bad.

Thanks!

@Dodge Brothers Farm and Ranch I already watched the hydraulic repair "learning experience". I've had a few of those myself ;-)

Thanks! If you are into mechanical stuff you should check out a couple of my videos from last fall. I did one on how a combine works and there was one where we had a hydraulic repair gone wrong. You might like them. They weren’t as well edited as the ones I’m making now, but I was just learning how to do this back then. Thanks for watching!

Thanks James! I did a video last fall about how combines work. Take a look at it and let me know if that was what you were looking for or if you still have a desire to go deeper. Thanks for your support!

Wow thanks Robert! I have a great appreciation for you airmen after studying and passing my “Part 107” remote pilot certificate with the FAA. Those sectional charts are a mess!

Truth be told I started driving dads combine when I was about 9 years old. Before he let me drive on my own I spent a fair amount of time (from age 7) sitting on his lap and just steering. Then he’d let me raise or lower the header, and then maybe speed up and slow down the ground speed. Then he switched seats with me and rode with me for a while. When he finally climbed out of the cab and “turned me loose” I felt like a king! Thanks for your encouraging words and I hope you continue to enjoy the videos!

Thanks! The row-sense really is great! It’s especially amazing in down corn.

@Dodge Brothers Farm and Ranch Hahaha that's funny. I don't think I have ever seen that before. I am not familiar with the smaller S series combines but I thought they always came with full discharge beater wings

A better question might be how come have I never noticed that until now??? I’m going to have to have a look at that tomorrow...

Thank you so much for taking the time to encourage me! I’m really glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks!

Thanks!

Thanks!

Alpha, Delta, Bravo. Clear for take off!

Thanks!

@Dodge Brothers Farm and Ranch My Colorado buddy and I used a JD 60, narrow front end with "Rolla-Matic" (makes a difference) to pull our New Holland baler (forget the model number but it was similar in size to the JD baler I've seen you using, and a JD 620, wide front end with power steering (something JD never really got right back in the early 60's) pulling a New Holland HayBine MoCo. Wish that had been a disc machine, ours had an 8 or 9 foot sickle bar and dang there were a lot of teeth to keep sharp on that sucker. A very good machine though, it laid down a very compact winrow and we seldom had to use a rake or tedder. Just mow one day and bale directly after a day or so of drying. Dry mountain air and strong Colorado sunshine work wonders on mountain meadow grasses.

I raked hay with a neighbors John Deere 60 one time and it was great!

JD 2 Cylinders forever!

Thanks!

@Dodge Brothers Farm and Ranch good people live on in our memory

Thanks! It’s a reminder of a good friend I lost too soon just months after a very successful lung transplant.

Thanks for your kind words! I’m really glad you enjoyed it.

Thanks you Jerry!

Thanks!