"don't back over the blades!"

I've been hearing this in my sleep. If you were talking to the bosses about rotobeating, you were sure to hear this phrase. You could ask, "what kind of oil do you use in this John Deere 7810?" And they would reply "15-40 diesel...but don't back over the blades!" The blades are what cleanly cut off the tops of the beets. When you stop in a field and have to back up for any reason, you must make sure you lift the rotobeater and blades (two separate levers in the tractor) or else you can bend, break or chip the blades or, worse yet, bend the whole rotobeater.

Enter October 19, 2008. I forgot to turn the PTO on at the beginning of the row. Not a huge deal, but it meant that I had to back up and start at the beginning...about 25 feet back. I backed up and then hit mud. So I pulled forward and tried to use a little more momentum to get back to the beginning of the row. I got a little further that time, so I pulled forward again and put it in reverse. This time I went even further and then heard two popping sounds. The 'mud' I was hitting was the blades stopping me. This is when I turned around to see that the blades were down. Not only did I back over the blades, I did it 3 times! I literally had heart palpitations. I had heard that you get fired for backing over the blades. They are expensive and damage can be done to the rotobeater. All of this was going through my mind as I got out of the tractor to tell my boss. Not only was I going to have damage to the rotobeater, I was going to have triple the damage! I didn't even look at it...I didn't have to. I knew I was finished. When my boss saw me walking toward him, he immediately looked to the tractor and then all movement stopped. I don't remember much of what happened after that. I don't even remember telling him. I remember walking toward him and seeing his face and the next thing I remember is him telling me that we had to replace 3 blades and 2 cylinders. He was actually 'pleased' with the damage considering what it could have been. He told me not to stress out about it because he had backed over the blades before, his brother had done and it and his Dad had backed over the blades in that same field. Whew! What a relief.

On the second day of beet harvest, my mom and I were in the tractor together still trying to get the hang of it. We were in a very challenging field with weird angles...in the dark! We were both fit to be tied and so stressed out. When we finished the field, I called my boss and pretty much said, now what? He said, "You're finished". I said, "We're finished"? My mom, sitting 2 inches from me was nodding her head. I thought we had done such a horrible job that he was firing us already. He didn't even give us a chance! Mom was excited to be getting fired (that's how bad it was for her). He then clarified that we were just finished with that field and we were supposed to move to the next field. Doug (the boss) took the rotobeater to the next field. He told me to get his truck (the brown one) and bring it to the next field. First of all, I've never seen the boss's truck. Secondly, it's dark. Thirdly, where is the next field? He left and mom and I were left to find the brown truck (we had 3 choices) in the dark and get it to the next field. I found a truck and we thought it was brown. Now to find the field. Mom jumped in my car and I jumped in the truck and we started driving. I knew the field was north of town so we started driving that way. All the while, I'm looking in all of the fields trying to find our rotobeater and still wondering whose truck I was driving. I'd hate to show up in the wrong field with the wrong pickup! We did find the field and I did have the right truck. Doug has no clue we had so much trouble getting there.

Despite these horrible experiences, I'm so happy I drove the rotobeater this season. We finished today, just in time for the rain tonight. Matthew's crew had only 60 more acres, but they didn't finish in time. They will have to start back up after the ground dries. Here are some pictures and videos of the end of our beet harvest.

My last set of rows for the season. What a nice feeling that was.


One last picture. See you next year!

A video of my last set of rows. You can see what has been rotobeated (the lighter green) and what rows have already been lifted (the darker rows). You can also see a truck being loaded by the lifter.

Remember how clean these rotobeater tarps were at the beginning of the year? Not any more! After 3 weeks, the dirt has piled up. You can also see a jack rabbit has lost his home. There have been thousands of mice, at least 2 skunks (one of them Kristen, my sister-in-law, ran over while rotobeating) and many rabbits (one I ran over) who have lost their homes.

Video of the beets being lifted and dumped into a semi. Everything looks simple and easy, but the truth is, there are many steps to lifting and dumping. When the semis and trucks pull up to the lifter, there is a rope hanging from the side of the lifter. The semi driver has to watch that rope to make sure that his truck doesn't touch it. If he does, it means that he's too close to the lifter. Then he has to line himself up with the lifter driver. They start dumping the beats. When there is a pile big enough in the truck, the lifter blinks a light and the semi moves up a few feet, all while they are going about the same speed. They do this 4 or 5 times to fill the truck. So, if you are ever driving down the road next to a semi, try to get about 4 feet from the side of him, look in your side mirror to make sure you are not too close or too far away, go the same speed as him and then move up a few feet and continue this for about 10 minutes. After having tried both jobs, I think I'll stick with the rotobeating. =)