Janel: Cuttin’ and truckin’
Holdrege, Nebraska – It’s now October 5th and we’ve been busy cutting high yielding soybeans for a few weeks. They are irrigated but it’s evident there was also good moisture during the growing season because the dryland pivot corners have excellent yields, too. We are blessed to have elevators close by that are typically quick to unload trucks so we can keep on cuttin’ and truckin’.
I enjoy harvest and feel like I can never get enough combine time. I absolutely love it. I have grown up in the custom harvesting business and trucks and combines are what I know! Here’s a little Schemper Harvesting fall harvest history. Back in the 1960s my dad had finished wheat harvest way up north in Cut Bank, Montana and had Gleaner Model A combines at the time. His crew was on the way south to Kansas for fall harvest and stopped in Holdrege. A farmer hired him to harvest here at Holdrege, and the rest is history.
My dad’s been harvesting for years. Just like his dad did before him. I’m lucky enough to get to go to the field with a pro! Our harvesting crew is now into the 4th generation! That’s a long time. Harvesting is a tough business though. There are commercial costs. There are hours upon hours of work and dirt and dealing with weather including rain, wind, hail, etc. We harvest because it’s what we do and we love the land and crops, we want to keep the world fed, we love the family business and have a love of driving trucks and running combines day after day!
There have been many changes here in Phelps County over the years especially with the size of machinery and farms, as well as pivots and yields. Also, there used to be several harvesters that stopped in the Holdrege area. We are the only one left. That demonstrates harvesting is certainly a tough business. Holdrege is home and I love this community. I am always happy to harvest here in the fall. It’s such an honor to harvest for farmers I truly admire here and out on the wheat harvest, too.
When I was growing up there was mostly John Deere and Case combines in this area and very few Gleaners. Nowadays, there’s mostly X9 John Deere combines, a lot of Claas combines, and some Case and Gleaner combines, too. I also see a lot of MacDon headers, Fendt tractors and huge Brent, Elmer’s, and J&M grain carts. I think MacDon is the very best wheat and soybean header on the market. I’d like to demo an X9 or an AF10 or 11 just to see the efficiency and productivity for myself. I am happy with an s780 and FD240, but it’d be interesting to know if there’s really more to gain with capacity. Overall, the yields have increased and so has the size of machinery.
We had a slow time getting fall harvest to start this year. The rain has followed our crew all season long since May. Delays can certainly be frustrating for the crew. When I got back to Nebraska in September we had a couple weeks of rainy weather. Then, once it finally dried up, we’ve been harvesting non-stop! I love the go time of fall harvest. I harvest soybeans and corn. Our Kansas crew harvests corn and milo. Our soybean acres are down from usual due to more corn acres planted this year.
Our weather has been extremely beautiful for harvesting soybeans the past few weeks. Most days have been super sunny with highs in the 80s. We’ve had lots of wind though the past couple of days and that’s helped ripen the soybeans but also taken the corn moisture down. The temperatures are expected to cool down with highs in the 50s, 60s and 70s this week. That won’t dry corn down as quickly as it has been, so it’ll slow up our harvest.
We’ve got a couple of combines harvesting soybeans yet and the rest are harvesting corn. Fall harvest is already flying by as usual. I have also been receiving applications and interviewing for harvest 2026. If anyone would like to go on harvest the full season of May through November, please apply online at www.SchemperHarvesting.com. Best of luck to those in the trucks and combines, putting in the hours and getting the crops harvested that feed the world! Please be safe!
Janel Schemper can be reached at [email protected].
All Aboard Fall Harvest is sponsored by High Plains Journal.
