Latest new way to trap valuable snow in wheat fields is the "Stripper," an attachment that mounts on your swather reel arm and leaves a snow-trapping, yield-boosting, 12 to 14 in. tall strip of stubble on each pass.

Saskatchewan farmers Terry Kon and Mervin Lloyd, of D'Arcy, designed the Stripper for their own use. Interest in the prototype was so high that they're now manufacturing and selling the device.

It fits on most pull-type swathers and is "on the drawing board" to be adapted to self-propelled swathers and combines. The 39-in. long cutterbar with sickle sections mounts on the stationary center reel arm and is positioned just under the reel. When cutting grain, the Stripper cuts the crop ahead of and higher than the swather cutterbar, leaving the taller stubble strips. A shield fits over the swather cutterbar below the Stripper so the longer stubble isn't cut by the swather.

The unit is powered off the swather's pto drive.