Faster stripper can keep up with the crimpers
Faster stripper can keep up with the crimpers
Contractors looking for more
output from their combines
to keep up with grain
crimping machines could find
the answer in a Shelbourne
Reynolds stripper header.
Geoff Ashcroft reports
WITH crimping machine outputs now exceeding 40t/hour, there is a need to speed up combine output for those involved in crimping grain, reasons Kelvin Cave, the UK importer of Korte and Murska crimping machines.
"Combines do not like damp or green material at the best of times, and harvesting grain for crimping means cutting the crop when it is three weeks away from being ripe, so output is understandably slow," says Mr Cave. "Keeping up with some of the high output crimping machines has been almost impossible with just one combine, according to some of our crimping contractors."
But the firm reckons to have found the answer in the guise of the Shelbourne Reynolds stripper header, an alternative combine header, which simply strips grain from standing straw using finger tines.
It may be recalled that the stripper header made a significant impact on combine harvester output only a few years ago, though problems dealing with standing straw left by the header soon led to many being parked among the nettles, or being exported. And although the theory of using the stripper header to remove unripe grain for crimping has yet to be put to the test this season, both firms are confident of the headers ability.
"It appears to make sense just to remove the heads and leave the green straw still standing," says Mr Cave. "Without green straw passing through the combine, grain losses will also be reduced."
"We are expecting this system to improve combine throughput significantly and lead to increased business opportunities for crimping contractors. There will be no need for contractors to invest in that second combine, just to keep up with a crimper," he says.
Ian Taylor-Balls, sales and marketing manager of Shelbourne Reynolds, agrees with Mr Cave. "Although we have not sold a stripper header in the UK for about three years, we have been exporting about 300-400 each year, to the rest of the world," he says. "The headers development has continued in a wide variety of crops."
Mr Taylor-Balls sees unripe grain as a similar challenge to stripping rice.
"We have gained plenty of experience in stripping rice over the years, and it is not too different to harvesting unripe grain. Both crops share a high moisture content, high yields and tough separation conditions with green straw," he says.
The key, says Mr Taylor-Balls, is in the design of a new stripper finger, made of stainless steel, specifically for rice. "These new fingers remove the heads completely, which also makes it easier to see where the combine has been when youre working at night," he says. "But anyone with an old stripper header wanting to fit this new tine will need to fit an exchange rotor."
But what about the straw? Does the same problem that dogged the initial acceptance of the stripper header still remain?
"With heads removed, the standing straw ripens in about 48 hours. We can then mow the straw using our self-propelled rape swather, without modification," he says, adding that this too, could extend the working season for swathing contractors who use their machines for only two weeks each year, when cutting rape. "With the grain removed for crimping and the straw mown, all that is required is a baler, then fields are ready for cultivation, long before the conventional harvest has even started," he says. "For many, such a system will help to get autumn sowing dates back on track."
Mr Taylor-Balls also reckons the grain crimping system provides a practical link between arable growers and livestock producers. "There is potential for growers to utilise their agronomy skills and machinery by selling their corn direct to livestock producers or crimping contractors," he says. *