Your helper better be old enough

[Jules Richardson]

I remember driving one of my uncles' combines aged about 13 (with him riding in the cab too) - that was a MF... google suggests it was likely an 860 with a 6-row head. Of course with all that metal behind the driver and the fact that they were rear-steer, they were quite interesting things to drive; rear visibility wasn't exactly the best! I seem to recall it being standard practice to always approach the combine from the front-left or front-right, i.e. out of the way of the cutting head but where the driver could easily see you.

No GPS or cell phones back then, of course, but I don't remember having radios either - not that it was possible to hear a damn thing in the cab anyway.

Hmm, fond memories of riding back to the stores in the full grain trailers, too - H+S probably doesn't allow that kind of thing these days :-)

Hard to do that and determine that it's a human being rather than all kinds of field critters trying to get out of the way, though.

I don't remember dead man switches on any of the farm equipment, only emergency stop switches - but maybe they have them these days.

The one that used to scare me was the potato riddler (possibly just a regional name for them?), for sorting out debris from the potatoes and knocking some of the dirt off - that was a huge clattering behemoth of a thing with open-chain drives, and workers would stick their hands into it to remove the bits that the machine had missed or to take out potatoes that were obviously no good before they made it onto the trailers.

cheers

Jules

[HeyBub]

Ah, but what if your field is infested with corn-husker rodents or Wheat Thiner weasels?

Machine stops. You dismount and shoo off the rodent. Climb back aboard and restart. Travel ten feet, rinse and lather.

Maybe there could be an attachement, like a loud horn, to scare away the obstacle?

[Steven L.]

It's a good thing these rules didn't happen until after CBS aired their reality show for kids, "Kid Nation":

(start viewing at 6:52)

-- Steven L.

[Dean Hoffman]

Wheat is usually cut at about knee high or so. The grain is at the top of the plant. The actual ear of corn is about shoulder high or so depending on the variety and other factors. The corn heads strip the ear from the plant keeping most of the plant out of the combine. Critter pieces shouldn't be a problem for either. Soybeans are cut a couple inches off of the ground. I guess modern bean heads have automatic controls to tilt the head and raise or lower it as needed. There is an elevator nearby that processes food grade grain. I'm not sure what all is involved. I spend a lot of time in fields. It's very seldom that I surprise an animal. One time I was walking through a grass waterway and almost stepped on a skunk. One more step and life would've been most unpleasant. I doubt animals are too concerned about farm equipment. It travels in predictable lines and makes plenty of noise. Only the very young ones would be in trouble during field operations. Most farmers in my area are using some sort of conservation farming practice. They don't tear up the ground like they did when my Dad was farming.