Michigan Sugar Beet Harvest near Ruth

Michigan Sugar Beet Harvest near Ruth - In this video I am out in a sugar beet field near Ruth Michigan as they are digging, piling and hauling beets out of the field that will be hauled to a nearby processing plant and made into sugar. In this video you will see a Grimme Rexor 630 self propelled sugar beet harvester topping and digging beets and side loading them into a crop cart pulled by a Challenger MT755D tractor which stock piles the beets at the edge of the field. Then in another field they are loading the stock piled beets with a Rope Maus into semi truck where they will be hauled to the processor.

[@MachineryTechnologyMedia]

"Industrial agriculture is witnessing awe-inspiring innovation, and modern machinery is truly at its core. Thank you for bringing such informative content!"

[@jhlane1977]

Plenty of those types of machines over here in the Uk where I live. Not so many Grimme machines, but plenty of Vervaet, Agrifac, ROPA and Holmer self propelled models. Most farms have a contractor come and lift their beet. 6 row machines like this most common due to road width limits but there are 9 and 12 rows around. There used to be conversions built mainly I think in the 60s and 70s of tractors as the power unit sat on top of a harvester- quite odd looking but if you Google standen solobeet you’ll see what I mean. There are four factories for beet in the UK, mainly in the eastern part north of London.

[@masterofdisaster9484]

I love Sugarbeets Cool video and great Music Choice Buddy

[@tamiller84]

Thanks for the great video and aerial footage. Sugar beets are grown in Western Minnesota as well. There is a processing plant near Renville, MN. In that area, there is typically a separate topper and a lifter pulled by tractors. The lifter typically is dumping directly into tractor trailers and the trucks then head to the beat dumps in the area. Great to see different equipment. Thanks Mike.

[@pd2953]

Very nice to see german machinery on big American fields showing their true potential. Beet harvest is in full swing here in Germany, and maybe next week I get to drive the Maus some time... Stock piling is common here as well, when the temperatures get below freezing the piles are covered with wheat straw or cloth for frost protection. Yields here are quite good this year due to rain, but sugar content is not perfect because not enough sunlight.

[@mauricemotors8207]

Fendt is my favorite German tractor and I’m American lol

[@sarah_farm]

I never missed one video of yours,the food you made for your family looks very delicious and healthy,you are blessed to have an extraordinary talent,thanks for sharing your life with us

[@MonkPetite]

Nice to see a Dutch machine roaming the world

[@chrissyfrancis8952]

I’m amazed at all the AG equipment ingenuity! I wonder what farmers from a 100 years ago would think.

[@samspade4634]

Forget can corn .. when you get can beets, you have problems. Lol. This video is among my favorites. The drone shot from above the harvester might be the coolest thing yet. Thanks for sharing Mike. Great stuff.

[@pinemed142]

I work in the thumb of Michigan at pioneer sugar. Thank you for the video. Those are called mouse beets that are pilled in the wind row. We are in full swing at the processing plant. I’m a full time year around employee. Thanks again for your visit to the thumb of Michigan.

[@davegdm954]

I've used these tools including the ropa at the end in farming simulator for many hours but its cool to see them be used in real life.

[@johnmccann3964]

Thanks for the awesome footage! 👍

[@mrjdeal]

Hey mike, I farm sugar beets in the southern red river valley in Minnesota. We use a combination of trucks and carts with a tractor pulling a lifter and another one pulling a topper. Nice footage of harvesting in Michigan.

[@paulpochan9631]

Good lookin' tractor and beet cart.... hopefully you can get make/model of beet cart next trip....

[@garylyczewski2414]

Southern Alberta Canada sugar beet grower too! Maybe you can make a trip this way one day.

[@kaveman477]

Hey i worked the croswell pilling sites for 2 years now. Pretty cool seeing em pulled

[@markreetz1001]

Great video Mike! That machine and the offset while harvesting are interesting. There is cab corn, cab wheat, cab kernals, now we have hood beets. Good stuff Mike.

[@MrKaba1985]

The offset is for protecting the soil against comparison. The Holmer Company is having an self Propelled system for liquid manure or as spray and also having an beet implement or for corn and wheat. Working the same way.

[@DG-ne8iq]

You are accurate in your comments, I am a subscriber and your shots well done. I am surprised to see your US beet harvesting yards quite archaic compared to our Europe. The growers have less surface than in America, but they group together to have a common harvesting machine, or else a service provider. The comments you received from my compatriots are complete (like Al Ward). I have nothing to add except: how much are beets paid in the USA? Daniel frenchfarm retired. France.

