More on night time fall plowing

gtractorfan · Nov 28, 2020

What's the latest you ever kept working? When I was a vim and vinegar teenager I set myself a goal of driving all night and did it once. Sure was good to see the sun come up the next morning. Dad went to bed, later when I had a son that age I wouldn't have gone to bed thinking he might go to sleep at the wheel.

SVcummins · Nov 28, 2020

I work until 3 or 4 am sometimes I start at 3 am just depends

gearheadbill · Nov 28, 2020

Worked til 1 or 2 a few times, but not very often. Have always been an early to rise person.

Northvale PA · Nov 28, 2020

I make a point to finish tractor work by 10pm. We have neighbors and that is about the time I would want their noise to stop. Years ago I would work until 11pm on repairs, etc. Can’t stay up that late anymore.

chuck from neb · Nov 28, 2020

ive stayed ouf in the field a lot till 1 am and was up at 6.30...done a couple all nighters when the weather was turning bad

tractorguy2 · Nov 28, 2020

My dad would quit as soon as the sun went down. Didn't like running machinery after dark. Didn't matter how close to being done we were. Working inside after dark different story. Often he would work part midnight not wanting to quit till he was done

Robert (ID) · Nov 28, 2020

Depend on weather and conditions... Ive seen the time I baled hay till 2am, caught 1.5 hr sleep in the front of the truck then crawled on the rakes and raked till the dew was gone after daylight.

I remember digging Potatoes till the we hours of the morning trying to get ahead of a cold snap coming.. I also remember starting to dig potatoes in the early morning hours and knocking off early in the afternoon because the weather was to hot..

Absent Minded Farmer · Nov 28, 2020

I usually don't work any later than the golden or blue hour. One of these days, when I fix the lights on my tractors, that might change. Otherwise, I've been up 'till 2 or 3 in the morning working on equipment. That's not unusual.

Mike

Tgrasher · Nov 28, 2020

Depended a lot on weather and how far behind plowing was going. Spent many late nights watching the farrow in the dark, enjoying the shift up to fifth gear because of the cooler air, muffler glowing red from the hard pull. The Case 830 could be set to run with just gage lights. Here in So IL, if you didn't, you would be eating bugs and digging them out of your eyes.

Wheat47 · Nov 28, 2020

A few times when I was still at home farming with/for Dad, we'd go in for supper and hear the weather.
If we were harvesting grain, and if there was a ghost of a chance of rain, Dad would say we better go back
and get what we can before it rains. I lost track of the times we'd go out and cut grain until
10 or 11 or even midnight a few times. And most of those times it never rained!!!
So I'd get to bed midnight or so, and if it didn't rain, Dad was there at 6AM!!
"Get up!!! Gotta go!! Didn't rain!!! Gotta finish that field today!!"
I think I sorta miss that!!

marloweg · Nov 28, 2020

i loved to work land all night had a Massey Ferguson 2805 with heat & ac. and a RADIO 5/18 plow things just got done faster in the dark only had one bad thing happen fell asleep and plowed across the town road that was a mess

SVcummins · Nov 28, 2020

Work until your froze stiff and then go a few more hours

caterpillar guy · Nov 28, 2020

I've dug Sugar beats till 2AM then drive half hour home sleep and be back to get the first spot in line with an hour drive to get there with the truck. A 4 hour night was a long nigth to sleep. Did it all fall for corn beans and beets. Harvest on the plains from about 9:00 AM till about midnight a lot of nights. From Decoration day till Turkey day each year. And Just came in from combinig corn. Should finish easily tomorrow. Only about 15 acres left in the last field.

flying belgian · Nov 28, 2020

Clock means nothing to me in the fall. Go until I can't stay awake. Then set alarm for 6 hours and go again. You might see me farming at 3 am. and sleeping at 3 pm. I have good lites on everything.

fixerupper · Nov 28, 2020

I plowed 36 hours straight one time in my younger days. The ground was freezing and I wanted to get done. Three years ago I planted beans 24 hours straight but I had auto steer and all the electronic gizmos to keep things straight. Its amazing how much longer a person can run if the tractor has auto steer.

