As the weather cleared we set about cutting the last of the spring barley,with the 525 now back in action it was all go however! Even the last couple of  days trouble wasn't far away, a vibration on the 525 which confirmed to me that a possible bearing was shot, after an inspection it was found there was some free movement on the tensioning pulley which runs against the main tail shaft poly vee  drive belt.

As we approached the last day of harvest we decided to retire the 525 early and Finnish our barley with the 400 and 860, and that was how it ended for us in the middle of Septembe,our 860 apart from a broken bolt which runs through the straw walker drive Pully shaft, the combine was again without issues.

Despite our best attempts to thwart any problems with our combines you have to expect that there will be problems, and we have enjoyed many harvests with relatively few problems and for us it is a cost effective way of combining our small acreage and also it helps keep these vintage machines in use and maintain their survival.

Every season we endeavour to use as many combines as possible alas this year we have been thwarted again mainly by the weather and also the extension of our cropping area and also lack of operators at short notice, all of these coupled together mainly the weather will dictate how much of a possibility a gathering of combines will be likely!

Also capturing on film any photos relies on others and putting it altogether is not easy however we remain optimistic every year that we can run all of our combines and it's something we will strive to carry out in 2017.

A big thank you to our customers once again and their help moving combines and hitching lifts to pick up tractors and vehicles.

Also a big thank you to Dave Pantry combine breaker, who supplied us some parts for the 860 pre season at short notice and despite his busy harvest period at home.

Also Malcolm at Chandlers a company that do their best to source parts for our combines when required.

A disappointing harvest for us regarding yield but that's crop growing and it's a risky business with lots of elements to encounter during the growing cycle of the crop.

And we are all very fortunate that around the world many people take these risks and work tirelessly to keep us all fed.