A gentleman farmer

Dale is someone whom I would call a real gentleman farmer. Early every morning, he has coffee with the boys. Then, at about 9 o'clock, he goes out to the farm to check and see if everything is going well. He says he no more then gets anything started, when one of kids comes and takes over. This morning I rode around the farm with him, hoping I could get some good pictures.

The oats field

Not too many years ago, every farmer in the country raised oats for his hogs and chickens. Nowadays, however, there seem to be very few farmers in the Elkton area who do. Brad and Bobby still do. They have an excellent stand of oats this year.

The old windrower

Bobbie is out windrowing oats with a windrower his Dad bought on a used equipment sale decades ago. It seems to be working just fine, but at times, because the oats are so heavy, he has to slow down a bit to keep it from bunching up in the wind rows.

Book work

Brad is reading over the operator's manual on the new combine while Dale supervises. With all the new electronics on the combine, it just about takes an engineering degree to figure it out. For sure, it helps to have a good understanding of computers.

Combining oats

Nowadays, when a farmer pulls into a field with his large equipment, if everything goes right, it is only a matter of hours to get the job done. Today, everything seemed to be working like clock work, but then again a good farmer can make hard work look easy.

The new combine

Dale is checking out the new combine. He is getting a little anxious to get out in the field and run it.

In the cab

Dale feels like a kid in a toy store running his new combine. After getting the air on, he is listening to his favorite country music station. He feels good about his new crop of oats. It seems to be running between 60 to 110 bushes an acre, probably averaging about 90 bushes an acre.

Baling straw

Today was an ideal day to be baling straw. Brad was in the field following up the combine before the straw even had a chance to get wet. At first, he was a little afraid he would not be able to round bale it because his new combine may have broken the straw up a little too much, but it baled like a charm.

A farmer and his bike

Harold loves to ride or drive anything that has wheels on it. One hot sumer day I was jogging north of town and he just about blew me off the road with his 18-wheeler. He must have been running a little late on the job, or he just had a lot to get done that day.

Motorcycles on main street

'Every once in a while, Elkton's main street looks a little like Sturgis in the summer. I've heard it said that farmers don't ride motorcycles. That guy must never have been to Elkton on a hot summer day.