How agriculture works thread

[ArlyA]

Mike Mitchell in Saskatchewan CA combing wheat with a 9 series JD combine with a 50ft head. Its long but he does talk about combining efficiencies.

 

[Creamer]

Farmers in Sask have been picking up 50" wide swaths for forty years - a 25' swather with a double swath attachment that leaves the two swaths side by side picked up by one header. They typically did not chop the straw because they sped up the spreaders and could kick the straw farther out if it was not chopped.

 

[Jstpssng]

It always amazes me when somebody talks about some of the agriculture out west, or posts a picture. I can't imagine a field level enough to handle a 50 foot combine. And where are all of your rocks? Any field which has been worked for a while here has piles of them on the tree line. Some fields have been picked annually for over a century, yet the frost still keeps pushing up more.
>
It's pretty obvious why people headed west when it was opened up.

 

[lman]

I believe I heard that Mike and his crew farmed about 40,000 acres so he can use the big equipment.

 

[ArlyA]

It always amazes me when somebody talks about some of the agriculture out west, or posts a picture. I can't imagine a field level enough to handle a 50 foot combine. And where are all of your rocks? Any field which has been worked for a while here has piles of them on the tree line. Some fields have been picked annually for over a century, yet the frost still keeps pushing up more.
It's pretty obvious why people headed west when it was opened up.

It is about scale. You own 2 acres and need to mow it so what size mower do you get? The larger your acreage is, the larger machines you need to work it in a timely fashion.. Most area's do have rocks. Note in this haversting crew is 8 combines and 4 carts working. This is in central SD.

 

[JethroB]

It always amazes me when somebody talks about some of the agriculture out west, or posts a picture. I can't imagine a field level enough to handle a 50 foot combine. And where are all of your rocks? Any field which has been worked for a while here has piles of them on the tree line. Some fields have been picked annually for over a century, yet the frost still keeps pushing up more.
>
It's pretty obvious why people headed west when it was opened up.

We have sandy loam soil with no rocks. Field sizes & property lines are mostly determined by low wet areas, branches, and creeks. A typical ‘large field’ is maybe 100 acres so there is a lot of roading of equipment between farms and fields. So keep your eyes open while driving on public roads this time of year for 16-18 foot wide cotton pickers. And lots of mailboxes and roadside trash cans take a beating.

 

[jjp8182]

For those interested Triple R Farms posted their first cotton harvest video for 2022:

It's one of the better farming channels (located in the southeastern) US I've found so far.

From what I've seen they're growing corn, soybeans, cotton and wheat ...which seems to be a fairly common group of crops for a single farming operation to grow in the region.

If anyone knows of others on Youtube located in the SE US, I'd like to hear about them ... having grown up in the Midwest, there's quite a few interesting things to learn about farming in the South. One of the more interesting things has been seeing the difference in corn row spacing in northern AL. While I haven't gone out in anyone's fields it sure looks like the corn is about half the row spacing I've seen in other parts of the US (maybe 14"-ish vs. the 28" used elsewhere).

The use of diamond harrows (not sure if it's just Kelly diamond harrows or other brands as well) is also something I haven't seen elsewhere either.

 

[Creamer]

It always amazes me when somebody talks about some of the agriculture out west, or posts a picture. I can't imagine a field level enough to handle a 50 foot combine. And where are all of your rocks? Any field which has been worked for a while here has piles of them on the tree line. Some fields have been picked annually for over a century, yet the frost still keeps pushing up more.
>
It's pretty obvious why people headed west when it was opened up.

Growing up out west our field size was simple - a quarter.... quarter section that is or 160 acres minus a few for a low spot or township alignment or something like that. Rocks - we had plenty. One quarter my Dad bought has a field of 61 acres and 60 rock piles - guess who got to consolidate those rock piles - I remember them well. I remember some people in North Dakota hiring a crawler tractor with a blade and spikes every 8 inches on the blade to dig up the rocks before you ever tried with a plow. I remember plowing one time and the back three bottoms tripped then on the next trip around the first three bottoms tripped all on the same rock. Now it is much simpler - no more tillage, rock rollers. and do not cut so low - no worries.

 

[JethroB]

For those interested Triple R Farms posted their first cotton harvest video for 2022:

It's one of the better farming channels (located in the southeastern) US I've found so far.

From what I've seen they're growing corn, soybeans, cotton and wheat ...which seems to be a fairly common group of crops for a single farming operation to grow in the region.

If anyone knows of others on Youtube located in the SE US, I'd like to hear about them ... having grown up in the Midwest, there's quite a few interesting things to learn about farming in the South. One of the more interesting things has been seeing the difference in corn row spacing in northern AL. While I haven't gone out in anyone's fields it sure looks like the corn is about half the row spacing I've seen in other parts of the US (maybe 14"-ish vs. the 28" used elsewhere).

The use of diamond harrows (not sure if it's just Kelly diamond harrows or other brands as well) is also something I haven't seen elsewhere either.

Here’s one in SW Georgia. Typical family farm operation in this area. Cotton and peanuts mostly.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjI79GEnL36AhWHomoFHUY8CHoQFnoECAcQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fc%2FFieldRows&usg=AOvVaw3RRHeKKKXExHNSog0q6SAJ

 

[ArlyA]

Growing up out west our field size was simple - a quarter.... quarter section that is or 160 acres minus a few for a low spot or township alignment or something like that. Rocks - we had plenty. One quarter my Dad bought has a field of 61 acres and 60 rock piles - guess who got to consolidate those rock piles - I remember them well. I remember some people in North Dakota hiring a crawler tractor with a blade and spikes every 8 inches on the blade to dig up the rocks before you ever tried with a plow. I remember plowing one time and the back three bottoms tripped then on the next trip around the first three bottoms tripped all on the same rock. Now it is much simpler - no more tillage, rock rollers. and do not cut so low - no worries.

Creamer, remind us where you grew up?