Chopper screens

[Farming guy 123]

What is the purpose of chopper screens. Are they good for older choppers? I have a fox Brady pull behind and was wondering if they are worth using.

 

[DeltaRed]

S creens are good for a finer 'grinding' cut.We used to use them in ear corn to make 'cobmeal'We had a JD3800 with a snapper head.They pull harder.Dontknow how they would work in wet crops like silage.I wouldn't think very well.

 

[tomstractorsandtoys]

The idea for using a screen was a finer cut. They really take horse power and they need to adjusted correctly to work. Years ago it was thought that forage needed to be cut very fine to keep in storage and it did help and also made early silo unloaders work better. We now have gone the other way to longer cut feed as it is more healthy for the cow. In today's world there is no need for a screen unless you are making snaplage (earlage) or are harvesting very dry overmature corn. Tom

 

[Bruce from Can.]

My forage harvester came with a recutting screen. The old boy that bought it new only chopped about 100 acres with it before Ill health forced him to Retire. He only chopped corn silage, very dry, and into a tower silo. I tried it when I first got it home in 65% moisture corn, and it turned it to porridge. And took crazy amount of power to do it.

 

[caterpillar guy]

with the NI uni chopper we could chop silage corn to about 1inch long with just the knives and ledger plate. I would keep the ledger and knives so they would just slightly tic as I turned them around. Also kept them even so they would were the same at each end. Did the same thing for hay would chop it about 2 inches long. For high moisture ground ear corn I used a 3/4 hole screen set the same way. It would make ear corn look like ground feed when it hit the wagon floor. Was ready to feed right from the chopper. Yes it took a bit more power to use.We chopped 3 rows at a time with it. Key to saving fuel and power is keeping the ledger tight to the knives and screen close to the knives. Even a wee crack will take a lot more power for it. Like an 1/8 inch will double the power needed. It will also make you feed ragged and long.

 

[Donald in MN]

screens were mainly used for chopping hay in the 6 knife cutter heads to get it fine enough to blow into silos and was easier for the silo unloaders to throw out. the screens were taken out for chopping corn. when machines went to 9 knife heads they produced a finer cut and screens werent needed anymore.