Harvesting Updates - 2023
Updates provided by Bob Fohey, Supervisor. Questions and comments are appreciated.
Buffalo Lake Harvesting Hotline Contacts
Weekly Updates for August 31, 2023
Weed Harvesting is Over for the Season
Harvest season is over today, next week we'll be pulling all the equipment and getting them ready for storage.
Next week we'll be washing down equipment, pulling the equipment out of the water, pulling paddle wheels, batteries, greasing all motors and reducers, and storing the equipment in the buildings. We will document any issues that will need to be taken care of in our maintenance program in spring of 24.
We'll be pulling all the buoys and lateral flags on the shore and storing them for next year.
East Side
We finished up in Town on Monday and started the long trek back to the District site. We cut along each segment on the way back trying to touch every area possible including the channel. We will finish up in segment 4 on Thursday.
West Side
We continued to work on Segment 5 this week as this is the largest segment on the West side. We'll finish up on Thursday as well and get ready for the shut down next week.
Thanks again for everyone's input and help especially Johnson's boats and motors, Piers Plus, Holiday, Aquarius Systems, Inland Harvesters and the County garage! A Special thanks to Darrel Unsinn for all his hard work and dedication to the Harvest Crew, it really made a difference.
I'd like to thank the Harvest Crew for everything they did this year, it's one of the best crews I've worked with!
Kind regards,
Bob Fohey, Supervisor
Weekly Updates for August 21, 2023
One More Week of Weed Harvesting
Due to the heat all operators worked 6A to noon Wednesday and Thursday.
We have one more week to harvest weeds and then we'll be pulling and winterizing all the equipment.
We have a down payment on our machine #4 so we pulled that out of the lake and are going over it to make sure everything is operational for the next owner. Harvester 5 and 6 will take over the duties of #4 this next week.
Building of our new Harvester has started, we will have this available at the start of next harvest season. If we get any pictures we'll post them to the district site.
We thank all of the property/Lake owners for all the kind words this year, it's much appreciated. Our operators did a great job and thought this year went better then last year. They also thought the flags we installed this year on the shoreline that marked where the laterals go were a huge benefit!
We should have the quotes in for a possible rebuild of our Aquarius #7 machine by Monday. Darrel and I will be applying for a grant through the state and get this submitted by Sept 1st. A vote will happen at the annual meeting.
East Side
We finished up in Segment 2 and moved down to town on Tuesday afternoon, we'll finish up on Thursday. Next week we'll be making the trek back to the district site making passes along the channel in hopes of getting that cleaned up. We should be able to accomplish this by the end of next week and be all the way up to where we pull the machines
out.
West Side
We finished up at Hollenbecks landing and Segment 6 and moved down to Lakeview Campgrounds, we finished up there Thursday morning and started the long trek back to Freedom Rd launch and Segment 5. We'll spend all of next week there making sure our North and South shorelines are cleaned up well. If time permits we'll make some passes on the channel and all the laterals.
Reminder: Harvest meeting this Saturday at 9am, attendance is appreciated.
Kind regards,
Bob Fohey, Supervisor
Weekly Updates for August 7, 2023
Weekly Updates for July 31, 2023
Three More Weeks of Weed Harvesting
Thanks to everyone that answered our need for Pallets and IBC Totes, it's much appreciated.
At the last Board meeting I was given approval to apply for a grant in order to do a rebuild on our #7 Aquarius Harvester. This machine is high in hours and also has some parts on it that are hard to come by or obsolete. We've reached out to Chad Lese at Aquarius and Mitch Cole at Inland. Aquarius has been slow with communication on their desire to quote the project. The grant deadline is Sept. 1st so it's coming fast.
There are three weeks left in the Harvest Season, so we hope everyone has had an opportunity to enjoy the lake even thou levels are low!
East Side
We finished up in town and moved back down to the Hwy C landing in Segment 3. The machines have spent more time this time around to do some clean up on the channel and most of the laterals. The shorelines have been pretty clean but we still make our trips through to make sure they stay that way. The machine at the district yard continues
to keep Segment 4 cleaned up. Machines have been running well for most of the season.
West Side
We finally were able to get the machine put together and back cutting weeds on Tuesday! We finished up around the campground in Segment 7 and moved back down to the Freedom Rd launch and Segment 5. We will be there for at least half of next week and then back down to Hollenbecks landing in Segment 6.
Enjoy the rest of Summer, it's going by way too fast!
