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Chopper-Roller Crushes Corn Stubble, Smoothes Field
Most cornheads produced in the past few years have chopping knives that devour stalks and save a trip across the field with a conventional stalk chopper. George and Dale Hallcock, father and son farmers near Randolph, Minn., like the concept of fewer trips, but they don’t like harvested fields with root ridges and shar
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Chopper-Roller Crushes Corn Stubble Smoothes Field CROPS Miscellaneous Most cornheads produced in the past few years have chopping knives that devour stalks and save a trip across the field with a conventional stalk chopper George and Dale Hallcock father and son farmers near Randolph Minn like the concept of fewer trips but they don’t like harvested fields with root ridges and sharp corn stubble that can puncture tires Their solution is simple although it requires an extra trip behind the combine before tillage “We pull a field roller behind a stalk chopper ” says George Hallcock “We run the chopper about 4 in from the ground so we miss any small rocks then the roller smashes and flattens the sharp stubble and the root berm presses the residue to the ground and creates a smooth surface for fall tillage ” The Hallcocks till their fall corn ground using a large double disk that works the residue evenly with soil to a depth of about 5 in Some residue remains on the surface but it’s held in place with soil Dale Hallcock says when he drives diagonally across the rolled stalks pulling the disk the field is as smooth as a road The level surface allows the disk to penetrate at an even depth and thoroughly blend residue with the soil When they plant corn on corn there’s less surface residue for the young corn plants to contend with The Hallcock’s home-built design has a 20-ft wide Woods stalk chopper pulling a 20-ft center section from a Rite-Way roller A local machine shop built a sturdy hitch on back of the chopper and extended the roller hitch to allow easier turning Hydraulic cylinders raise and lower the roller wheels and rotate the drum so the unit is just 8 ft wide for road travel Hydraulic hoses rest in cradles on top of the chopper and the hitch to the center of the drum The Hallcocks say that even though the roller weighs close to 4 tons their chopper tractor has no trouble pulling it at 5 to 6 mph and they hardly notice it’s there Contact: FARM SHOW Followup George & Dale Hallcock 1462 280th St West Randolph Minn 55065 ph 507 645-7007; Hallcock@gmail com
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