Year-End Report for Harvest 2022

We finished up last week and pulled all the buoys out of the water. On Tuesday we started pulling equipment out and went through our list of things to do to winterize all of the harvesters and transporter. All equipment will be power washed, greased up, gear boxes filled with 80/90 weight oil and placed under roof until next spring. We have made notes on every piece of equipment for items that will need to be taken care of during our spring maintenance program. All the equipment will be stored under roof for the first time. We have room in the new building for 3 machines, the districts boat and a conveyor. The older building will house the remaining 2 machines, fork truck and another conveyor. This will protect the equipment much better then what was happening in the past.

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The stats for this year are as follows: On the West end of the lake we logged in 303 hrs of cutting time (we had 2 weeks when the hour meter wasn’t functioning) and 409 cutter loads of weeds. On the East end of the lake we logged 942 hours of cutting time and 1212 cutter loads of weeds. The total comes to 1246.4 hrs of cutting time and 1621 cutter loads of weeds. In comparison we had 1311 hrs of cutting time last year but we started a week earlier and cut a week longer on the East end. We also had 1479 cutter loads of weeds last year. The end result for this year was due to a great dedicated staff on your Harvesters. They worked together as a well oiled team this year! We hope to retain as many as possible from this year for the 2023 season.

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We are open to suggestions for the 2023 season so if you have any items you feel that will help in harvesting we encourage you to attend the annual October board meeting at the county building. There will be items that will be voted on and an election for seats on the board. We are also looking for volunteers to help out on the Harvest committee.

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Thanks again for your patience and kind words this year, it was appreciated!

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Your Harvest Team,

Bob Fohey

Larry Witt

Rich Mcfaul

Jim Weber

Mark Carney

Matt Blouin

Dan Braaksma

Mike Wergin

Tom Spinato

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Week of 8/29

East side: We finished up with Segment 2 on Tuesday morning and moved down to Segment 1 in Montello. We added an extra lateral on the North shore and cleaned up on the rest of the area. On Thursday we finished up and pulled all the buoys and headed back West with the equipment. 

 

West side: We continued with Segment 5 all week and finished around noon on Thursday. We pulled the Conveyor out in the afternoon and will be back Tuesday to pull buoys.

 

Our Crew wants to thank everyone for all the positive comments that were made throughout the season and hope the Harvest crew represented all of you as you expected! The effort and dedication from them was truly amazing. I couldn't have asked for more.

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Next week the crew is back to pull all equipment, do a complete overview for things that will need addressing for next year and storing everything in our new buildings.

 

Please attend the yearly board meeting in October for important issues that will be voted on!

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Week of 8/22

We have 1 more week of weed harvesting and then we will be picking up buoys and taking equipment out of the water for storage until next year! So far this year we’ve only had 2 rain days. This kept us on schedule for the most part. Our crew has hung in there all year and continued to get better every week! They did a great job this year, team work got the job done.

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We took a visit down to a lake in Waukesha County to look at a new Harvester to see all the improvements that have made since our last purchase. They have come up with some really nice options to make harvesting more productive.

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Board and harvest meetings scheduled for this Saturday.

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East side: We finished up in Segment 3 on Monday and moved down to Segment 2 at the Lodge. We finished up on the north shore and are continuing our efforts on the south shore which seems to have much more to clean up. We should finish up on Monday and then move down to Segment 1 on Tuesday morning. We also continued to maintain Segment 4 with the yard machine this week.  Equipment performed well all week and the guys made good headway!

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West side: We were in Segment 6 all week and should finish this area on Thursday. Monday morning we’ll be moving back down to Segment 5 at Freedom launch. This will be our last Segment for the year, hope to get this all completed by end of next week. Had one minor issue with the harvester this week but operator was able to take care of this in short order.

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Any and all feedback is welcome.

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Week of 8/15

Still having issues with all the decaying weeds throughout the lake. We make a pass and there’s more that moves right in to where we just cut. This normally doesn’t happen until mid September, lack of rain is most likely the cause.

