How agriculture works thread

Creamer · Jul 29, 2022

I see the three farm owned machines have stripper headers. Very interesting header when you are thinking about combines.

ArlyA · Jul 30, 2022

Creamer said:
I see the three farm owned machines have stripper headers. Very interesting header when you are thinking about combines.

One of the videos I postd this week (I believe in Indiana) they used strippers, then in the same field and at the same time they were cutting and baling the wheat straw.

sixdogs · Aug 1, 2022

ArlyA said:
Hillside combining in Switzerland. That is really, really some hills they are doing! Or paste this onto Ytube

Wheat Harvest on the abyss Cabview | Special Combine Harvester Deutz-Fahr M35.75

Those are some serious slopes.

sixdogs · Aug 2, 2022

ArlyA said:
Most likely the price. I have no idea what people do with wheat straw.

In the old days of 10 years ago the straw sat sunbaked in the field for a few weeks and then was begrudgingly baled into small squares and almost given away to get rid of it. Some burned it in the fields if they could.

These days we have much shorter wheat varieties to deal with so straw production is minimal and it is often just left in the field or maybe baled into small squares for the landscape industry or for animal bedding.

sixdogs · Aug 2, 2022

ArlyA said:
Wheat field fire in Montcalm County, Michigan just a few days ago caught on a drone cam.

Amazing video. I wonder if the TIER4 tractors with their forced regeneration cycles have started many crop fires?

The big fear around here is corn stubble, meaning the stuff left after the harvest. it is very flammable and a fire in that is hard to put out because of the residual corn stalk stubble. They have to burn to a road and hope that holds it. Even bean field stubble can burn and I almost had one get away from me last year. Caught it just as it was gaining momentum.

buckeyefarmer · Aug 2, 2022

ArlyA said:
Wheat field fire in Montcalm County, Michigan just a few days ago caught on a drone cam.

They were hurrying to get it picked ahead of the fire.

ArlyA · Aug 2, 2022

buckeyefarmer said:
They were hurrying to get it picked ahead of the fire.

They of course are combining, not picking.

ovrszd · Aug 3, 2022

sixdogs said:
In the old days of 10 years ago the straw sat sunbaked in the field for a few weeks and then was begrudgingly baled into small squares and almost given away to get rid of it. Some burned it in the fields if they could.

These days we have much shorter wheat varieties to deal with so straw production is minimal and it is often just left in the field or maybe baled into small squares for the landscape industry or for animal bedding.

And there is a lot smaller demand for animal bedding with the new confinement method of stock care.

5030 · Aug 3, 2022

ArlyA said:
They of course are combining, not picking.

Picking refers to vegetable (truck farming) You harvest cereal grains as well as field corn. Everything is in the descriptive terms.

5030 · Aug 3, 2022

ovrszd said:
And there is a lot smaller demand for animal bedding with the new confinement method of stock care.

However, the demand for baled wheat straw (usually in rounds) is still quite good because cattle farmers and dairy operators use wheat straw with the addition of other grains in their tub grinders to make feed. Tub grinders aren't just for shredding old tires... Wheat straw in rounds is easily introduced into a tub grinder. Like I said previously, one guy down the road does nothing but round bale wheat straw in net and sells it to local cattle ops and dairy ops. He's especially busy in the winter months delivering it by the semi load. He contract bales everything, owns very little ground himself.

ovrszd · Aug 3, 2022

5030 said:
However, the demand for baled wheat straw (usually in rounds) is still quite good because cattle farmers and dairy operators use wheat straw with the addition of other grains in their tub grinders to make feed. Tub grinders aren't just for shredding old tires... Wheat straw in rounds is easily introduced into a tub grinder. Like I said previously, one guy down the road does nothing but round bale wheat straw in net and sells it to local cattle ops and dairy ops. He's especially busy in the winter months delivering it by the semi load. He contract bales everything, owns very little ground himself.

Very territory oriented. No straw here is used in that method that I am aware of. We have a lot of Cattle here. 4.35M in the State with most of them being in the Northern end where I am. Very few large rounds of straw baled each year. Mostly used for mulch. Small squares are of value for small operation bedding.

5030 · Aug 3, 2022

ovrszd said:
Very territory oriented. No straw here is used in that method that I am aware of. We have a lot of Cattle here. 4.35M in the State with most of them being in the Northern end where I am. Very few large rounds of straw baled each year. Mostly used for mulch. Small squares are of value for small operation bedding.

If the ranch operator owns a tub grinder, they will be hammermilling feed and mixing it with wheat straw but you would need to be nosey...lol 99% of everything here is confinement as well.

lman · Aug 3, 2022

5030 said:
Picking refers to vegetable (truck farming) You harvest cereal grains as well as field corn. Everything is in the descriptive terms.

Many years ago we used a corn picker to pick ear corn. We then got a combine. My dad used to call it a pickersheller. It was common when I was a kid to say dad was picking corn.

K5lwq · Aug 3, 2022

We always picked cotton too.

ovrszd · Aug 4, 2022

lman said:
Many years ago we used a corn picker to pick ear corn. We then got a combine. My dad used to call it a pickersheller. It was common when I was a kid to say dad was picking corn.

Us old timers still say "picking corn" here. The 30 somethings say "shelling corn". And all of us "cut beans".

buckeyefarmer · Aug 4, 2022

ArlyA said:
They of course are combining, not picking.

I expected someone to get picky about picking.

buckeyefarmer · Aug 4, 2022

When my dad grew field corn, it got picked by hand. We were so grateful one year he borrowed a 2 row picker.

JethroB · Aug 4, 2022

lman said:
Many years ago we used a corn picker to pick ear corn. We then got a combine. My dad used to call it a pickersheller. It was common when I was a kid to say dad was picking corn.

Same here, picking corn. Not a lot of corn grown here since the nearby hog slaughter plant closed 40 years ago. Farmers small & large grew corn to feed a few or many hogs. The local high school teams are still called the Packers. I doubt many under 50 know why. (Swift Packing Co.)

A city girl recently asked me if I gathered the pecans around the house in the fall, I told her No, we pick’em up. On hands and knees if your serious about it.