Double Corn Reel Picks Up Downed Stalks

Double Corn Reel Picks Up Downed Stalks COMBINES Down Corn When Larry Smith went out to look at his corn crop after a storm blew through last year he says It looked like a culti-packer ran over it     The Walnut Hill Florida farmer adds After the wind blew it down we had rain on it for weeks so there was no chance of trying to combine it In total we had more than 40 inches of rain on the crop after it went down      It was completely flat and laid there for three months before it was dry enough for us to try to harvest it Smith continues By then the stalks had rotted off at the ground Despite that the ears were still dry and the grain was in good shape so we thought if we could get it into the combine we could get enough grain to recoup some of our losses     Years ago Larry s father Jake had built a reel that allowed him to pick up a downed crop I could have used that reel if I had been able to get into the field before the stalks rotted off Smith says     Because loose snouts would roll along in front of the header Smith decided he needed a second reel in front of the first one to grab the loose stalks and push them onto the gathering chains From there he figured the original first reel would help move stalks into the cross auger     With help from a local fabrication shop the second reel was added Both reels have big fingers made of bent round tubing over each row The front reel is smaller with shorter fingers than the first one     Jake Smith calculated the shape and size of the fingers and made a pattern from wood He gave it to the fabrication shop which duplicated it from pipe      Really it s just a piece of pipe with fingers on it Smith explains He made brackets to mount the reels on the front of his Gleaner 6-row corn head He used 112-tooth sprockets and no 60 roller chain he had on hand to drive the two reels Both run at the same speed and they re adjusted and timed so they don t hit each other     Smith says he was amazed at how well it worked We had to run a lot of extra stalks through the combine but by then they d started to decay We had no problem with them building up or plugging The reels just kept kicking the stalks on up and through the combine he says We calculated that we harvested 80 bu of grain per acre     He says the reel cost less than $1 500 to make     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Larry Smith 5611 Smith Lane Walnut Hill Fla 32568 ph 850 327-4178; fax 850 327-4189

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