[@kevinhesprich8349]

That was very interesting 🤔 👌

[@bobsmith1814]

🤩 what a great video. That beet harvester and loaders are a couple of impressive machines

[@deancook6832]

Very cool video. I laughed at the sugar beet version of "cab corn" where some beets had spilled onto the top of the engine compartment in the back.

[@StarrMan1961]

There use to be a lot of edible beans raised in the thumb area but not sure how much any more. Great video.

[@thumbfarmer7417]

There is still a lot grown in the thumb. But probably not as many as 20-30 years ago being All the dairy farms that have showed up in that time period. Much of the farm ground is now needed for cattle feed

[@bigt6359]

My cousins farm about 3500 acres of edible beans in the thumb area...look up Bayside Best Beans. They also plant 800 -1200 acres of sugar beets, corn for cattle that is taken as earilge, wheat, rye, and soybeans are used for crop rotation...It is a very fertile area of the country and a climate suitable for beans and beets...cool nights.

[@StarrMan1961]

@@bigt6359 I live in Eaton county Mi, there was a lot of navy beans raised in the area in the day and a lot of farmers from the thumb area use to haul beans to Minor Walton Bean Elevator, this would have been in the 70’s and early 80’s. Minor Walton is no longer there, Citizens Elevator has taken over that elevator.

[@ScottPykare]

Really enjoyed watching Mike. Thanks 👍

[@levikuipers3543]

I am in ND in Wahpeton for college and have been helping with beet harvest and was running cart this weekend we are about done only 10,000 acers left in the valley.

[@mra95662]

A lot of different industries go into the end game of the beet harvest. I,Pencil by Leonard E. Reed is great explanation.

[@jayhill5982]

Interesting to see beats harvested with this system,seems better because you can get the beets out of the ground before it gets wet and muddy and not have to wait on the trucks to get back from the piling grounds,I drove beet trucks for a lot of years and it's no fun when it gets wet. You have to pull the semis around the fields with a tractor and then out on the road and we would dig and load trucks as late as the factory was open,usually midnight and then load trucks to take first thing in the morning at 7,makes for a l o n g day lol. Fortunately they have a piling grounds near Ruth so the farmers don't have to make the 80 mile round trip to the factory in Sebewaing ! Great video's,always enjoy seeing farming being done,keep up the good content !

[@johnfranklin8319]

I love seeing the ingenuity of different types of farming equipment.

[@bradlewis5496]

My brother-in-law used to raise sugar beats by saverance Colorado We had a 2 row International beat digger pulled by 806 lnternational harvester tractor

[@christiandietz6341]

Very informative! Thank you for your time! 👍

[@marcag3597]

I do grow sugar beets in France and my contractor own the same Grimme Rexxor.

[@kennethgreen2829]

Really interesting to see how sugar beet is done over your side of the pond. We grow a lot of in over here and a couple of years ago our contractor had a Vervaet Beet Eater, if memory serves it was a 925 Evo, and I was lucky enough to be allowed to run it on a few rounds up and down the field. Like nothing I had ever operated and the speed it harvested at was crazy, it was either a six or nine row machine, boy did it eat up the acres.

[@gelbeschublade8421]

Hi Mike, 15-20 Mäuse (One Maus, Two Mäuse) are built every year. 90% builds Ropa. The other 10% is built by Holmer. This company also comes from Germany. Holmer doesn't call the machine Maus but "Terra Felis". Felis comes from Latin and means cat. Conicidence? I do not think so. If you have any questions about the Maus , feel free to get in touch. I drive one of these machines in Germany.

[@markellars9245]

Amazing machinery Mike!!!! Thanx

[@bobogilvie4472]

What a difference sixty years make.

[@chrissyfrancis8952]

I LOVE pickled red beets, well, MY pickled beets. I use an old fashioned recipe, ppl either love it or hate it, I’ll eat the full bushel I canned this year!

[@fightingsioux637]

Good video Mike! I am up in Warren MN(Red River Valley) between Grand Forks and Drayton ND. I’m sure you remember going by American Crystal Sugar factory by Drayton when your going up to Winnipeg. There are a few self propel machines in our area but still more pull type lifters. Most farmers are now running 12 row machines here. I hope to see you at a Big Iron in Fargo one year. Take Care.

