Harvesting durum wheat on the Canadian prairies with John Deere equipment

Canadian Amber Durum is a variety of wheat that is noted for the production of all pasta products. This video describes how the harvesting of this cereal grain was achieved over 30 years ago in the province of Saskatchewan using John Deere machinery to efficiently move the grain from the field to the bin.

[@scruffy6151]

Many may think the way things are done now days is the best. The thing is weeds are getting harder to kill every year and more problems with grain being more toxic. New and improved does always mean better. Great video and thank you for taking the time to make them.

[@DeereDon]

I have no reason whatsoever to disagree with anything you just stated.

[@NorthEastSaskFarmer]

Wish my own farm took videos like this in those days. We have some old footage of meals in the field together in late 80s and through the 90s, but no equipment moving

[@DeereDon]

You will have to give credit to Mrs. DeereDon as she was the person behind the lens who was basically browbeaten into taking the many various videos.

[@brentreid7031]

We ran a 7720 back then. Good combine. Yup back when Durham Wheat was still considered good for you. Not poison like low carb diets now days claim. Thank you for the video.

[@kyleshores432]

Which is both funny and sad at the same time, humans have been eating it for thousands of years, but now some jugheads go to college and magically, wheat is a death penalty.....whole new form of ignorance in society.......

[@thebreakofdon5188]

Very nice videos. I really enjoy the narration as well. I find it interesting, your operation afforded and justified a brand new combine. Not the biggest in the john deere line up of the time. But a machine that was sized to fit your operation. Nowadays there's one size. Any farmer looking at brand new combines is not going to be able to get by with just one. That's direction of everything I guess.

[@dejavu6475]

Love your story and you tell it very well. Can't wait to see and hear the next one. Keep up the great work.

[@shawnmurphy4078]

Great video. Love the machines of the past.

[@Military-Museum-LP]

I greatly appreciate your videos. Thank you Sir.

[@ericwill1239]

Another great video! Thanks again for sharing and looking forward to the next one!

[@shaneholst6940]

There's a few of them 800 swathers and 6620 still going around here ! Thanks for sharing! 👍

[@ziggysanderson]

Really enjoy these videos! Grew up on a farm near Lake Lenore, seeing and hearing this equipment brings back fond memories.

[@DeereDon]

Just wondering, are you still on this farm, or have you ventured into something different?

[@ziggysanderson]

@@DeereDon Unfortunately not, out on the west coast.

[@myrontaylor4250]

We're having spaghetti tonight enjoyed your video

[@Cereal_Farmer]

Fantastic quality for the time, great narration! Thanks for sharing!

[@samtalley791]

Great video again. Awesome picture quality for the time. Kind of interesting I am running a 4400 combine and hauling with a GMC straight truck. Wish I could convince my wife to drive it. Looks like you took excellent care of your equipment

[@DeereDon]

Thanks for your comments. I will admit my 6620 never spent one night outside from the time I bought it (1983) until it left this yard (1995). Being a small farmer did not allow me to spend wads of $$$$ on new machinery every year, what I owned had to last.

[@samtalley791]

@@DeereDon I believe you did an above excellent job taking care of things. Guys like you are role models to me. I try to take pride in keeping equipment nice as I can. I prefer older machines that have a feelings vs newer ones.

[@oilersridersbluejays]

I’m in NW Saskatchewan. Durum is extremely rare here if not non-existent. Dad tried a quarter a couple times in the late 80s when I was a wee lad but never did try it again. Truth be told, I don’t desiccate anything. Every acre I have is swathed, be it cereals, canola, or flax. I don’t own a high clearance sprayer and really see no need for one. I don’t use fungicides or dessicants. I do use herbicides with my pull type sprayer, but that’s the limit of my spraying. My fields are still clean, and I’ll do a pre-burn or post-harvest application. I don’t even own a straight cut header, heck I don’t even have a self-propelled combine. I have two 1682 Case pull types. One is hooked to the 7140 Magnum. The other is a spare/backup that is on the Case 2590. I do the majority of the field work alone (1900 acres) but if I get some harvest help, the second 1682 comes out if I have a truck driver already. Swathing works well in my opinion. A person doesn’t use much fuel and I can swath a lot of acres in a day by myself, and even more so if my second swather has an operator. Love your videos keep them coming!

[@DeereDon]

Hi, you certainly cover a fair amount of acres with those two pull-types each year, and if the weather should change it probably makes for even more difficult circumstances. I certainly enjoy reading about your varied farming situation, it seems very similar to what I did for 40 years, more or less Just curious, whereabouts in this province is your farm, no need for direct locations, just a generalized area so I have an "idea" where you call home. On another note, I am working on another You Tube video at this very moment, should be ready for publishing maybe at the end of this week, if not, then early next week for sure. After that there will be one more and then unfortunately I will have run out of archival film from back 30 years ago. Not sure what path I will take at that point in time as I am no longer involved with farming to any great degree.

[@NorthEastSaskFarmer]

Sounds familiar! I run a 1682 on a case magnum 220, and have a 2594 as a back up.

[@SouthSaskFarmer1]

Pretty cool old swather! Any reason you opted not to get a chopper?

[@DeereDon]

Sorry for not getting back to you on this, just discovered it while doing some late night back checking. At the time the combine arrived like this, wasn't sure if the engine would have the power, plus when making summerfallow at the time was concerned about leaving enough straw on the ground as soil is subject to drifting if overworked. Again, my apologies.

[@NorthEastSaskFarmer]

Did you ever run a pull type on your 4240 or 4455? In those days my farm had a 1482 combine on a Ford tw30, and earlier a 914 on a IH 1066

[@ohioplowboyhawk6738]

Nice work 👍

[@ddversatile]

Great video!

[@stevenstart8728]

As an Aussie farmer I have to have a chuckle when a Canadian says they are from an arid climate. The tall heavy yielding crops and lush trees tell a different story to what is arid here. It’s all relative to what’s around you I guess.

[@DeereDon]

I am quite pleased that I have a viewer from so far away, and I am also interested in what they have to say at the same time. You are correct when you state that it is totally relative to the circumstances around you, in fact I use that term to a very large extent myself. It sort of like when I hear that somebody mentions that the weather is "cool" in their part of the world, that may be so, but yesterday morning we woke up to minus 40C, which is also exactly minus 40F. Now that was a bit "cool", but I am still alive today, looking out at the white stuff on the ground, and it certainly is not beach sand I am staring at. Just curious, and you do not need to respond, but which "district" of Australia are you located in?

[@stevenstart8728]

DeereDon well yes it is quite cool here today. It is only in the mid to high 20s Celsius at midday today. I nearly had to put on a jumper at sunrise this morning. Minus 40 is not cool, that is bloody torture. The coolest I have experienced is -20 c in a cool room at the local abattoir while on a group tour. Our farm is in the Wimmera district of Western Victoria. We live in a small community called Crowlands which is on the banks of the Wimmera river. Our area is a mixed farming area growing grain crops and running sheep and some beef.

[@dejavu6475]

Love you man!

[@jimheitkemper8216]

thank uou

[@DeereDon]

You are most certainly welcome!!

[@Military-Museum-LP]

You don’t sound old enough to be retired. Do you miss farming?

[@DeereDon]

Dear Sir: I am a month shy of turning 68, and about 10 years ago I had achieved what I had set out to do so many years before, and that was to say that I had seeded 40 crops. Do I miss farming? Yes, the first couple of years it was difficult, but with the current trend that I see in agriculture today, no, don't miss it in the least. Thank you for taking the time to watch my videos, and thank you for your interesting comments.