While the machinery may have changed over the years, the role of the combine in agriculture, removing the grain from the stalk, has remained the same. On Aug. 14, the Glengarry County Soil and Crop Association held an antique combine demonstration which was hosted by FraserLoch Farms just outside of Maxville.
A good turnout of people gathered to watch as antique combines, pulled by a tractor, harvested grain on a portion of the farm. While the combines made their way around the field, there was plenty of opportunity to watch the progress and learn about the role of combines in both past and present-day agriculture.
Jack Fraser of FraserLoch Farms explained the process followed by threshing gangs in the early part of the 1900s. He explained how threshing gangs went from farm to farm throughout agricultural areas cutting the grain, making them into sheafs that were put into stooks composed of six to eight sheafs, which would assist in the drying process. The stooks would be taken to the threshing machine or mill where the kernels would be removed from the straw. The kernels would be used as animal feed or sent to market with the straw baled to be used for animal bedding or sold.
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