GRAND ISLAND – Visitors to the Nebraska State Fair can take a free ride in a Case IH Combine at the horse racing track on the fairgrounds.

I took a ride in an 8250 Case IH Combine. Rich Deardorff of Cairo, a retired Case IH employee, was driving the combine.

Deardorff said he meets people from all over the country.

The combine harvester is used for harvesting corn, soybeans, wheat, milo and other small grains.

“It’s a typical combine,” he said. “They’re all still very beautiful.”

The combine can map fields. It can calculate the direct yield and average yield of the field. The combine can travel up to 18 mph on the road.

Retired CNH employee Rich Deardorff of Cairo operated a combine harvester at the Nebraska State Fair (Carol Bryant, Central Nebraska Today)