This is the view of combining from the end of the field. The closer combine is unloading into the grain cart. The combine that is further away is ready to unload also and he has put his auger out so the grain cart operator knows to come unload him. When they are done unloading, the auger is put back against the side of the combine just by moving a switch.
Here is the view from inside the combine from the passenger seat. At our farm barley usually gets swathed and the combine has a pick up header to pick up the swathes. Swathing is done so that the grain dries out and speeds up the start of harvest. The down side of swathing is rain. Those swathes can get really wet and stay that way for a long time if we get a rainy fall. Our grain is raised to be seed to be processed in our seed plant and rain will damage the color and quality of the seed. If it is wet long enough it will actually sprout in the swath and that ruins it for anything except maybe livestock feed.
This is the unloading process. They usually try to unload "on the go". That is unloading while still combining. They used to stop at the trucks to unload which made everything take much longer but now that they have a grain cart they can unload while still moving and it speeds up the whole harvest.
It takes some practice to learn how to be just the right distance from the combine and the right distance in front of it and the right speed so everything lines up just right and the grain goes in the cart and not on the ground!
The grain cart then goes to the edge of the field where the trucks are parked and unloads into them. The trucks then go to one of our bin sites and unloads into a bin for storage until harvest is done and they are ready to start cleaning the grain for seed.It is a bit hard to see but there is dust in most all of these pictures. Barley dust is the itchiest stuff around. If you get into barley dust don't rub your eyes or scratch yourself. That will make it just that much more miserable. Ask me how I know!!
