|
Assessing and Alleviating Soil Compaction After a Wet Spring What's a Good Combine Operator Worth this Season? HVLS Fans for Free Stall Barns Healthy Farmers, Healthy Profits Project Tip Sheets Available Tractor Headlights and Flashers Prevent Collisions-Even During Daytime Hours Planning for Construction Projects on a Small Farm Old Agricultural Building and Equipment Plans Book Details How to Develop Swine Breeding and Gestation Facilities |
What’s a Good Combine Operator Worth this Season?Ronald T. Schuler, Wisconsin Extension EngineerThis growing season may result in corn and soybean crops that will create a challenge for good combine operators. With the midsummer weather causing a great deal of crop stress on corn and soybean plants, special combine adjustments may be needed to harvest the potentially smaller ears of corn and smaller beans and corn kernels. Evaluating harvesting losses can help you determine if your combine is adjusted appropriately. A good operator should be able to maintain losses at one percent or less of the crop yield. If the yield is 150 bushels per acre, the losses should be less than 1.5 bushels per acre with proper combine adjustments. However don’t expect to obtain a zero loss. Making adjustments to harvest every last kernel or bean often will lead to excessive levels of broken crop in the combine bin. Just a few minutes are required to get an estimate of the harvesting losses. To determine corn ear losses, count the ears left in an area equal to one hundredth of an acre having a width equal to the combine harvesting width. With a 15-foot head (six 30-inch rows), the length of the area will be 29 feet (435.6 divided by 15). Each full-sized, unshelled ear (three-quarters of a pound) in the area represents one bushel per acre loss. For corn kernels and soybeans, use an area of ten square feet. Twenty corn kernels or 40-50 soybeans lost in this area add up to one bushel per acre. The area can be determined by using a wood frame or string. For corn and row soybeans, the area should be centered on the row and have a width equal to the row spacing. For 30-inch rows the area would be four feet long. For drilled beans, use multiple rows to obtain a nearly square evaluation area of ten square feet. Make loss determinations at several locations and calculate an average. If losses are greater than desired (one percent of the crop yield), machine adjustments need to be made. Smaller ears, kernels, or beans due to crop stress are one characteristic that may require adjustments in the combine. For smaller ears, the snapping plates on the corn head may need to be moved closer together to ensure that the small ears are not pulled through the head. Ear losses should be maintained at less than one-half percent of the total yield. For smaller corn kernels and beans, the threshing unit, cylinder-concave, or rotor-grate may need to be adjusted for a smaller clearance. In the cleaning area, the cleaning sieve and/or the airflow may require adjustment. A good operator should periodically take the time to check the combine losses. By reducing the losses by one bushel per acre, the benefits of the time spent making the adjustments are quickly realized. For a 6-row combine (30 inch rows) harvesting five acres per hour, the return is $9.00 per hour at $1.80/bushel corn--well worth the time to make the adjustments. The key for good operation with minimum loss is to adjust the combine for the crop conditions. |
The information given in this publication is for educational purposes only. Reference to commercial products or trade names is made with the understanding that no discrimination is intended and no endorsement is implied.
|
by webmaster@gaia.bae.umn.edu |