Megan Klinnert – Klinnert Harvesting
Well, we just finished our Oklahoma run.
Each year we start in our home town. I call it our “vacation” during harvest because if we need help moving equipment, need someone to run and get a part or even have someone watch the kids, we always have a relative or neighbor willing to help. That is a totally different story once we head north.
It started off as any other year – hot, stressful and a day later than what you want. Once we actually got going in a field, though, everyone’s mood always seems to improve. When we cut down here, it’s a unique situation because two of our close friends, that don’t go north, run their combines with us. Four machines in a field can knock out some acres pretty quick. Most of the wheat we cut ran in the mid 20’s which is what most everyone around here averaged due to the drought. We did cut as low as 19 and our best field averaged 41.
We had a couple of setbacks, as there always are. Our old 2388 apparently shook too much moving from one field to another and now we have zero power going to the header. The guys messed with it for two days trying to get it going again and decided to just park it behind the shed and move it to the top of the “winter project” list. This combine hasn’t gone up north with us in years so it doesn’t affect the rest of our run but it sure would have been nice to keep four machines running in Oklahoma.
When the machines start running in the wheat fields, I take over the duties of tending to our cattle. Our momma cows and babies are usually pretty easy-going once we are out of calving season but this year while the guys were cutting, I found myself taking two calves to the vet, one with a broken leg and the other who just looked puny. Doc got them all fixed up and hopefully there won’t be anymore mishaps once we head north.
This is another tough year for both farmers and harvesters with an ongoing drought and acres that seem to lessen with every hail storm that sweeps the Midwest. I was reminded of the perseverance of this breed of people while I was getting cubes for our cake feeder at the elevator. It began as a casual conversation with a neighbor. He asked how the wheat was that we had cut, when we would be heading north and what it looked like up there. After responding to his questions, he lowered his head, looked at the ground and simply said “we will hope for better next year.” I could hear the emotion in his voice. We seem to be hoping for better every year. These seasoned farmers and harvesters have been doing this for a long time and they keep doing it. Hoping and working and praying.
Megan grew up on a dairy in Okarche so the thought of traveling to more states in their first couple of years of life than she did in her childhood makes her chuckle.
Megan’s roles on her crew include mom first, cook, maid, parts chaser, Secretary and equipment mover. All of this while also tending to things at their stationary home and working part time for a local construction company.
