Low-Cost Pickup For Deere Combines

Low-Cost Pickup For Deere Combines COMBINES Headers 4-2-17 "We can fit all Deere combines from 1973 to the new 20 series, and can custom tailor adapters for most other brands of combines," reports Harley Nuehring, Kanawha, Iowa, farmer who has invented and patented a kit that lets you attach the hay header from Deere's forage harvester directly to the combine's feeder house to pick up windrowed oats, wheat and other small grain, or alfalfa seed. In Northern Iowa, Minnesota and similar areas, oats are usually windrowed before combining to permit earlier harvest, and to let grain as well as any weeds in the crop dry out for more efficient combining. Because oats acreage is relatively small there compared to other crops (mostly corn and soybeans), Nuehring reasoned that it would be more economical to adapt his forage harvester pick-up to his combine instead of buying a separate combine pick-up attachment. He also figured it would be easier to go that route than to remove and replace the reel and automatic header height control from the combine table when switching between soybean and oat harvests. ("It usually takes at least half a day to get the header height control readjusted if you've had it off," says Nuehring," And, with current soybean prices, you can't afford to waste that much time, plus the beans you could lose just getting the system reset.") Nuehring says his system can also save money for soybean farmers using row crop soybean heads, and who also grow oats. He figures his adapter and drive system, with a new forage harvester pick-up, will cost about half as much as a regular com bine header with pick-up attachment. Nuehring uses the combine's variable speed reel drive to run the pick-up. This permits adjusting pick-up speed to match crop conditions and travel speed. Nuehring's adapter takes into consideration the differences in dimensions and mounting angles between forage harvester and combine headers. His initial design, and the first units built, involve use of a Deere forage harvester pick-up and John Deere combines. However, other conversions can be made up on a customorder basis, says Nuehring. Performance of his unit, and those he has built for other farmers, has been quite satisfactory with up to 12 ft. windrows of oats, says Nuehring. He hasn't tested the unit in extremely heavy windrows. Cost of the adapter, which Nuehring produces in his own on-farm manufacturing plant, is $395. He notes that 2 sprockets and the roller chain which drive the head can be purchased from a Deere dealer for approximately $50. The hydraulic motor that drives the head can be taken from the wheel drive of a conventional platform, or a new one can be purchased from a Deere dealer for approximately $200. A new Deere 5¢ ft. forage harvester hay head lists for approximately $1,500, compared to a new Deere grain platform with belt pickup which lists at approximately $4,200. For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Harley Nuehring, Box 101, Route 1, Kanawha, Iowa 50447 (ph 515 5872296).

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