harvest pics.. well sort of

There is harvest going on nearby just not corn or soybeans.

Its time to harvest pumpkins. 80% of all canning pumpkins are raised here in IL.











This field is a mile south of the school at Farmington and a half mile from me. These pumpkins are taken to a cannery in Princeville and processed. Dont know alot about it. The farmers provide the ground and prepare it for planting. The cannery plants them with their own equipment in late may usually, in 60 inch rows. They usually cultivate them once. Normally they get very weedy since they dont use much for weed control. They get ripe this time of the year and the cannery has some deal on a tractor that puts them in windrows then they come along and pick them up. Sometimes it is one harvester other times there could be three of them. They run what would appear to be nearly around the clock. Rain or shine they run and boy is it fun to watch when it gets muddy!

The push bars on the front of all of those tractors are not for decoration!!!
Someone on here may know alot more about this subject and I am curious myself about yield and profitability of growing pumpkins. I have noticed weed control is a problem and if they harvest in the mud they make a HUGE mess but they might make it worth the hassle. I always wondered if someone builds these harvesters locally or if they are available commercially. Sure is something different to watch.
bill

I don't much about them either but they must have a pretty thick hull or rine. Seems like there would be a lot of busted ones.

Looks like some watermellons mixed in with the punkins in that top piture.

Jeez Bill awsesome pics you'd think that would be a mess tossin those dudes that far. That's what I like about this site "something new everyday". Muddin out is like sweet corn they don't care what kind of mess they make but if they don't get the crop you're out. Thanks Bill

Bill - Pretty sure almost all of these go to Libby's in Morton. See commercial "pumkin" fields all over from Peoria to Lincoln and from Manito to Bloomington. Must be something in it!

Yes, they are still harvest pictures - just not your kind! Anybody over by you grow seed corn?

Jim

Thanks for the pictures.Always wondered how they harvested those big fields.

Vito

Never would have guessed that"s how pumpkins are harvested.

Interesting fact that 80% of all canning pumpkins are raised in IL.

Thanks for sharing the photos.

Hope Wrigly is doing OK.

Anybody else notice that tractor changes colors going through the field? Is that one of the government's new projects? Chameleon tractors?

I'm suprised, I would not have guessed a punkin could handle getting thrown around like that. Unless it had "allis" written on it somewhere!

Those tractors that change color are Buhlers they can be any color you want.

In Missouri they use Mexicans

At the dairy farm down the road from where I grew up they direct chop their corn into 10 wheeler dumps. If the ground is wet they have a push tractor following close behind the trucks so as to not have to stop and tow.

never seen a harvest of pumpkins on a big operation before. is it good business? just curious there arent too many big pumpkin farms around here.

Like others have said ... never seen it done .. that's what is great about this site ... you can see it all from your easy chair ... LOVE IT ..

THANKS for sharing ... learn something again ...

Mark

The pumpkins over here all go to Princeville. Literally thousands of truckloads of pumpkins pass through Farmington in the fall going to the canery from somewhere south of us near Havanna. I think the princeville canery is owned by the Green Giant people. I have seen these pumpkins up close and they are nothing like Jack o lantern pumpkins we are used to. You could beat them with a baseball bat and not hurt them much. They have had the occasional accident where a truck overturns and they just bring a loader and pick them up. The green ones are just not as ripe as the others. My guess is that the pumpkins are raised here because of the location of the cannerys and the irrigated ground located nearby. If I were to guess, I would say 90% of the pumpkins rasied in IL go to either the canery in morton or princeville.
No seed corn anymore. They took it out of here in 98 and went down to irrigated ground in Mason county. Pioneer grew alot of seed starting at rt 78 and stretching west towards fariview. They have teased us a couple of times with bringing it back but it hasnt happened yet. There are a few of us raising seed beans for Pioneer but it isnt nearly as lucrative as growing corn for them. Glad everyone enjoyed the pics.
bill

what do you call those things - pumpkin chuckers??

As always, really enjoyed your pics and as is frequently the case on this forum, I've learned something. Very interesting.

When I was in college, in about 1970, I hauled pumpkins to Libby's in Morton. At that time, the conveyor tractors dropped the pumpkins directly into straight grain trucks as you drove along side of them through the fields. We loaded the front of the truck beds first. You could not see where the conveyor was in relation to your truck in the mirrors then. So, you would open the door, kinda hang on the edge of the seat and look up into the mirror. One day, my truck hit a soft spot and bogged down. The pumpkins started raining on the roof of the cab. One then hit me in the back of my head and knocked me out of my truck! The truck and conveyor tractor just kept right on going. I had to run after it and jump back in the cab. What a fun part time job that was for a young college kid!

I remembered another thing about hauling pumpkins. We always started at first light in the morning. So, we arrived at the field as early as we could to get towards the beginning of the loading line. There were about 20 trucks hauling at that time. Our two trucks were the only ones operated by locals. The rest were Mexicans based out of Del Rio, Texas. One morning, I was dozing in the cab and both doors of my truck suddenly flew open. About 5 Mexicans jumped in and kinda pushed me to the middle of the seat. I thought I was in big trouble. We ran fairly large tandem trucks, one a Chevy conventional with a 427, the other, a Ford tilt cab with a 534 V8. On the long, level sections of highway 150 east of Morton, I could pass several of the Mexicans in their single axle, 6 cylinder powered C50's and C60's. So, I was getting much more tonnage hauled in a day then they were. When they jumped in my truck, I thought it was payback time for passing them all the time! Turned out, all they wanted to do was share their tequilla with me. At 4 o'clock in the morning!

In picture number six - I think those two men are using pitchforks to level the load.

I remember when pumpkins were raised like that here in Southern Illinois, and if one fell over the side, they'd stick it with a pitchfork and throw it back on the truck. A new pitchfork, I always hoped. . .

During harvest season, the roadsides would be littered with pumpkins, and one old timer I knew drove under one in his Rambler as it bounced over the side of the trailer. It landed in the road behind him. He loved to tell the story and laugh about it just missing him.

Good pictures and good memories.

Paul

Saw yesterday they were harvesting orange jackolantern pumpkins by Clovis NM and Walmart had some out front already.

i'm thinking lot of pumpkins grown belvediere genoa area. seems like sweet corn, peas, and green beans too.