How agriculture works thread

[Jstpssng]

Thanks to both of you for your explanations. I've heard of no till for years yet have always wondered how it works. I know all too well how well weeds do in tilled ground.

Farming here is on a much smaller scale, and down where I grew up most of the dairy farms are now shopping malls. Yet I remember in HS, hearing some of my classmates laughing because somebody snuck into the field and stole a few dozen ears of fodder corn... I suspect they never did that again.

 

[Creamer]

I have always been amazed by combines - how they can sort out whatever seed you try to get it to find and do it very rapidly and on a mobile platform. One thing I have not figured out yet is how the machines get the green peas out of the pods without damaging them. Anybody know of any good diagrams on this subject?

 

[Cougsfan]

I have always been amazed by combines - how they can sort out whatever seed you try to get it to find and do it very rapidly and on a mobile platform. One thing I have not figured out yet is how the machines get the green peas out of the pods without damaging them. Anybody know of any good diagrams on this subject?

It is not usually done in the field, but done after harvesting. Here is a you tube showing a small machine that makes the process easy to visualize.

Several companies make much larger machines for large scale processing.

 

[ArlyA]

How do sugar beets get harvested in the red river valley?

 

[Creamer]

It is not usually done in the field, but done after harvesting. Here is a you tube showing a small machine that makes the process easy to visualize.

Several companies make much larger machines for large scale processing.

It is hard to see but it looks like they are just squeezing the pod with a roller. It seems like that would trap and squash the pea but apparently not.

Thanks!

 

[Cougsfan]

It is hard to see but it looks like they are just squeezing the pod with a roller. The outer edges of the shat are set apart more than the diameter of the pea but less the diameter of the pod It seems like that would trap and squash the pea but apparently not.

Thanks!

This is just one of several different types. This one traps the pod between two helical shafts turning opposite directions. The outer edge of the shafts are set up to have a gap slightly less than the width of the pod. The shafts have either cutting edges or wire brush edges that rip the pod open to let the peas fall out. Others types include rollers (a lot like old time wringer wash machines) that just squeeze the pea out of the pod. Yet others are like a hammer mill that just smashes up the pod to release the pea. Each kind has its advantages and disadvantages.

 

[Buggs67]

I love watching these videos.

Here's on a little less advanced: Amish Corn Harvest

 

[Jstpssng]

Nothing like what you see out west, but here are a couple of new tractor drawn harvesters.

 

[aczlan]

Silage and chaff vs corn feed. When I had carpal tunnel surgery I had to keep occupied so I played farm sim and never really understood silage. Being wisconsin and having pretty big dairy farms around me some have silage bunkers and other don't. What does fermented silage do for cow food vs grains and corn?

The ones that dont have bunkers likely make it in another fashion. Silage (the whole corn plant chopped up and put in a bunker or silo), haylage (hay put up in a bunker or silo) and/or balage (hay baled with a higher moisture content, then (ideally) wrapped within a few hours of baling) lets them get higher nutritional value feed from the same crop with less "drying time" needed so it is a little less weather dependent.

Does compacting it speed up the fermenting?

The fermentation that they want for silage is anaerobic (no air) fermentation, if there is any air left it will go through aerobic fermentation and spoil the feed, the compacting is to squish it all together and push out the air.

Round hay bales left out in the field that rot, is the rotten bales considered fermented or did the farmer just have to many bales and its a throw away so its left there instead of moved to dryer location.

A well wrapped (with net wrap) bale will shed water, so often they are counting on only losing a few inches of the bale and find that cheaper than building a new covered storage location to put the hay inside.

Aaron Z

 

[ArlyA]

The Midwest might be different than NY,,,, but all cut grains and foliage is generically called "silage". Most of the time its corn but if you ask they might say "I'm chopping Milo for silage" or something like that.