Kind regards,
Bob Fohey, Supervisor
Four More Weeks of Weed Harvesting the Season
We are looking for some heavy duty wood pallets if anyone has some, we use these to store our buoys at year end.
Four weeks of harvest season left after this week!
East Side
We moved down to Segment 2 and will finish up there on Thursday, we made some passes out in the channel to help the flow of water. Laterals and shorelines have been cut and we'll move down to Town on Monday morning. Still maintaining Segment 4 with the yard machine with no problems. Things are running smooth on that end of the lake!
West Side
We continue to struggle with maintenance issues on our machine #7, our Hyd valve came in on Monday and was replaced within 15 minutes. We were back out cutting and then Thursday morning Mike discovered the engine was smoking and found out the braided fuel line to one of the injectors blew. These are all hooked together in tandem and
there is a fitting between the line that hooks up to all (4) injectors. This means you have to replace the whole line. It's a difficult repair as there is little to no room to get a wrench or your hands in there to take the old out and put a new one in. We were in luck, Chad from Aquarius had one of these in stock and he's going to meet me close to the shop tomorrow with the parts we need! Thanks Chad!
Kind regards,
Bob Fohey, Supervisor
Weekly Updates for July 24, 2023
Help
We attempted to install a Sand Point well at the district site with no success, way too much clay on the site. We tried at least 8 different location with the same result. We got down to 8 feet in a couple areas but couldn't get past the heavy clay and it's not recommended to pound a point in until you are through the clay or it will plug up the screen and won't allow water. We did get a quote on a 6" drilled well but its about 50% more then what was approved by the board. It's a shame that we have 500k worth of equipment and no water at the site to keep them clean let alone the workers at the site as well. If anyone has some suggestions that may help or can volunteer to pitch in that may know more please let us know.
Five (5) weeks of the harvest season left and so far for the most part the operators are doing a awesome job, couldn't ask for more from them.
East Side
We finished up in town on Monday and moved back down to Segment 3 at the hwy C landing. Both shores and laterals have been cleaned up and the operators started cutting along the channel. They should be heading back down to the Lodge and Segment 2 on Monday sometime. The District site is being maintained and things are looking good there as well. A few minor adjustments on the equipment but even in the heat they are doing well.
West Side
We are still at Segment 6 and the machine is down waiting for a part from Hyvair in Texas. We reached out to Aquarius but they were unable to help us. The part we need should be here on Friday and it will
only take 30 minutes to get us back up and going. Once we are we should be done in Segment 6 by Tuesday and we'll be heading down to the Campgrounds in Segment 7.
Stay Cool everyone!
Kind regards,
Bob Fohey, Supervisor
Weekly Updates for July 17, 2023
Introduction to our 2023 Harvest staff
Jim Weber Harvest operator East side
Larry Will Harvest operator East side
Mark Waters Transport operator
Mark Carney Truck driver
Mike Kenney Harvest operator West side
Mike Meicher Harvest operator/truck driver District/West site
Mike Wergin Harvest operator district site
Matt Blouin Truck driver
East Side
We finished up early this week at the Hwy C landing and moved to the Lodge at Buffalo lake (Segment 2). We finished up there on Thursday morning and will be heading down to Montello and Segment 1. If all goes well we will be back in Segment 3 around Tuesday of next week. We continue to maintain Segment 4 at the district site with good success. Things are going well for the crew and machines are operating as they should.
West Side
We finished up in Segment 5 on Wednesday and started our move down to Hollenbeck landing in Segment 6. We did open up some lanes to the culverts in Segment 5 to improve water flow to the east side. The repair we did on the pontoon on machine number 7 is holding up well and we don't foresee any issues in the future. As we look at the whole scope of things I couldn't ask for anymore from our crew, they are doing a fine job!
Kind regards,
Bob Fohey, Supervisor
Weekly Updates for July 10, 2023
Last week we had a few windy days and when we're harvesting down in Segment 1 and 2 it can be very difficult to get hooked up to the conveyor with the transporter. It's unlike the cutters as it has 4' solid sides on it and those sides act like a sail when it's windy. We've had problems since the purchase of this machine, and it's coming to a point that most operators don't care to run it for that reason. Calm days are no problem..
Seven more weeks of harvest season left after this week! Low water levels continue to create a huge problem.
East Side
We moved back to Segment 3 on Tuesday, this is our 4th time in that Segment, we should finish up sometime on Thursday and head back down to Segment 2. The North shore has been pretty good with very little weed growth but the South side has been much worse this time around. Machines have been performing well with only minor issues. We continue to maintain Segment 4 with our #4 machine at the district site with no issues.