[@tompreiss5010]

The cart looks like one of those custom jobs?????😳😳😳😳😳

[@andreasbergman4017]

I worked around a Holmer in 1998 and it was terrible conditions that year in sweden, it just kept raining and raining the whole season. One of the big advantages of a selfpropelled machine compared to a pulltype is that it is going on ”virgin ground”. It was so wet that year that the tractor pulling the beetlifter mowed the rows sideways causing alot of problems. In the worst fields we were going with two tractors on one machine, do I need to say that it was not much fun?

[@stephenellis4392]

Here is Idaho we grow a lot of sugar beets! We have several large processing plant!

[@MrPummi88]

Schön die deutsche Technik überall auf der Welt zu sehen ❤️

[@stevebinns9421]

very interesting video. sure enjoyed it.

[@brianblanchard9706]

Mike you should come down to south Louisiana for sugar cane harvest in October November or December

[@colewperry]

Crookston, MN in the Red River Valley. We run amity 12 row beet lifter and amity 12 row topper!

[@susantreibs6593]

I remember seeing the sugar beets many years ago in Washington state.

[@Danny_Don1]

German machines are awesome 👍

[@lennissytsma5503]

Good how you start by explaining sugar beets, before you show us big machines. In western Nebraska, around Imperial and panhandle Scotts Bluff Nebraska, I grew up respecting Sugar Beets.

[@JDrostAgricultureVideoNL]

Very nice video, greetings Johan

[@wfarms3341]

We have amity technology sugar beet equemnt in the red river vally of Minnesota

[@johnbeldon635]

The Michigan train.

[@Jay_Force_One]

Damn. They got all the equipment from Farming Simulator 22.

[@joeroy02]

Awesome equipment

[@brucewelty7684]

stalkpiling?

[@RomeKG471]

Like they say "Go big or go home" lol

[@edharnish3294]

My question is when the Harvester cut the tops off the beats what happens to them they seem to disappear?

[@Raydubbs90]

What is the white truck doin behind the semi

[@derrickmiddleton6046]

Are these beets planted in 30'' or 22" rows?

[@adrianchetwynd1334]

Most likely 18"

[@ohiofarmer254]

Could that beet lifter be used on other root crops like taters onions or carrots

[@jeffreyhershey5754]

No totally different setup especially for potatoes

[@anilmayil]

I am from india. Please explain. How will you supply water for crops.. here in india, we supply through channels. But in this video, i see, no gap between crops.

[@Beyonder8335]

They don’t irritate they just get enough rain water to supply the crop.

[@andreasbergman4017]

They are quite challenging to get up on dry ground when they are buried to the frame.

[@mysterj1]

What would you call that blue forage cart that unloads with a side belt? I've never seen another piece of farm equipment like that. Would that be called an auger wagon?

[@farmhandmike]

The generally call those a crop cart.

[@mysterj1]

@@farmhandmike thanks!

[@rgendrud8695]

where can i get a farmhand mike hat?

[@Daveco82]

what is the reason they designed the harvester to cat walk?

[@seanadamson280]

Why so many wheels?

[@edwardaugur4153]

We use buy beet pulp in100lb bags 40 years ago to feed to dairy cows.

[@scottrosevold3645]

Great video!! I was wondering what type of beet cart that is? It looks like a older version of a Amity. I grow sugarbeets in the rrv ND.

[@xrude7875]

this way of digging beet looks like there's a lot more dirt

[@uhitskyle]

Niiiice

[@markrskinner]

A common sight here in the "Fens" of the UK.

[@dogwoodish]

value of equipment?

[@farmboy5622]

You just can't "beet" good videos like this!!!

[@gerardjohnson2106]

How it's done

[@jimknowlton342]

Did my part to get you to 100 thousand subscribers!

[@johndoe-og8io]

Holmer terra dos t440

[@SoerenBruunJensen]

The reason the Grimme has that ‘kink’ in its ‘tail’ is to spread the load for less compaction and better grip in wet soil. The selfpropelled harvester has also the advantage, that it doesn’t stomp the beets in the ground in wet conditions, so the quality and yield is better.

[@SimonKL11]

A contractor near me runs ropa beet harvesters. Some years ago they had holmer harvesters, sometimes three machines worked in one field. Almost every farm around me make silage from the 'trash' that is left over, when the beets get processed, it makes great feed for the dairy cows. Nice video again, hopefully we'll see more beet harvest videos from you😉👍Greetings from germany👍

[@jeffreyhershey5754]

I buy the sugar beet pulp for the beef cattle and feed that along with hay in the winter months it's a good feed and you can't keep the deer out of it either

[@bunnywarren]

There's a Dutch company that uses a harvester to collect the leaves before the roots are harvested. I think it's still quite a new idea they are trialling but they create protein powder from the leaves because they are 1-3% protein by weight. The leaves are collected similar to how you would for leafy green like spinach.

