Thought maybe some of you might like to see how we harvested crops here in days gone by. 1973 to be precise. Thats me on the 730 Case tractor and its pulling a 460 combine picking up what must be the poorest excuse for an oat? swath. That must have been a dry year. Those belt pickups were only adequate on a good swath. ON a poor skimpy little swath like the one in the picture they would miss quite a bit even going slow. Sitting out there in the dust is something I sure don't miss. Thats the Cockshutt 50 in the background hitched to the hopper wagon. This 730 is identical but not the same one that I have now.

My first combine was a John Deere 42 pull type that I pulled with my Case 700. I used it for part of the 1972 harvest. This was an exceptionally wet fall. I had dual wheels made from  New Idea spreader wheels. Had to park the truck on the road to dump. Finally got too wet to run and had to wait till the ground had frozen. By then I had an IH 303 combine with a cab. This was by far the most miserable piece of machinery I ever owned. Traded in 1974 for a 1 year old IH 715. I was in heaven with that machine. Was a gas engine so was very thirsty. Had a 50 gallon tank and could run 7 hours alright, but would run out in 7 hours and 15 minutes.

Ralph, Is your current 730 a diesel? Somehow I was under the impression it was a Gas tractor.

You mention the belt pickup is only adequate. I have a Case 200 baler and it is the same way. In a light windrow the pickup fingers just keep flipping the hay forward till it finally spreads it out enough to go under the pickup. In a normal windrow it will feed pretty well as long as I don't try to crowd it.

Gene

Ralph'
The 715 had the 301 IH engine. I believe the same as a 806. I now have my second White 7300. Both have the Chrysler 318. This has been a bulletprooof engine with not a bit of trouble with either. It burns about 4 gallons per hour. I really like the combine as far as running the grain, but it has the worst cab design on the market. All the hydraulics are inside the right cab wall and the heat can be unbearable. It is nice in cold weather and doesn't need a heater. Doesn't have air either.

I can fly over the country in September and October and tell you the fielde that wheat was combined with a new John Deere combine. Nice green strips through the fields. I am sure that it is because the operator just doesn't take time or doesn't know how to make the adjustmente. Wheat here is actually a secondary crop so not a lot of time is spent harvesting it. Our yields here run about 80 to 90 bushels and heard one farmer claim 118 Bu/ac. So maybe the operators are just overrunning the seperators.

My White will run about 3 acres per hour in good wheat or beans. Could probably push it a little harder, but I get greedy about what I leave behind. I get clean samples too and never take a dockage for FM. In wheat I cut lower than needed to get the grain to get a good windrow to bale the straw. 13 foot header makes a nice windrow for my baler.

Gene

Gene, those old Whites (Cockshutts) were good combines and very popular here. I have driven the 542 and my brother still has a 5542. Same as your 7300 with the hydraulics right in the cab. Those cabs were still a lot better than nothing when the weather turned nasty in a late harvest. My Dad nearly froze sitting out finihsing up a field one night in November on an open 542.
I can't imagine 118 bushel wheat. If I get 40 I figure thats a darn good crop although some talk of 50. A 40 bushel crop produces a huge amount of straw to deal with. Heres a pic of the  510 Massey and my brother in his 5542 White. Similar sized machines but the 510 had way more capacity in a heavy crop. I liked that machine.

Yes, I agree they were a comfort in cold weather. I only hobby farm 28 acres, so don't put in many long hours. I used to farm 320 acres and worked a full time job, so spent a lot of nights on the tractors and combine. Always enjoyed working at night and had good lights. Shelling corn till midnight, the heat from the hydraulics was welcome. It was a light machine for the 4 row corn head I had. Even with filled rear tires and weights, it would try to come up on its nose when stopping going downhill with a load. Machine handled it well though.

Gene

When I worked for my buddy's dad while in High school, he had an Oliver 525 and then traded that for a 545. Ran 2 rows on the 525 and 4 rows on the 545. We were in big time them. I believe the 545 became the White 7300 and probably the Cockshutt 5542 with the new owners.

I always plant a wheat variety with a short straw or semi dwarf. The short straw stands much better and doesn't lodge. I may lose a few bushels in yield, but it is a pleasure to cut. Our harvest starts the first week of July, so weeds are usually not a problem.

Gene