West Side
We started out the week in Segment 6, moved down to Lakeview Campgrounds in Segment 7, and are now back down to Freedom road launch on Segment 5. This is our 3rd go around on this segment, so cutting paths are more pronounced. It's now easier to see and follow. The harvesting machine ran fine this week with no issues.
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Kind regards,
Bob Fohey Supervisor
Weekly Updates for July 7, 2023
We were shorthanded this week by (4) people, some had procedures that they had scheduled and we had (2) off with prior commitments that were approved at time of hire.
We are still in need of one employee for the remainder of the year so if you know someone please send them our way.
East Side
We finished up Thursday in Segment 2 and moved down to Segment 1 in Montello. We should finish up there on Monday and then move back down to Segment 3 by Hwy C landing at 10th. Things are going well with minor issues on equipment that takes up some of our time but all in all its going pretty good.
West Side
We had to pull our machine out on Monday due to water in the pontoon. We were able to drain the water, find the area with the issue, and get it taken care of quickly. We moved from Freedom launch down to Hollenbecks landing on Wednesday. We should finish up there in a few days and then get down to Lakeview Campgrounds.
Kind regards,
Bob Fohey Supervisor
Weekly Updates for June 26, 2023
Info: Due to lack of west winds the lake has large amounts of Duck weed that sits on the surface of the water. The harvesters are not able to pick this up during cutting as it falls through the conveyors.
The operators won't be out on the lake Monday or Tuesday of next week due to the holiday. They'll be back at it on Wednesday the 5th.
East Side
They finished up Tuesday afternoon in Segment 3 and moved back down to the Lodge on Segment 2. We will be close to finishing that by end of day Thursday or next Wednesday morning. At that point we'll be heading down to Montello. Things are going well and the operators are doing a great job. We continue to maintain Segment 4 just east of the causeway to keep the flow going.
West Side
We are finishing up in Segment 5 and will be moving down to Hollenbecks landing on Wednesday of next week. We will be pulling our
Harvester out of the water on Monday to do some minor maintenance but should be operational the same day. Shallow water continues to hamper us from getting to areas we normally cut. We need more rain soon so we can get back to our normal patterns.
Happy 4th to all!
Kind Regards,
Bob Fohey Supervisor
Weekly Updates for June 23, 2023
With lake levels low due to lack of rain we unable to get into some areas. Some laterals on the west end are too shallow to navigate are harvester through. We will do our best to try and get everything we can but certain areas are out of our control.
East Side
We finished up in Segment 2 early this week and moved to downtown, we finished there by Wednesday afternoon. We then made the trek back down to hwy C landing. Most everything is going well for our crew as they make outstanding headway. Equipment is running as it should and we have plenty of weeds to cut.
West Side
We finished up in Segment 6 by Tuesday and moved down to Lakeview Campgrounds, we cut (2) days there and headed back down to Freedom landing on Segment 5. Shallow water is stopping us from getting closer to the piers in some areas and a few laterals are not accessible. All in all things are going as well as possible.
Kind regards,
Bob Fohey Supervisor
Meeting Scheduled for June 10, 2023
Spring maintenance has finally come to an end. The crew had more tasks to complete this year due to no volunteers. We made up over (20) new buoy weights and placed them in the lake. We ordered, made, and installed lateral flags along both South and North shores on the East side of the lake where laterals are cut out to the channel. This will make it much easier on the Harvest crew.
We had some employees commit to work on the crew this year only to call and change their decision a week before start up. Harvest Chair was able to pull a rabbit out of his hat and we have hired (2) new employees this week.
We have a new method of hauling weeds out of the east side, we purchased and trailer conveyor and Ford truck which is similar to what Lake Emery has just a bit larger. New conveyor that was purchased last year will now be used on West side with a new (used F700 dump truck) truck.
East Side
We have made a pass on both sides of Segment 3 and are now about 75% done in Segment 2. We will finish 2 on Monday and move to town for Segment 1. The reason for (1) pass is so we can quickly touch everybody's area in a few days and then go back and do a thorough cut starting next week Wednesday or Thursday.
West Side
We will start Segment 5 on Monday but be patient as we will be training (2) new employees. I'm confident that they will pick it up quickly and we will be back on track in short order.
We have a Harvest committee meeting June 10th and the district site, if you have questions or comments please attend.
Bob Fohey Supervisor