combine until when?

[Secret Agronomist]

It's not when you stop, its when you start!
If the forecast is ok we get going asap in the morning even if its still a bit damp in the bottom. Many are the days in the past when we'd wait until it was dry but then chug on in the damp to try a get a few extra acres done at 11pm
To answer the question, about 9 unless we are nearly finished a field.

 

[MattR]

I was going to start a thread on this as its something I often wonder about:

I often find that we can be combining on a nice day, a dry crop feeding in well, then literally the minute the sun dips over the hedge, it suddenly starts catching up on the reel, bits getting flung back over the header auger, and the drum starts making that "wumph" sound. The corn goes "dead" as we say (is that a widespread expression or maybe a local one maybe?) And you have that feeling that if you push it another quarter-hour that you're going to choke up the header elevator or something.

I see photos and videos of combines with lights on seemingly working til late at night, and wonder what the difference is. Location? We're a few miles from the North Cornish coast - is it simply different in the drier inland/eastern regions? Combine? Do modern combines cope better in those conditions than an older machine like ours? Rotaries for instance? Or are other people better at driving/setting it up properly?

Second question - you can be cutting corn at say 15-17% and the above happens as soon as the sun goes down, yet the last load hasn't gained more than 0.5%. Yet if you're cutting far wetter corn, say 20-21% in decent conditions in the daytime, generally it combines well, feeding in beautifully with the drum purring away nicely. What's the difference?

 

[Secret Agronomist]

I see photos and videos of combines with lights on seemingly working til late at night, and wonder what the difference is. Location? We're a few miles from the North Cornish coast - is it simply different in the drier inland/eastern regions? Combine? Do modern combines cope better in those conditions than an older machine like ours? Rotaries for instance? Or are other people better at driving/setting it up properly?

On our NH CR when the straw is tacky it throws it over anyway so you either wait until its properly dry or just crack on. Compared to a walker where (within limits) you can keep slowing down and it does shake it out to a certain extent.
Having said that I'm impressed when cutting rye with the CR, it makes a really good job of separating it from the straw, providing the straw is ripe and dry, It's a smaller grain but quite heavy so comes out no bother.