In the early days all the outfits were large and unless a threshing run of at least two weeks could be had it was uneconomical to own and operate a threshing machine. Only four or five days were required to thresh three quarters and it was necessary to do the threshing of others to get the full value from the investment in the machine.
A threshing outfit, rig, or in every day talk "machine", and its peripheral equipment required about 20 men and women for its functioning. The heart of it all was the separator which separates the kernels of grain from the straw and chaff. The power required to operate the separator was supplied by a mobile steam engine or, in later years, by an internal combustion tractor. The separator was mounted on wheels so it could be moved from field to field by the engine. The shocked grain was hauled to the machine by bundle haulers who loaded the shocks into bundle racks. Ten or twelve haulers were needed to keep the separator in continuous operation for eleven hours a day. The thresher's responsibility ended when the grain poured out of the spout of the separator. The farmer had to provide wagons to transport the grain to his granaries or to the elevators in town.
The outfit was a self‑contained operation and in some respects resembled a traveling circus when it went along the road from one job to another. It was not a well-organized procession. The bundle haulers and their racks came first; some were towing a second rack since some of the teams were otherwise employed. The engine, puffing black smoke, pulled the combination coal and water tender and the separator at a speed of no more than three miles an hour. The separator man rode with the engineer keeping watch that the separator remained on an even keel. The cook car came next, some distance behind, pulled by two of the bundle hauler's teams. In most cases the bunk car, pulled by a single team ended the procession. Occasionally a grain tank or two was in the line of march. Some outfits which had threshing in fields a distance away from buildings and wells had a feed rack and watering trough for the horses to complete the retinue.
The cook and bunk cars were essential parts of the outfit since the thresher had to provide meals and sleeping quarters for his crew. The food was prepared and eaten in the cook car, a combination kitchen and eating area on wheels. This car was usually stationed on the farm where the crops were being threshed. The cooks lived and slept in the car during the season. There was no typical cook, some were men, others middle‑aged women and sometimes a pair of young girls, but all liked to cook and to provide huge amounts of well‑prepared food for the hungry crew three times a day, with a substantial lunch in the afternoon. Most of the crew slept in the bunk car which was similar to the cook car. It had bunks for twelve men. Sometimes the overflow was allowed to sleep in the haymow of the barn.
On the flat Dakota prairies this rig could be seen for miles. As the men finished up the field which was evidenced by a huge straw stack and no shocks left, the outfit would pack up and move to the next place.
Source: A History of Foster County 1983 Page 99