glasshouse
Member
- Location
- lothians
I can see how that would work.
What about the baler hitched to combine?
Stripper Headers
- Thread starter ajd132
- Start date
What about the baler hitched to combine?
Any update on this? Been thinking next time we change combine, we could drop a size or two if we could use a stripper header. Also, now we're growing some heritage wheats, I'd be interested to strip the seed heads off then get a binder in for thatching straw, it would save all that threshing work.
ollie989898
Member
No, I have known people mow standing straw after cutting just the heads off for alkalage. Works well. Also starts fires.
- Location
- Cornwall
A number of blokes out here do that. Race through with a stripper header while the weather is favourable, then come back to mow and bale the straw when the humidity is better. It does seem a little counter intuitive to have an extra pass with a mower but stripper headers are so fast, saving so much diesel and time it’s worth it. Plus, as all our combines are rotary models, straw quality remains better.
ollie989898
Member
Makes sense, you take the grain but can afford to leave the straw standing until it is dried out more. I guess a mower is a bit more tolerant of stones and the like as well. Sounds almost like a job for a machine that can mow and bale straw in one hit.
I genuinely believe stripper headers are the way forward. I don't see how chopping the straw and spreading it, using fuel in the process makes sense. I've seen drills manage to drill through a lot more stuff than a standing wheat crop before so it must be possible.
MNBVCXZ
Member
- Location
- Central Southern UK
Does this allow for a redesign of the combine harvester?
- Location
- Mid Lincolnshire,UK
Was at Sleaford Farmers Discussion Group meeting the other night where Dave Franciosy showed a video he made in the USA of fleets of combines using stripper headers ( shelbourne reynolds). Reason in that part of the USA was to trap snow in the stubble to conserve water as rain is non existant. I think he quoted 4000 acres a day but there were a lot of combines!
- Location
- northampton
How about doing it kiwi style and just raise the header up and chop the heads off
ollie989898
Member
How much for a medium sized axial flow with 3000 hours on it and a stripper header to match?
Did I read somewhere that the beauty of the stripper header was that you could run at night as the dew coming down wouldn't matter because there was no straw going through the machine?
Did I read somewhere that the beauty of the stripper header was that you could run at night as the dew coming down wouldn't matter because there was no straw going through the machine?
- Location
- Mid Lincolnshire,UK
No need to go at night! Can go like stink during the day.
clbarclay
Member
- Location
- Worcestershire
That works well in a standing crop, with just a bit of straw through a walker combine its no trouble to get the sieves up to capacity, but in a crop thats gone flat you still end up putting most of the straw through the combine. It also annoying walking across stubbles afterwards and seeing a few leaning heads that just went under the knife, so I don't try to leave too taller stubble.
The biggest difference seems come from just raising the header enough for the heads to fall into the table auger, rather then bunch up against it.
We sold all the straw this year and having previously left tall stubbles it was frustratingly slow going this year.
Like a stripper header, a wider header to keep forwards speed sensible would be nice.
- Location
- Cornwall
Ironically, it would be more likely to leave the straw until the humidity rises enough to hold the bale, rather than to let it dry more. If it’s too dry the straw turns to chaff in our rotary combines and the bales fall apart the moment you pick them up. By leaving them till a bit later you can pick and choose when to knock it down and bale to suit. Most baling is done at night for this very reason.
Most tend to leave stubble quite high anyway here to minimise the amount of material going through the machine, particularly when chopping it. If it’s simply left standing behind a stripper header, it runs the risk of simply oxidising in our dry climate and being of limited benefit to soil biology, so if it’s not baled it’s chopped. Baling the straw usually happens as part of the rotation.
Also our row spacing is wider, 9-12 inches usually, and most of our seeders are a knife point and press wheel arrangement here in SA, so trash easily flows through it. A bit more attention to detail might be required where a disc machine was being used on narrower rows perhaps?
Also, our pre-em use patterns differ from yours as ours tend to be incorporated by sowing, so a certain amount of soil movement is required for them to do their thing, so seeding equipment needs to get through trash, into the soil and stir things up... but not too much, which often isn’t achieved with disc machines, which requires a different approach again. So it all has an influence!
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Tom Bradshaw & @cows r us have stripper headers I think? Tony Reynolds has one too.
- Location
- Buckinghamshire
We don't have a stripper header. Bale all our straw as we have one or two bovine to bed down in the winter.
- Location
- Buckinghamshire
I'll forgive you.
I know of no one who uses a drill with knife openers in standing stubble from a stripper header. Knife openers handle trash well if the trash isn't connected to the ground. Disc openers do better, and JD single disc drills cut through the tall stubble like butter.