Today we are happy to post yet another final wheat-report, in this case from our grower Luisenhof in Germany. Here comes the personal account of Frank Kelleners:
After the wheat sheafs were brought in, they remained on the trailers for a few days. The weather did not allow us to set up the threshing machine at first.
For threshing this year, we had planned to set up the large Petermann threshing machine and drive it with the 45 hp Lanz tractor.
On the last weekend in August, we unpacked the threshing machine at our friend Markus' and set it up in his field. At first, it drizzled a bit on Saturday morning but the forecast promised a sunny weekend. Setting up the threshing machine and the tractor took us almost half a day.
Then we got the trailers with the crop; the project wheat was to be threshed first. We had already threshed many times with the Petermann threshing machine, but the green wheat posed a special challenge. Many things had to be adjusted in a new and different way than with the usual wheat varieties. We tried out many things to find the best possible setting. Repeatedly, the sieves or the blowers got clogged. We also experimented with smaller or larger throughput quantities.
Bit by bit, things worked out and the threshing could be done quickly.
The threshing machine is from the early 1950s. The grandfather of Markus and Daniel worked with this machine as an agricultural contractor. Later, the threshing machine was sold in the region. Through a series of coincidences, the machine was found again in 2008, bought back and Markus received it as a gift. The equipment of the threshing machine was very modern for the time.
It can be driven either by the tractor via a drive belt or by a 30kw electric motor integrated in the machine. A double cleaning system and the crop passing through a Trieur delivered perfectly cleaned and classified grain. The sheaves could be thrown directly from the trailer into the machine via a so-called self-feeder. The cord of the bunches were cut automatically and, compared to earlier threshing machines, it does not matter in which direction the bunches were placed in the machine. A sack lift also made the heavy work easier. Finally, the straw was pressed with an integrated Welger low-pressure baler and tied into rectangular bales. The 45hp tractor was well challenged by the threshing machine but the implements fit together well.
After the project wheat, we threshed barley, followed by rye. Besides the grain, our varieties also produce a considerable amount of straw, which we use for bedding the stables in winter.
Finally, we dismantled everything and the sacks with the grain and the empty trailers were driven back to the farm.
Of course, we used the wheat to bake our bread and rolls afterwards.
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