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Threshing

Once the crop had been cut and properly dried, farmers then had to separate the grain from the chaff, this was known as threshing.

Bringing in the harvest and getting the grain to market was really the highlight of the farm year. And getting that done meant bringing in the custom threshers.

Before the days of combines and tractors, Alberta farmers depended on crews of travelling threshers to help bring in the harvest. It would take a crew of about ten or twelve men a week to thresh the grain at each farm. They would work from sun up, until sun down!

The earliest threshers that separated grain were powered by treadmills. You know what a treadmill is don’t you? Your parents may even have one in the house to keep in shape! Horses were harnessed to walk on a wooden treadmill, and this horsepower was transmitted by a belt to the threshing machine.

Threshing crew

Threshing crew

Threshing near Wetaskiwin

Threshing near Wetaskiwin