Wheat Field Pic

[Royse]

I stopped and took this picture of a local wheat field today.
I'm no expert, but I'm guessing it won't be a bumper crop.
Would it be worth even trying?

 

[tractormiallis]

Looks like it still has to dry down, but it is lodged badly, blown down by the wind and rain, but could still produce a crop. Definitely need a combine that has a good header to get the stuff that is down, might have to drive one way combining it too.

 

[JMS/.MN]

I never minded a lodged crop- light yields don"t lodge. A good finger pickup reel will pick that up. Only downside to a lodged crop is if it"s underseeded with alfalfa and stunts it for lack of sunshine.

 

[John A.]

Royce, Don't be so quick to condemn this crop! Best wheat crop we cut was back in 84 or so My Cousin had a 100 acres of Row water, Irrigated Wheat on East West rows, Prevailing SW winds laid it down, 2 weeks prior to cutting,, heads pointing East. "Vaughna" Variety of wheat. I had walked that field with him before that wind laid it down. One could barely walk through it.
We had a Brand new Combine with a 30 ft platform head &Pickup Reel. We had to cut that entire field Deadheading to the East end and only cutting on a West run. That field Averaged 100.3 bu/acre!!!
Later,
John A.

 

[Bruce from Can.]

Hope they did a good job of pickiing the stones.

 

[Royse]

John A./JMS good to hear. Like I said, I'm no expert.
The last time I ran a "combine" I pulled an AC All-Crop 66.
I hope it works out well for him.
Hate to see lost crops and all that time and money spent.
Bruce - good point on the stones!

 

[Mike Aylward]

I've cut wheat and oats both that looked like that. The key is how long it is down. The oats I cut for a fellow were almost all flat. He wanted to mow them but didn't think he would be able to get under them. He asked me if I could get them and I thought I could. I set the reel forward and down, ran slow due to taking in the whole plant, and put seed oats in the tank. He was pleased. Mike

 

[Billy NY]

I installed these long spring loaded guards on the 12' grain head of a JD 6620, as seems to be common, stands of oats that look picture perfect 2 weeks before harvest, have flat areas, hard to compare to the photo, but similar. Its slower going but I would have to say, although pricey, it was worth doing to minimize loss. Most of the grain was taken off these kinds of areas, you get the straw too which was selling for more than hay by the ton.

I found some photos of the harvest on an old camera, but nothing close up to the knives etc., seems I had best load these into the drive, time does fly !

 

[jon f mn]

You can see on this header what are called "Pickup Guards". They work great for picking up down grain. I don't know if you can still buy them new or not tho.

 

[fixerupper]

We cut thousands of acres like that in Idaho. Heavily fertilized and watered 130-150 bushel wheat that was steamrolled flat by the wind. If we were cutting crossways or against the lean it wasn't bad, but if we had to go with the lean it was 1/2 mph with the reel ahead of the cutterbar and down to the ground. Boring as all get out. Sometimes the reel teeth would just rake lines in the downed wheat and not pick it up. That was when we would have to cut one way and go back empty. Sometimes I'd have the head pushing down so hard on the ground the hydro started acting sluggish and I'd think something was wrong with the hydro till I figured out I had to raise the head off the ground a bit. In dryland wheat where the ground is softer the head would have scooped up a load of dirt but not on that hard heavily irrigated land. Oh yes, those were the days! 8 combines that could do 700-800 acres a day in dryland wheat (IF no one broke down) only did 240 acres on a good day in that down irrigated stuff. I got real good at fixing broken reels when I was the mechanic/blacksmith for the crew. Jim

 

[Billy NY]

Thats them, and don't dig em into the soil, LOL, in these parts, slopes and contours in the fields, certain places, one had best pay attention to the cutter.

 

[Handyman]

(quoted from post at 18:24:19 07/02/13) You can see on this header what are called "Pickup Guards". They work great for picking up down grain. I don't know if you can still buy them new or not tho.

hose are usually referred to as pea lifters here in ID

 

[RodinNS]

They'll get most of it with a good set of lifters on the cutterbar.

Rod