This harvest was so much more fun than last year! The new combine performed almost flawlessly. I think we put about 80 hours on it and spent maybe 4-5 hours total downtime. I LOVE the differential GPS and Yeild Monitor and the capactity of this combine was awesome compared to last year-not to mention the air conditioner made the whole fall a LOT more comfortable. We only used the little combine for about 3 hours to make sure it was ready but wouldn't have had to have used it at all. I think for shed space reasons I may go ahead and sell the little one as the capacity is so much more I would be better off taking time to fix the big one anyway.

The real savior was Dad's advice to get a truck. I had no idea what a difference that would make compared to wagons!! Budget constraints require we will keep the same equipment for next year but at the end of 05 I think I am going to sell my wagons and buy another truck. There was one day when there were no lines at the elevator and with me in the combine and Dad in the truck I don't think the combine stopped all day. If we had started earlier I think we could have gotten close to 40 acres of corn that day.

It was equally amazing in beans. I only had 65 acres of beans. I was able to run between 5 and 6mph with that little 16 foot head-it was actually running better there than at 4. I was able to harvest all the beans in less than 8 hours! Next year with 200 acres of beans and only 65 of corn it should be a snap!

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