Tracks Help Combine “Walk On Water”

Tracks Help Combine “Walk On Water” COMBINES Accessories Like many farmers in western Canada Shane Schafers’ land was totally saturated by rain last fall so bringing in crops was extremely difficult Once he saw what was happening the Alberta farmer took drastic measures to convert his combine to tracks     “Shane is not one of those guys to wait around for optimal conditions that may never arrive ” says his wife Judy “The wheels in his brain get turning immediately Without a solution some of the land wouldn’t have been accessible until spring and by then the crop would be totally ruined with rot mold and pests ”     Schafers’ 9230 Case straight header combine already had duals on it but as the ground got wetter and wetter they started plugging up with mud spinning like “big racing slicks ” and preventing him from getting anywhere     “My dad and I farm 1 800 acres and by this point we had 800 acres of wheat and faba beans left to harvest ” Shane says “With $200 000 to $300 000 of crop still standing in the field we needed to find a way to get it off Modifying the combine the way we did cost about $100 000 but it’s an investment for the future too ”     First Schafers mounted a $26 000 Mud Hog hydraulic rear wheel assist system on the combine The job took almost 6 hrs to do     The Mud Hog drive made a big difference but the rain kept coming and after another 1 1/2 in the field had surpassed its saturation point     “The land was just like jelly ” he explains “Between Sept 13 when we first started harvest and November 10 when we finished we got a total of nearly 8 in of rain and snow That’s very unusual for our area We would sink in about 3 in just walking the field on foot because there was a half-inch of water sitting all over the field ”     On Youtube Schafers saw a tracked combine harvesting rice fields in conditions similar to his own so that’s where he got the idea After doing a Google search for combine tracks he found Soucy Tracks built in Quebec www Soucy-track com After speaking to the company by phone he ordered a set and within 30 hrs the tracks were delivered to his doorstep

    “The track system cost us $75 000 and took 5 hrs to install but we’d do it again in a heartbeat ” he says “These tracks are 11 ft long which translates into a footprint of 3 lbs per square inch of ground The longer the tracks are the better they spread out how the weight transfers to the ground ”     Schafers says his combine only sank in about 6 in compared to about 1 1/2 ft with duals This allowed him to keep the header up out of the water and continue moving     “It’s a bit of a rougher ride and you lose about 10 miles per hour in road speed down from 25 to 10 ” he adds “It’s also a lot of work to clean out the tracks at the end of the season even if you do it while the mud’s still soft It took us about 4 hrs with a high pressure washer But the sacrifices were well worth it since we were able to get finished ”     He says the Mud Hog drive worked extremely well with the tracks and were particularly helpful for turning at the ends of the field     Judy adds “It was a risk indeed but the claims made by the manufacturer of the track system live up to its promises Shane took his nervous dad for a test run though some of the ‘lakes’ in the field and made it through like magic! It was hard to believe what that huge heavy machine could go through There were literally a couple of feet of standing water in some places and the combine motored on through spraying water everywhere as if it was surfing It was such a sight that as many as 4 vehicles at a time stopped on the side of the road just to watch ”     Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Shane Schafers St Albert Alberta Canada schafersfarms@hotmail com

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.