Seeding usually begins in mid May and is completed
around the second week of June. Seeding can demand long hours of work.
Crops are changed or "rotated"
from year to year to help the soil replenish its nutrients.
Different implements are used depending on whether the
farmer is seeding into stubble or cultivated soil.
A farmer prepares for seeding by adding fertilizer
and seed to an air-seeder. The
air-seeder plants the
seeds and places the fertilizer in the soil
near the seeds.
A drill is another machine used to plant the seeds.
A farmer puts the seed into the
seed box on the drill.
SUMMER
By the time all the seeding is completed the first fields planted
are ready to be sprayed for weeds.
June, July and August are spent cutting hay from around the sloughs.
The hay is fed to the cattle in the winter.
FALL - HARVESTING
Harvest may begin in late August and continures through September.
The crop is cut down using a swather. The swather is like a huge lawn
mower. It cuts the plants off above the ground
and creates a "swath" behind the machine. The swath lies on top of
the stubble. The grain
needs to dry before it is combined.
The drying period can be days or weeks, depending
on the weather.
The combine picks up the swath and separates
the seeds from the straw. The grain is saved in a large holding tank
on the combine. The chaff and straw are thrown out the back of the combine.
The grain is then dumped into a truck for hauling to the grain elevator or
storage bins.
Farmers cannot deliver all the grain to the grain elevators at harvest-time.
so some of the grain must be stored on the farm in granaries or bins.
Machines called "augers" are used to
fill and empty the grain bins.
The farmer has to work many long hours to "get the crop off" before snow falls.
Harvest goes from dawn to dusk, using floodlights if necessary.
Sometimes "straight-combining" is used to harvest
the crop. Farmers cut and combine the crop at the same time.
Harrowing after combining is a way to spread the straw evenly.
WINTER
In the summer the cattle are usually left on
pasture land to graze (eat grass).
During the winter cattle need to be fed and given water.
Winter is a good time to check over the nachinery and make some
necessary repairs.
Grain is transported by truck to the grain
elevators and sold.
