Harvester for food plot corn/beans

[gstrom99]

I'm not a farmer. I'm a partial owner with the SIL of a "new to us" 40 acre hunting spot. Ex pastureland, that we had tilled up with a "real" ag chisel plow/disc. We finished tilled and broadcast corn and beans. It's all coming up good and we plan to leave the crops standing over winter.

My question is: is there a good way to harvest the corn and beans next spring, without buying a nice/big combine with two heads (corn/bean)? None of us are farmers and have never owned or ran a combine. Since the corn is not in rows, can we just find/use an older small (how do we transport one?) combine with a bean head? Will the cutters go through corn stalks? I don't think we just want to bush hog it all down, maybe we can harvest and replant the grain?

 

[LHF2019]

My question is: is there a good way to harvest the corn and beans next spring, without buying a nice/big combine with two heads (corn/bean)?

If you wait till next spring you won't have to worry about it. The wildlife will have cleaned it off for you.

Did you plant acres? Just picking by hand would be the way to go over the expense of a combine and no you would need both heads.

 

[gstrom99]

If you wait till next spring you won't have to worry about it. The wildlife will have cleaned it off for you.

Did you plant acres? Just picking by hand would be the way to go over the expense of a combine and no you would need both heads.

Thanks. There's probably 25 acres total planted. Too much to pick by hand, I think. There IS plenty of critters to feed out there. I'm just thinking ahead.

 

[old and tired]

Just a couple of thoughts... combines are setup differently from corn and soybeans. Plenty of youtubes about changes between the two. They can't be harvested at the same time with the same machine.

The soybeans most likely will all be on the ground in the spring, they don't stay in the pods.

If you are just wanting to have seeds to plant next year, you don't have to harvest the whole 25 acres... you could hand pick enough but it's not going to be cost effective unless you have nothing but time on your hands...

Now for the legal stuff... I know that for RoundUp Ready Soybeans, you not "allowed" to keep seeds to plant the next year. Pretty sure you can get away with it but it's a pretty big fine if you are caught. (Not sure about corn...)