Neat video of a JD 7950 forage harvester and Kemper 390 head

[JD Seller]

This is a huge Kemper harvesting head on a JD 7950 chopper. This video shows them harvesting corn/maize but it also shows them direct cutting wheat and canola. Never seen wheat or canola direct cut with a Kemper head. Neat to watch.
Harvesting with a JD chopper and BIG Kemper head

 

[gbs]

wonder how much time he sits idling ,there is no way 2 trailers can haul that wide of a swath of silage being chopped at one time,was at a shop one day they were servicing a claas machine with a 6 row head if i remember correct simuliar to the one shown,they claimed he could load a tractor trailer in 7 minutes in good corn,they said he was 15 minutes round trip from the pit 2 tractor trailers and 1 tandem couldn't haul it as fast as he cut it
 

[Huskers86]

We run one 7950 and next year are going to run a 35ft Draper on it and direct cut wheat. We've been direct cutting cane/millet for years with our 7700 & 7800 with 678 and 688 heads. The only drawback is you can't get down as far as a windrower. It usually leaves another 1 to 2 inches of stubble. When our customers want it shorter we windrow and use the 644b pickup head. The 678 and 688 heads don't like the spindly stuff like wheat but you can take the feedroll springs off and they feed it pretty well.
 

[Charlie M]

I grew up on a small dairy farm in the 60's where a 2 row corn chopper was a big machine and a 60 horse tractor was a big tractor. We used to fill a 40 ft silo with a one row chopper and the neighbors JD 70 on it.This modern day machinery blows my mind for what it is capable of doing. What does a machine like this cost to buy?
 

[JMS/.MN]

My son is a diesel tech at a JD FOCUS dealer, specializing in SP choppers. His primary job is setup and servicing them. Typical off-season checkup is 12-13 grand or more. Lots of used machines on the lot still over 200 grand. New can easily go over 300g. They have customers throughout MN, both Dakotas, Iowa, even one in Illinois. One in ND owns two, rents two more machines. Last year's regional frost, this year's drouth made for unbelievable hours, like 3 trips (5 hr one way) to Iowa in one week, countless trips to ND.
 

[JD Seller]

I would guess the chopper at $350K and the head at $125-150K. So you are talking a half a million. I don't see how guys can afford to own them but I also can't see buying $10-12K land either.
 

[Charlie M]

Every time I ask what something costs for todays machinery its around a half million bucks. Its hard to imagine how farmers stay in business with such costs. I guess I'll quit complaining about what it cost me this year to grow 3 acres of corn with my M, 4 row planter and one row corn picker.