Combines/Harvesters

[timb]

Rookie question.

What would be the most cost-effective choice for small-scale grain harvesting these days? I'm thinking of the old tractor-powered/pulled harvesters/combines. Crops could include various wheats and similar grains. (Outside possibility - corn)

The better half has expressed interest in specialty/organic grain production (to end up as flour). Not ever having had anything to do with that type of crop I'm not sure what exact type of harvester would be a best-fit - or how much tractor it would take to run one. I've glanced over listings for old New Idea, Gehl, NI equipment but don't really know what I'm looking at in this area.

Wouldn't put more than 10-15 acres into this type of crop so any more modern/large combine would be 1000% overkill (I think) yet I'm not real into hand-threshing/shucking that much!

Tim

 

[Egon]

To plant and harvest grain takes a whole string of equipment.

Soil cultivation equipment, seeding, swathing,combine,storage/grain auger, truck?

Chances are much of this equipment [ I'm assumming old used ] will require up to 40 or so HP at the bottom end. All the stuff needs looking after and usally parts.

Have you considered having "Custom work done" ?

It will not be economically feasable.

Egon

 

[timb]

Cultivation/planting shouldn't be an issue (I think) - I have or will have traditional moldboard plows, disk and spring harrows of an appropriate size to a small tractor so within limits I should be able to deal with the rough tillage when needed. I've seen drills used around here that don't seem too large for a big CUT or small UT. (The guy who used to work some of our ground used an old Farmall H with his drill).

It's the harvesting side that I'm not sure what my options could be. Old and 'needs TLC' is nothing new around the place. I'm getting to that point myself. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif Unfortunately, with the sprawl moving in, there's not many actual working farms left anywhere near - and most of those are simply raising beef and/or hay/corn for same.

Tim

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Swathing is really only done in a few areas. Mostly Canada where they have to harvest before the grain dries out on its own. That is why the cut it and harvest it like hay (after it dries a couple days). In the US, most of the wheat is just cut by the combine.

Your best bet will be to talk to some local harvesters and see if any of them will help you out. If you have a farmer near buy with a combine he might be willing to take the time to harvest your crop for a fee. These new machines will give a much cleaner grain sample as well as get a better yield then any of the machines from the 50's and 60's that you are thinking of. And you don't have to worry about fixing and getting parts for one.

 

[cowboydoc]

I don't even know of any tractor pulled harvesters. They haven't been around since combines came about. You can buy old combines for not much. But there is alot of work in keeping one going. Your best bet is just to find someone to custom combine it for you.

What do you want to do with the crop?

 

[timb]

Richard,

I haven't checked all the mfgs. sites yet but I suspect that there are no new ones available in the US of A and haven't been for a long time. But there are plenty of old tractor-powered ones around here and there. Not sure about parts - I'm assuming that at least certain models from the 'surviving' makers i.e. JD could be kept running after a fashion. A full-sized self-propelled combine would be good for a laugh considering our property size but not particularly efficient.

For now the goal would be grain for grinding into (food grade) flours. One of the niche areas my wife is interested in. I wouldn't hate being able to process corn for feed myself either.

I know that doing either one ourselves is not necessarily ultra-cost-effective but for now I have the 'luxury' of doing or considering some tasks just because we want to do it ourselves, not because it has to pay for itself (within limits) -and a lot of this is in the form of 'hobby' initial experimentation as we begin to explore the potential of specialty ag in the local market. Probably will need to go full-hog 'certified organic' to get any traction over the more commercial producers, but some of the locals have covered certain speciality crops for local grocers (garlic being one) with some modest success. If we find we can make some headway the long-term process might be to outsource some of the work once we have the concept and market established.

Not going to replace the day job, at least not for a long time but we're investigating our possibilities.

Tim

 

[Robert_in_NY]

You said you planned to do a 10-15 acre chunk, a lot of the farmers fields in your area are not much bigger then that anyway (they just have more of them). There is an 8000 acre farm outside of Rochester, NY and their largest field is 100 acres. They have a bunch of smaller farms to make the 8000 acres and they harvest some 2-3 acre fields with a JD 9660 STS combine. So don't be worried about your field being too small. It won't hurt to ask a local farmer and you will get a lot of enjoyment from just being around their machines while they work as you would owning something that might (and most likely will) break down on you numerous times while you are trying to get your wheat in. If you want a old harvester, there is a Case-IH 1460 (it might be a 1660 but I can't remember) at Lakeland JD in Avon, NY which is about 6 hours north of Pittsburg. They only wanted around $15k for it and for your acerage, it will last a long time. The 1660 is a very nice machine (and it has a cab /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif). I am sure you can find older used combines around your neighborhood as well. There were a lot of Case-IH 40 and 60 series combines as well as the John Deere Titan combines and old Gleaners (tend to be much more affordable then JD and Case-IH). Also, you might be able to find a older NH combine as well. Any of these older machines can be had for $10- $20k that have some hours on them but you can get parts for them still and they are much better then the older ones (as well as a lot cooler /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif)

 

[Egon]

combine info:

http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?query=combines+wheat&page=7&offset=0&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26requestId%3D8f4da9884b5f5d98%26clickedItemRank%3D63%26userQuery%3Dcombines%2Bwheat%26clickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww1.agric.gov.ab.ca%252F%2524department%252Fdeptdocs.nsf%252Fall%252Feng7918%253Fopendocument%26invocationType%3Dnext%26fromPage%3DNSCPNextPrev%26amp%3BampTest%3D1&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww1.agric.gov.ab.ca%2F%2524department%2Fdeptdocs.nsf%2Fall%2Feng7918%253Fopendocument

 

[RichZ]

Tim, I don't know what your price range is, but older two wheel drive combines can be had pretty cheap here in upstate New York, so I imagine that they would be the same by you. The two wheel drive units are fine on land that isn't too hilly. My friend got one last year in excellent shape for $5000. They go cheap because most farmers want the newer four wheel drive combines, but if your land is flat, a two wheel drive would be perfect for your small acreage. Check your local farmer neighbors, they often know when equipment is for sale, and check used farm equipment listings and auctions.

Good luck!!!

 

[cowboydoc]

Shoot I've seen those older IH combines go for less than a $1000. Good older JD combines go for $2000-3000.