Grass Seed Harvester "Sweeps" Seed From Plants

Grass Seed Harvester Sweeps Seed From Plants COMBINES Conversions Brothers Ray and Angus McDougald of Maple Creek Sask used a 1960 s Massey 300 combine to build a wild grass seed harvester      Very few modifications are required on the Massey 300 because of the way the unit was designed Ray says The back end of the combine has a seam about 3 ft up where the threshing mechanism is The body has a split right there so it was easy to strip off the hopper and all the threshing mechanisms Then for strengthening we bolted in a couple pieces of 4-in channel iron     To keep the whole unit in balance the McDougalds needed to replace the weight that was lost when they stripped the back end down They did so by sliding a 110-gal water tank in the bottom where the sieves were It s multi-purpose as it also provides a water source for fire fighting if need be      When operating mechanical equipment there s always a risk of fire and we harvest this grass seed on large tracts of grazing land If we had a problem we could be 10 miles from any source of water     Next the brothers bolted an 8-ft long pickup truck box on top of where the hopper and threshing mechanism had been They added 4-ft plywood sides to the box      The tailgate opens up so that when we re full we can transfer the seed into a 3-ton truck using a pitch fork or scoop shovel Ray explains     Modifying the front end of the combine was pretty simple too The brothers removed the cutterbar and replaced it with a piece of 2 7/8-in drill stem for reinforcement     They removed the reel and in its place mounted a 28-in dia brush with approximately 10-in bristles similar to a street sweeper brush but not as dense They had it custom made by a brush company in Calgary Alberta      The bristles run about 1 in above the drill stem Ray points out Once the seed hits the brush they go up the feederhouse and the cylinder shoots them into the box just like if you were harvesting a cereal crop     The McDougalds harvest in pretty rough terrain virgin ground that s never been broken up so at times operating speed can be quite slow However on smoother open country their harvest speed is similar to that of most grain harvesting      With a 12-ft header it s a small enough combine that it s actually a nimble little outfit Ray points out Visibility is extremely good     The major expense was the brush which cost approximately $2 000 Everything else was salvaged     The McDougalds harvest spear grasses such as western porcupine and needle and thread They also harvest rough fescue but it only sets seed about twice in a 10-year period according to Ray     Seed harvesting doesn t hurt the existing grass stand because there s plenty of seed that doesn t get collected      We re lucky if we get a quarter of the total seed production because the heads of native grass plants don t mature all at the same time Ray explains We harvest in early July before putting the cattle on it for a few weeks     The McDougalds wholesale their seed to retailers who blend them for reclamation projects across the southern prairies They say it s a limited and somewhat unpredictable market     The brothers grass seed harvester worked so well they made another one from a Massey combine Together with another seed harvester they bought which mounts on the front of their tractor they can cover a lot of acres     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Ray McDougald P O Box 1839 Maple Creek Sask Canada S0N 1N0 ph/fax 306 662-2963; rmcdougald@sasktel net

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