famitm. Saturday. July 12, 1975
From Local Ag Teachers:
YMSBitheCMklM
By Glenn Spongier
MnhdßCatnl
By the time joa read this
article, much of the bnrky
will be harvested and aome
wheat will be ready to
combine. Bat before the
combine moves into your
next field, I want you to a*
yourself a question. Are you
and is the combine doing the
best passible job to get the
mast grain into your grain
hint economically?
Whether you combine your
own grain or have it cut fay a
custom operator, deter
mining the time to harvest is
a major management
decision. Grain moisture
should be the determining
factor. If the moisture is too
high; the grain will not be
threshed completely from
the beads. Also the chance of
the grain heating and
spoiling in the inns is in
creased. On the other hand,
if the grain is left in the field
longer than needed, the
chance of the straw lodging
and grain lost ‘a head
shattering is greatly in
creased.
The correct moisture to
harvest and to store smaQ
grains are: Barley: Harvest
when the grain is 14 percent
or less in moisture content.
Store when the grain is 13
percent or less in moisture
content. Wheat: Harvest
when grain is 14 percent or
less in moisture content.
Store when the grain is 13
percent or less in moisture
content Oats: Harvest when
grain is 14 percent or less in
moisture content. Store
when flie grain is 12 percent
or less in moisture content
The combine can be ad
justed and operated to
rfwnmate almost all grain
locs, but this is impractical
One thing yon should
remember: (forward speed
in the most important factor
?»*«- ’ P
m*}-
in optimizing the per
formance of the combine.) In
general as your ground
speed increases, your losses
increase.
There are basicly five
types of losses: shatter loss,
cotter bar loss, cylinder loss,
separating km, and cleaning
loss. Your job as a manager
is to reduce these losses, yet
be timely in harvesting.
Shatter loss was men
tioned above. It is the grain
winch is on the ground which
can’t be readied by the
adter bar. The machine is
not responsible for this loss.
Cutter bar loss is the grain
lost doe to file rough or poor
adjustment of the cotter bar
or red. Losses are caused by
the adter bar being set too
high, causing grain beads to
pass mder the bead. (This is
especially a heavy loss with
soybeans.) More of the loss
occurs from improper reel
adjustment In general the
reel should be 6 to 10 indies
in front of the knives in
standing grain and the bats
just below the lowest heads.
When grain is down, the reel
shonld be lowered and
moved forward. The reel
speed shonld be between 1V«
to •!Vt times the ground
speed.
Cylinder loss is the grain
lost over the straw rack in
the form of ontbreshed
heads. Cylinder losses
dmdd be less than 1 percent.
Damage to the grain limits
file severity of threshing.
Severity of threshing incr
eases with increasing
cylinder speeds and
decreasing the concave
clearance. The smaller the
grain the faster the cylinder.
The concave clearance
should be increased with the
larger seeds and the more
straw going through the
combine. More straw
the seed without
increasing cylinder loss;
RUNG
MEDIA
however more gram will be
lost in separation.
Separating loss is tbe
threshed grain lost out the
rear of the combine. This
comes from two areas. The
one is gram lost over the
rack, which is caused by
grain not being able to work
its way through the straw.
This loss is reduced by
decreasing the amount of
straw over the rack. (Either
raise the cutter bar or
decrease ground speed.) The
second area is shoe sieve
losses, which are caused by
overloading or sieve
plugging. Without
overloading and proper
airflow, tbe only loss should
be light grains blown out the
rear.
Cleaning losses are not a
loss of grain, but a decrease
in crop value due to foreign
matter. Your clue to
cleaning will be the grain
and foreign material in the
grain tank. Problems are
usually caused by over
thresbing at the cylinder
which breaks up the straw
and weeds into small pieces.
Secondly the shoe sieve or
chaffer sieve may be open
too far allowing materials to
fall through.
The combine operator
should check the ground
FISHER SPRAY PAINTERS
(Henry K. Fisher)
SANDBLASTING and
SPRAY PAINTING
INTERIOR and EXTERIOR
Aerial Ladder Equipment
Office A Shop - 667 Hartman Station Rd.
Residence - 2322 Old Philadelphia Pike
Lancaster, Penna.
For FREE Estimates Call 717-393-6530
B*"- .*
Fiddler’s picnic
to be staged
on July 20
The hills of northern Berks
County will ring with music
on Sunday, July 20 when the
Lehigh Valley Folksong
Society presents an Old Time
Fiddler’s Picnic. The
festivities to be held at tbe
Kempton Community
Center, Kempton, Pa. will
begin at 11:00 ajn. and
continue into tbe evening.
This picnic is designed to
give all musicians an op
portunity to exhibit their
talents in bluegrass, folk and
traditional music with an
»mph»<d« on fiddling. The
only featured group will be
behind the combine. Look for
the types and amounts of
losses. Losses will change as
the moisture content of the
grain and straw changes.
The tailings are another
indication of the quality of
threshing. There should
always be tailings and their
content should be about;
One half threshed grain -
Shows the sieves are not
open too far.
One fourth unthreshed
grain - cylinder and con
caves are not over threshing.
One fourth chaff - air flow,
is not too great.
The good operator will
check for signs of loss and
problems often during the
day. For your combine check
your operator’s manual and
have a good harvest
DAIRY
•ARN
POLE STRUCTURES
• FARM 'URBAN • COMMERCIAL
tbe SUmenriOe Sheiks who
will play several times
throughout the day.
Otherwise, tbe music will he
provided by interested
musicians.
Along with the music will
be craftspeople making and
selling their wares.
crafts will range from
cornfaoak dolls and stained
glass to Jewelry and
woodworking. Several times
during tbe day the film,
“Stones to tbe Weather,”
depicting Pennsylvania
Dutch bank bams and early
fanning practices will be
Tlrive Carter
BVMRONMHHIU.BOUMBS
• Gestation • Farrowing
• Nursery/Rraslwig
Swam&ma
„ R.D.2. LITITZ.
For Information Write or Phone y 626-5204
< shown. Mode for this fDm
mi supplied by members of
tbs Lehigh Valley Foftsog
Society. Tho narrator.
Howard GeMnfer, rana tbe
Kempton Farm Mnaeom
adjacent to tbe Onmnwrity
Center groands. The Farm
M tueum and VEIS
Railroad will be available
to fata a foil rand of folk
culture during the day.
Refreshment! and cam
ping in tbe rough wfll be
available on die (rank
Donation for the day k S2M
per person, stage per
formen free. Anyone in
terested in exhibiting crafts
of desiring more information
please contact Lacy Trerier.
Kempton, R 2, Pa. 1960 or
215*7564251.
TRY A CLASSIFIED
*isfi¥E