SVcummins · Nov 28, 2020

It’s fun to run all those hours and see just what you can get done in a week . There is time to relax when the snow flies unless the snow really flies then I get to move snow

Kow Farmer · Nov 28, 2020

The latest I ever remember moldboard plowing was until 4 am in the morning. I wanted to get done. I went home to bed and woke up at 10 am and the ground was white. It snowed like crazy after I plowed all night. Good memories in a Case 4890 4 wheel drive tractor and a 7/16 international plow. Kow Farmer Kurt. 🐂👩‍🌾

SVcummins · Nov 28, 2020

Someone still calls it decoration day

gajack · Nov 29, 2020

As a younger man, on Friday nights, home from work,
eat, quick shower, (always a pick-me-up), then into the shop for the all nighter. Engine rebuilds, installs,
welding, fab work,
Used those extra funds to help payoff my house, and the doctor bills for the baby.
Making life better. So good that she took the spare cash and the baby and off and gone.
good luck to all, jac

NEKS · Nov 29, 2020

Brother had a wheatland 930 Case and a 4 bottom Oliver plow. Had a lot of plowing to do so rented a 2 plus 2 and plow from IH dealer. When he returned it the dealer says you can't have all that ground plowed yet. Didn't tell dealer he plowed all night long.

Steve@Advance · Nov 29, 2020

gajack, I did a few of those all night engine rebuilds!

Only to wake up the terror that I forgot to ________! (fill in the blank)

Out it comes, just to be sure!

Bill(Wis) · Nov 29, 2020

My uncle went to work for the County when he was 18 years old. Retired from the County when he was 65. Plowed snow for 36 straight hours more than once.

fastfarmall · Nov 29, 2020

Oh i am sure a neighbor or some one eventually told him!

oliverplow · Nov 29, 2020

When I was in my early 20s and still milking in a 60 cow tie stall barn, one night I started chisel plowing at 10;30 and went until 5;30 and then it was time to milk again. Spent the whole doing the usual chores. Also in that era, we used a Hesston stacker and many nights I'd stack until midnight-2 am. But then in those days many nights I'd live it up until midnight-2 am and work all next day. Not anymore!

Blackhole49 · Nov 29, 2020

Before I retired from the City, I went to work at 7:30 am Friday morning and left for home at noon on Sunday. We had a 2 major snow storms back to back. After my shift in the Water Dept. ended at 4 pm Fri., I got in a plow truck and stayed there, accept for meal breaks, until noon on Sunday. As an emergency service, we were allowed to work as many hrs. as we could tolerate. That was my limit.

Hockeygoon · Nov 29, 2020

I worked at IBP in the mid 1980s. Their unionized plants went on strike and we had all the overtime hours we could handle. During the week they normally kept shifts at 8 hours, on weekends they ramped up the hours - the rumor was USDA ran limited inspections on Saturday so the normal cleanup time was cut extremely short. Several weeks in a row I would skip my Friday college classes and work a double shift on Friday and another double shift on Saturday - usually the Friday was two 10s and the Saturday was two 10s. Friday morning the shift started at 5:45, two 10 hour shifts later it was 4:00 in the morning Saturday. I would leave work, go eat breakfast, drink some beer then come back in work two more 10 hour shifts getting off work at 4:00 in the morning on Sunday. Then I would sleep.

Fordy20 · Nov 29, 2020

Heard a story about a hired man plowing at night with a crawler in eastern Oregon. He fell asleep and they found him a few miles away in the morning. Long furrow!

ztrmowers · Nov 29, 2020

last time i had my combine i cut beans all night to finish. pulled out of field a 6.30 am with rain getting heavy on way home. last time been involved in harvest. trucks were still in field but were tarped. all cash rented out now that is put into crops, make money every year now instead of one in five if lucky

mb58 · Nov 30, 2020

Back in the early 50’s, my great uncle owned a lot of row-crop land and he had 2 Oliver 60’s and ran a day crew and night crew when preparing the land. Only stop to eat and fuel up, until your shift ended.

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