A few harvest pics so far

D7E · Sep 23, 2009

Not too many good pics yet but i had a wet afternoon with nothing to do so heres a few..

ToadHill · Sep 23, 2009

Now those are "Real" lawn mowers.

mscheer772 · Sep 23, 2009

D7E
In IL. we straight combine our crops. Why do you cut, swath, and then combine your crops?

flusher · Sep 23, 2009

D7E said:
Not too many good pics yet but i had a wet afternoon with nothing to do so heres a few..

Neat windrower. Sicklebar or disc? Draper or auger?

ScottAR · Sep 24, 2009

I'm curious as well, Every farm I've seen that operated that
way had a pull type combines. BUT! I don't get out that much

.

Thomas · Sep 24, 2009

Must make for long day doing this type of job...glad the ground dry for traction,for up in this neck of the woods ground damp traction can be lousy when cutting corn.

WarrenF · Sep 24, 2009

I would think that some crops are swathed first then combined, in an effort to allow them to dry down enough. Around here, swathing, when it is done, is done with alfalfa seed. Those fields that are swathed, are not sprayed with a defoliant.

Egon · Sep 24, 2009

do you cut, swath,

In places of shorter growing season the grain does not dry sufficiently on the stalks.

Nice pictures D7E. Have a good harvest and do get some sleep when the dew levels are up.

D7E · Sep 24, 2009

Swathing is the normal for most crops as egon said you often cannot afford to wait and drys down much more evenly and quickly the straw breaks down a little in the swath too making it easier chewing for the combine and better chopping of straw.
For us it is much faster than straight cutting as if you have a few hundred acres already swathed in less than perfect weather conditions you can pull in with a bunch of combines and do a lot of work in a small weather window without the need for expensive straight cut headers.
I don't like waiting for oats or canola to ripen naturally as usually they go flat and shed a lot of the grain before the field is evenly dead....A little diesel swathing is cheaper than dessicating with chemical too.

No doubt other areas have different practices and ideas..Some of the very big "State of the art" outfits straight cut everything but have "Flex drapers" that are more versatile in many crops but their heads are worth more than our combines...?
We have a straight cut and on occasion we do use it but swating just seems to suit our conditions.