One Combine to replace 2 calculation?

[Flatlander]

Would using the second man on a chaser bin to keep the one combine rolling continuously improve harvesting ?

Chaser bin/wagon is half a combine. A good driver will make that combines day so much more productive

 

[Farmer Roy]

Would using the second man on a chaser bin to keep the one combine rolling continuously improve harvesting ?

chaser bins are about the biggest & simplest productivity gain you can have

keeping the header rolling & grain away from it is the key, whatever size you have

 

[Adeptandy]

Other than loading a lorry and possibly having it set up for low ground pressure, what are the benefits of a chaser bin, just looks old a top heavy trailer to me and a waste of an operator

 

[Pilatus]

keeping the header rolling & grain away from it is the key, whatever size you have

 

[benny6910]

Other than loading a lorry and possibly having it set up for low ground pressure, what are the benefits of a chaser bin, just looks old a top heavy trailer to me and a waste of an operator

I’ve never used one but I suppose there will less “dead” time with the trailers leading back to the yard if the chaser can fill them in 1 fill up. I know when I’m cutting it takes about 7 mins for me to have enough to fill a trailer if it’s had one full tip in before.
I suppose with a chaser bin the combine should never stop just to top off a trailer as this would be the job of the chaser bin.

 

[Pilatus]

.
I suppose with a chaser bin the combine should never stop just to top off a trailer as this would be the job of the chaser bin.

As chaser bins are so high, I would have thought the combine operator would be in a better position to top the chaser bin up,than the chaser bin driver.
One thing I learnt when I loaded a chaser bin on the go was to make sure it was well out the way before I put the unloading auger to transport position otherwise it would have caught the back of the chaser bin as so high!!!

 

[Two Tone]

I’ve never used one but I suppose there will less “dead” time with the trailers leading back to the yard if the chaser can fill them in 1 fill up. I know when I’m cutting it takes about 7 mins for me to have enough to fill a trailer if it’s had one full tip in before.
I suppose with a chaser bin the combine should never stop just to top off a trailer as this would be the job of the chaser bin.

I’ve never used a proper Chaser, but I did use something similar many years ago when farming 2 farms about 10 miles apart.
Take a look at the ‘Drill fill trailer’ thread, posts 1 and 15 to see what I’m talking about.

 

[Combineman]

Don’t worry it’s comments like that that keeps used prices down.ive just bought another Massey

Good man - just keep it a secret from all these nay sayers and it will be fine

 

[quattro]

Chaser bin/wagon is half a combine. A good driver will make that combines day so much more productive

Surely if your combine isn’t stopped waiting for a trailer
how can a chaser improve capacity

 

[Pilatus]

Not in this area. Traditionaly this area would swath small grain to dry out any green tillers or low patches to even out maturity. Work surprisingly well. In the last five years it Gone mainly to desicate and straight cut. Further west into dry regions straight cutting has been the norm for longer. I still swath oats as the market is stronger for swathed as opposed to using roundup. I’ve never seen a stripper header here but I know in Alberta on dryer areas the are more common. Much of the cropping has been evolving here for the past 15 years. Canola used to be a break crop with the odd field of beans or maize, niw wheat is my break crop with canola and beans taking the lions share of the acres. the stripper header would work here but the straw would have to be dealt with as a separate operation.

Is it the standing straw you are referring to,as the benefit of the stripper header is that one is just stripping the grain from the ear and so very little straw going through the combine, hence one gets a huge increase in output from the combine as one can travel so much quicker.
Not much residue left for the drill to drill through BUT I appreciate that with a lot of snow on the standing straw pushing it down that may or may not cause seeding issues.

 

[Hampton]

As chaser bins are so high, I would have thought the combine operator would be in a better position to top the chaser bin up,than the chaser bin driver.
One thing I learnt when I loaded a chaser bin on the go was to make sure it was well out the way before I put the unloading auger to transport position otherwise it would have caught the back of the chaser bin as so high!!!

