48 Row Corn planter in action

[MHarryE]

The large planters used today can take a lot of power per row because they are doing a lot more than opening a sparrow, shallow trench, dropping in a seed, and packing it back closed. The unit will do the tillage, and place herbicide, insecticide, and fertilizer in the proper position so as not to burn the seed but also get it close to the seed and not use up most of your money feeding weeds. My estimate is 5 to 10 HP per row but I have been away from that part of he business for ages. At Gleaner we estimated our 12 row corn head used 120 HP in good corn but I believe we designed for 20 HP per row. That was when our combine had only 270 HP so there was only 150 left for propulsion and threshing. In planting season you want to get the seed in the ground as quickly as possible so a 48 row planter will allow you to cover your 10,000 acres in a reasonable time. However if you break the frame on a 24 row planter and you are using 2 of them instead of 1 48, you still have 50% of your planting capability but with the 48 you are down. These are the tough choices.

 

[Baby Grand]

<snip>
In planting season you want to get the seed in the ground as quickly as possible so a 48 row planter will allow you to cover your 10,000 acres in a reasonable time. However if you break the frame on a 24 row planter and you are using 2 of them instead of 1 48, you still have 50% of your planting capability but with the 48 you are down. These are the tough choices.

My first thought when I saw that 48 row beast operating - what do you do if one of the 48 planters starts acting up? Do you have to stop everything and diddle with it while the Sun moves toward the horizon? Very impressive machine. Love the glass cockpit. It's hard to wrap my head around the investment and the risk it represents. But I guess if it weren't profittable it just wouldn't be.

 

[jinman]

I couldn't help wondering what the market depth is for a product like that. How many of those do they expect to sell and can the size be reduced to say 36 rows by removing redundant units? If you engineer something like that, you have to sell enough to recoup your R&D costs. I'd also want to have a "plan B" available if I was a farmer. I suspect the owners of those machines are mostly custom planters who lease their services to farmers. You gotta get as much work for that machine as you can each growing season. If it's sitting still, it's costing you money.

 

[sixdogs]

Out here on the flat, black, rich ground of western Ohio as it flows into Indiana and Illinois and there are lots of huge 9000 series Deere tractors and many 30-something row planters. Backing it up, I saw what I believe was a 40 ft combine header at the dealer's the other day. That's 40 foot!
It is not uncommon to see a two man operation farming 2500 to 3500 or more acres here. Bigger equipment goes way faster and is more productive enough to pay for itself.

 

[J35]

Out here on the flat, black, rich ground of western Ohio as it flows into Indiana and Illinois and there are lots of huge 9000 series Deere tractors and many 30-something row planters. Backing it up, I saw what I believe was a 40 ft combine header at the dealer's the other day. That's 40 foot!
It is not uncommon to see a two man operation farming 2500 to 3500 or more acres here. Bigger equipment goes way faster and is more productive enough to pay for itself.

Like these--- Palouse Wheat Harvest - YouTube


I know a few farmers that do 500 plus acres of rented ground that use four row Kinze planter's and a four row combine's.

They can drive down the HWY and go to work. No hauling equip.

Have fun--- J

 

[sixdogs]

Like these--- Palouse Wheat Harvest - YouTube


I know a few farmers that do 500 plus acres of rented ground that use four row Kinze planter's and a four row combine's.

They can drive down the HWY and go to work. No hauling equip.

Have fun--- J

Those hillside combines are really something.
The only thing that gets hauled around here is the header and there are foldable heads coming out soon so even that is in doubt. Everything else is driven down the highway no matter what or how wide it is. A fellow on my road has a 9000 series JD with 48"? wide tires on a duals setup and that thing is wider than the road itself. It goes from edge to edge and maybe 6 inches beyond on each side. The implement being pulled seems to be narrower than the tractor itself.
When i lived in New England it was common the see a six row planter being hauled. Not on the flat ground around here.

 

[MHarryE]

I couldn't help wondering what the market depth is for a product like that. How many of those do they expect to sell and can the size be reduced to say 36 rows by removing redundant units? If you engineer something like that, you have to sell enough to recoup your R&D costs. I'd also want to have a "plan B" available if I was a farmer. I suspect the owners of those machines are mostly custom planters who lease their services to farmers. You gotta get as much work for that machine as you can each growing season. If it's sitting still, it's costing you money.

Most of the engineer
Ing cost is in the row units. The main frame is rather basic engineering. Yes, a large investment is sitting around most of the year but what is the solution? Combines have the custom harvest that follows the ripening wheat, but corn is something else. When the soil reaches a critical temp for germination you want to get it in the ground ASAP. As a farmer are you going to be content to sit around for 3 weeks before a person doing custom work gets to your place knowing you are losing 1.5% of your harvest every day. I've talked about that with many farmers who would live to hire somebody to plant and harvest because those time critical operations result in major investments sitting for 11 months of the year. Custom cutters will return south to pick corn or cut soybeans, but usually in one location rather than going to Texas and heading north again. Planting other than groups of smaller farmers getting together - I have mostly seen the large operations planting their own land. And it is so time critical that a spell of bad weather can mean having to replace your seed corn with a different variety.