Nov/Dec 2008
Following the Cash Grain Harvest
Running a combine has always been Monte Ahrens’ favorite part of farming. “I grew up on a farm in Ravenna, Nebraska, and went on the harvest a couple of years with other guys. I liked it and always wanted to do it,” he says.
So, it was no surprise that this year, he decided to start a full-time custom harvest business. Before starting his business full-time, he had taken over his dad Milton’s farm and was doing custom harvest for neighbors.
“When Dad passed away, we had 2,400 to 2,700 acres depending on the year. It was just me and my wife, and we worked seven days a week. It was too many hours,” he says.
He wanted to stay in farming, so he kept 500 acres that his family owned and gave up the acres he was renting. “With the input costs of farming going up I had to. I rented over 2,000 acres and just the cost increase in rent almost doubled in the last six years. Pretty soon, I was working for the bank and not for myself. With custom work, my wife could quit her job and the kids could come with us,” he says. Monte and his wife, Carolyn, have six children. The two youngest Cody, 16, and Whittney, 12, go on the harvest with them.
To build up his customer base, Monte put an ad in the High Plains Journal and got in his pickup and started driving. He handed out business cards in Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma and asked a lot of questions to learn how things work in each area. He also became a member of U.S. Custom Harvesters, Inc. (www.uschi.com) and has found that to be an invaluable resource for networking, finding jobs, learning the ins and outs of custom harvesting, and finding a crew.
“It’s hard to find people to work because everybody wants to be home by 5 p.m.,” he says. “So far, I have a heck of a good crew. My biggest fear was keeping a crew together. I hired four locals and two South Africans and they all work together well,” he says.
He connected with the two men from South Africa through his networking at USCHI. At the convention, he talked with businesses that work internationally to place workers. They take care of the application process and market currency fluctuations to make sure everyone involved benefits from the hire.
Equipment choice
The other important job Monte had to do before getting started with his new business was get equipment. He had never run New Holland before, and bought his first CR9060 last year. He was attracted to the combine’s floating sieve. “I watched for four years to make sure it would hold up, and it does. They are put together well,” he says. “I can keep a steady speed when cutting now versus what I could do before going up and down hills.”
He bought another CR9060 this year and uses the two combines for all his harvesting. “We’ll do about 7,000 acres of wheat and then instead of going north, we are going back to Oklahoma and cut corn,” he says. “We’ll do 12,000 to 13,000 acres in the fall of corn and beans. We have New Holland’s 12-row corn heads with flex drapers for the beans and wheat.”
Monte likes a lot of things about the CR9060 besides the floating sieves. “l also like the IntelliView™ Plus II technology and the cabs, because they are roomier and more operator friendly,” he says.
He operates a combine during harvest and spends anywhere from 10 to 18 hours each day. “I like the interloading auger capacity and angle they have up, and definitely the twin rotors. I’ve always had one, and twin is the way to go,” he says. “In weedier fields we can still clean the crop, between the sieves and the higher fan speeds in the twin rotors. Because New Holland doesn’t use straw walkers, it makes a big difference and you can clean the crop better,” he says.
Of course, with a new business, especially a farming one, challenges happen. But, with Monte’s networking with other harvesters and with New Holland’s Harvest Support Team always at the ready, Monte has been able to see them through. “We lost a transmission down in Oklahoma and the Harvest Support Team had one on board,” he says.
Mother Nature also had her way this year. “The thing that got me was the rain, it caused a lot of problems – it’s been everywhere,” he says. “Northern Oklahoma’s and Kansas’ wheat were done at the same time. It started raining in Oklahoma, and we were stuck. We started networking with other harvesters to switch jobs. We can communicate on the Internet and also when we go to the trailer park at night,” he says.
Living the life of a custom harvest family has been challenging this first year, but also a great experience. There are always new things to adapt to when moving into different communities but networking and socializing with other harvesters is a help.
Living everyday life in a camping trailer has been “a learning experience as far as cooking,” says Carolyn. “I’m used to cooking for six kids but this is different cooking for the crew.”