The guy on the combine should control filling the trailers/chaser when on the move.
Pretty much the opposite to on a potato harvester where the guys on the tractors should load the trailers and let the harvester driver get on with harvesting.

 

[quattro]

The guy on the combine should control filling the trailers/chaser when on the move.
Pretty much the opposite to on a potato harvester where the guys on the tractors should load the trailers and let the harvester driver get on with harvesting.

We usually dump first load in trailer, then combine driver tops the trailer off

 

[Flatlander]

Surely if your combine isn’t stopped waiting for a trailer
how can a chaser improve capacity

In my situation we move grain back to the bins with lorries. Usually the fields are softer and my soils don’t dry well. Lorries in that situation mean your not going to be able to get across to the entrance with out either sinking or crawling across in first gear because you don’t have the momentum to change gear without stopping dead. Lorries parked on the hard entrance with the chaser servicing both combine and lorry saves a lot of headaches and speeds the whole operation up. Baring in mind some of my fields are pushing 2 miles long.

 

[Flatlander]

Is it the standing straw you are referring to,as the benefit of the stripper header is that one is just stripping the grain from the ear and so very little straw going through the combine, hence one gets a huge increase in output from the combine as one can travel so much quicker.
Not much residue left for the drill to drill through BUT I appreciate that with a lot of snow on the standing straw pushing it down that may or may not cause seeding issues.

right on all accounts , im my soil if it has a covering of residue in spring it’s never going to dry. It’s hard to comprehend without seeing. So here all straw is chopped and worked into the top few inches. without that straw the soil will blow once dried out, but if it’s not worked getting it planted can be very difficult regardless of equipment. On the combine threshing point some of our hard red spring wheat varieties are very hard to thresh and not having a mat of straw to rub against and push the seed out doesn’t help

 

[ollie989898]

The biggest benefit of a chaser bin is surely the ability to load trucks in under 5 minutes and get back to the field. I can see the utility of one where you are contract farming and there is no or limited storage and it has to be carted to a central store. The second you tip grain and have to reload it you are having to put a loader and a man there to push it up and load it etc. Also there is a risk of having grain sat in a heap if it is not dried or cooled.

Chaser bin I guess makes it a lot more like foraging so it is harder on all involved as you are constantly driving, there is very little idle time or waiting. The ability to load on trailers on the hard and keep them out of the field also has implications for sticky conditions as well.

 

[Flatlander]

The biggest benefit of a chaser bin is surely the ability to load trucks in under 5 minutes and get back to the field. I can see the utility of one where you are contract farming and there is no or limited storage and it has to be carted to a central store. The second you tip grain and have to reload it you are having to put a loader and a man there to push it up and load it etc. Also there is a risk of having grain sat in a heap if it is not dried or cooled.

Chaser bin I guess makes it a lot more like foraging so it is harder on all involved as you are constantly driving, there is very little idle time or waiting. The ability to load on trailers on the hard and keep them out of the field also has implications for sticky conditions as well.

My chaser was made fir dryer regions that here I think. Tires are 800-32s but in a wet year which is when they are needed the most it will leave some serious compaction. Tracks would be ideal but get pretty spendy very quick. The points above are put perfect.every situation is different but fir me a chaser makes sense

 

[snipe]

But what happens if the only one big combine breaks down when the weather is perfect ,,Nothing gets cut untill its fixed where as ,two not so big ,should one of them conks out ,atleast the second is still going even if not at any great speed.
Swings and roundabouts ,,run one and risk downtime or two with a 50% chance of something going wrong

Running 2 combines you double the risk of a break down. So if the 1 big combine brakes down once in a season you have to say each of the 2 small machines will brake down once each in the season. Big combine can cut 80ac a day and is broken down for 2 day that’s 160ac cutting missed. First of 2 small combines breaks down for 2 days 80ac loss then the other one, another 80ac loss. It’s the same. However the likelihood is that the 1 big combine will be newer than the 2 smaller ones so you might say it’s less likely to breakdown or if it does you are more likely to get a stand In or demo machine from the dealer.