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We had electric mounted to our new building and over the next few weeks we should be getting electric trenched over to that building by season’s end.

 

East side: Stayed in Segment 3 all week getting things as good as possible, still have a few laterals to cut Monday morning on our way down to Segment 2 at the Lodge. We should be there all next week. We also used our #4 Harvester to keep Segment 4 cleaned up as well. All equipment ran as it should with little to no issues. Operators continue to do a great job. We had a first this week, we had a lake owner complain we cut too many weeds in front of his lot and ruined his fishing!

 

West side: We finished up in Segment 5 and moved down to the Campgrounds this week. It didn’t take us long and that area was cleaned up and we moved down to Segment 6 on Thursday mid-morning. We should be there for most of next week and then back down to Freedom launch to finish up our season. Had a minor issue with the machine but the operator was able to get it fixed rather quickly. Operator on west side is doing great as well!

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We only have two weeks left in our season, boy the summer flew by! At October's annual meeting there will be open spots on the board. If you’re interested, get your name on the ballot!

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Week of 8/8

We are starting to see large areas of weeds that are breaking away and plugging up areas across the lake. One example is on the east side Segment 4 -- about a 5-acre island of weeds broke away and plugged up the channel. It took us 3 cutters and 2 days to clear this area up. Just want to make people aware.

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East side: We moved down to Segment 3 this week, spent 2 days cleaning up the channel area in Segment 4 but we are now back to our normal routine. We will be in this area until mid-next week and then we will be moving down to Segment 2 at the Lodge. Machines ran as they should all week, and the operators did a great job trying to keep up.

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West side: We are down in Segment 5 this week, same issues here. Lots of weed movement that you normally don’t see until late September but it is what it is. Worked on the south shore early on and then moved over to the north shore. We also made a couple of passes down the channel as it was getting pretty narrow. Machine ran ok this week but we have some work to do on it before next year. We have a paddle wheel that only has about 50% of the power as the other. This machine has a hydraulic pump for each wheel so our bet is that pump. We will do some testing at year end to make sure, so if we need one we can order it now as lead-times are about 22 to 26 weeks.

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We have 3 more weeks on the cutting season left. Hope to get in each segment at least one more time.

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Storage building is complete except for electric. Hoping to have this completed by year’s end.

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The Board meeting is scheduled for this Saturday at 8 am. Hope to see you there!

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Week of 8/1

Next Board meeting is scheduled for Aug. 13th at 8 a.m.

 

East side: We finished up in Segment 2 on Tuesday and moved to town in Segment 1. We spent quite a bit of time on the South shore as it was pretty well backed up with weeds. We also opened up all the laterals to assure all boaters could get to the channel from their property. Equipment performed as it should with a minor repair on a hydraulic motor seal on Monday. If all goes well we should be back down on Hwy C landing and Segment 3 early next week. This will be our 4th time through on Segment 3.

 

West side: We finished up in Segment 6 on Tuesday as well and moved back down to Freedom Rd launch and Segment 5. We’re seeing quite a few areas where weeds are breaking away and causing blockage. We will start on the South shore and move our way North, we’ll also look at cutting a path down the channel as that area is starting to close in from the north side. Our machine broke down on Wednesday afternoon, left paddle wheel has no power. After further investigation we found the hydraulic motor failed. We were lucky and found a replacement and by 1:30 on Thursday the machine is operating again. Thanks to Dan and Matt, and Gary for helping out!

 

Site info: We will start adding fill in our new building followed by a load of breaker and then some gravel so we are ready for the machines once they’re pulled from the Lake.

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If you contact us by email for a harvesting issue near your lake property, please include the address so we can stop and take a look and get a resolution to your issue, you may also include your phone number if you choose to.

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We have 4 more weeks of harvesting left, summer is going way too quickly!

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June-July 2022 Updates - Archive >

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