[@jeffreyhershey5754]

@@bunnywarren interesting over here they just use a rotobeeter and flail the tops and it just goes back on the ground and gets tillid back in the soil after the harvest when they do fall tilling

[@MrKaba1985]

​@bunnywarren this is a really old use from the leafs. In east Germany it was normal harwest first 1 machine taking the leavs from the beets into a trailer or truck. I have seen machines like the rexor in German videos with a belt in the front for the leav silage.

[@andyhutch8262]

The front toppers have steering sensors, bit like GPS, it steers to the rows, also you see the wheels crabbing, this is to spread the machines weight to prevent compaction, each wheel is running on fresh ground, we have had these machines quite a few years now in the UK.

[@Farmer-dt5qf]

over in the uk we call it foder beet

[@cameronsimonton2515]

Quite interesting beet harvesting process; great quality; the soundtrack has a nice beat. Thanks for posting.

[@jayh8490]

is there a reason why its rear wheels dog track like that? maybe soil compaction perhaps? be interesting to know

[@garnetab]

In "Trucker" lingo, that 8 axle trailer is called a centipede. And that's where the rubber meets the road ;)

[@krooboo5558]

Seeing that "centipede" I wondered: What makes it necessary to have that many axles? Doesn't the long contact area impede maneuverability and increase tire wear? Why not use dual tires but less axles? I'm sure there is a reason for it, but it's not obvious to me. Also, at 18:12 you can see that the axles aren't completely parallel as some tires appear to be shiftet to either side. Any explanations?

[@mikeythompson1453]

My dad was running that maus

[@alexthomson719]

Great video Mike nice to see something different to corn harvest what a massive machine thanks again 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👍👍

[@christiandietz6341]

The crab-steering always amazes me. Many thanks for the video!

[@jamesbarbour8400]

Another well filmed and informative video - thank you Mike. Good to see the use of tracks to reduce soil compaction.

[@diersirrigation]

What is the purpose of the pickup behind the truck?

[@farmhandmike]

Just for safety so nobody runs into the semi I think.

[@plowboy7700]

We have them here in western Nebraska. My neighbor has a Ropa sell propelled digger. He was the first around here to have one. Has run one for 10 to 15 years. They have a beet cart them made themselves. I would like to compare the Ropa to the machine you have shown here. Beets are a major crop here. I get the beet pulp that is left our from the processing plant and pack it like silage. Then feed cows in the winter. I enjoy watching the beet harvest. I just don't like all the truck traffic. Back in the 40s they used to load the piles on trains to haul to the factory. A lot of moves parts for sure.

[@stanbrow]

Never saw an 8 axle trailer before. Any idea how much weight these trailers carry?

[@hughmackellar7941]

The 4th area for sugarbeets is SW Ont. We have 10,000 acres contracted to Michigan Sugar.

[@celerystox]

I had no idea sugar beets were that big. Any reason why the harvester crabs down the field?

[@martingardener90]

So each wheel runs on a fresh piece of ground and there is less compaction.

[@roryweber817]

One year I hauled Sugarbeets to an S&h sugar plant west of Goodland Kansas

[@michiganfarmer5136]

What farm is this is it Ryan Roggenbuck

[@jameshall3422]

Hi mike yea we grow sugar beets here in idaho

[@CampingCarlUwU]

Hmmmm Ruth im not sure if those beets would go to the big factory in bay city or the one i work at and im just a bagger at the Croswell plant 50lbs and 100lbs bags

[@tomparth3398]

They might be taking them to sebewing or Caro,a lot closer. We have 7 axle trailers,Haul 40 tons .

[@lynngauvreau8907]

Hi Mike have any videos from Canada

[@rolandocastillo85]

Used to help a few farmers around the Perrysburg ohio area haul beets to fremont ohio which the silo and the warehouse is still used for storage it used to be a big deal it ended in the late 90s in the early 2000 they tired do a coop but didn't work so many harvester and equipment was for sale everywhere if you take a drive near fremont ohio you can still spot some harvesters sitting behind barns

[@farmhandmike]

Yes I remember seeing sugar beets off of the turnpike in those areas many years ago

[@chichard86]

Southern Idaho has sugar beets too.

[@mickdog2]

MN grows beets too

[@aydensaunders3371]

Way more beets towards the center of Michigan

[@stevealber9779]

Mike how do u like our gravel trains?

[@mpchmr1317]

why so many axles?