if saturday does not get us

[Hopperbin]

The 16th will. Need ecverything in the swath in 14 days. Standing crop will be ****ed.

[Hopperbin]

Its cutting a fine line around here and who the hell needs a killer frost when the crop already sucks. My canola is a week away at least. Peas also. So have a week to swath 3000 acres. My swather cannot do it. Klause??????

[TOM4CWB]

Question?

Why would you swath wheat? How will putting the wheat in a swath save the grade? IT WILL NOT! If there has been no rain... and the wheat is dry... frost will not hurt the grade. If it has just rained and it freezes... in the swath or standing the frost will cause damage. A litre of Glypf. helps move things along.

If your peas need to be touched up... how about some reglone? Swathing the Canola does make sense. A good swather can do 300ac per day.

[T.N.T.]

Isn't anyone else getting rain daily now?Why would you want it in a swath,so it starts growing?

[Klause]

Around here we are one of the few with a straight cut header. Everyone is swathing wheat and barley and even ripe peas... we are getting 2 tenths every day pretty much.


No I don't understand it.

We will spray our hrs out in another 2 days early oats is ripe. Late oats needs 10-12 days.

Will straight cut two quarters of canola that have had roundup and swathing one more after this rain event.


We have spent 6 days harvesting 1 quarter of peas between showers. At one point it rained so hard we couldn't get the combine up the hill back the the truck.

[fjlip]

Crops are so twisted tangled lodged from rain and wind, swathing is the only option. Neighbor gave up after 10 years straight cutting, picking rocks, barley/oats shatter, drying most of the grain and twisting headers in ditches. Good luck, rain/humidity biggest issue, dew at 6pm, won't straight cut late.

[freewheat]

Ahhh, the swath vs. straight debate! I personally think as long as it gets done, there is no right or wrong answer. But for my farm, swathing is a last resort. But I have no idea why my neighbors have been cutting their barley like there is not an inch of rain forecast.

For me it is more of a time saving on a one man farm. I also have had enough sprouted grain in swaths to make my head spin.

Once, when I was younger, like 19, my neighbor phoned my mom and told her I should be swathing my wheat. It took a lot of convincing my mom that he was out to lunch, because he has been at it for decades, and is known as a good farmer. He was cutting his next door. Then the rains hit. His wheat sat there. Mine stood. I combined mine dry right behind the swather. He combined his at 19% eventually. I learned from that. But he didn't it seems. Yesterday he hacked down a couple more hundred acres of barley, ahead of tomorrows inch. Mine will stand there and wait. And wait. And wait....

I see the benefit of swathing canola if frost is a potential threat, because a few days in the swath can get it frost safe. And rain won't hurt it, so it doesn't matter.

Ahh, the swath/straight debate. I am off to make some popcorn. Be Right Back, boys!!!! lol.

[TOM4CWB]

fjlip,

With new auto sensing technology... there is no excuse for hurting a header on runs or uneven ground. The worst that should happen is that where ground is very uneven... missed crop is likely... which will happen with a swather in any event.

A good true flex header picks up barley and wheat as well as peas with the ability to jump over rocks... which should have been rolled down with a land roller in any case... if not picked. We now have technology with our true flex headers that allow 8 inch plus ground sensing stubble height. With a full finger auger... they go just as long at night as a d****r... we have both and run them side by side.

Nothing is perfect... but sprouted grain is very bad in an overloaded feed market... which we are in now.

Just saying...

[Hopperbin]

Picking up will get substantial more acres done in a day. Plus a few extra hours of combining come night fall if you wish to go. I can do a better job of spreading straw spreading 50 feet in a 36 foot swath on swathed wheat or barley makes for a possibleseedbed without harrowing. Wind damage often damages standing here. Good luck with that thin canola stand. I dont understand what you do sometimes either. Frost and shatter will be high risk. Your wife driving that straight header? I know its working good. But that field would have been done if swathed in my opinion. Swathed malt barley would be easier to store.

[Partners]

If it rains to much ..nothing is perfect..But hard rain and wind flatten crops, and just no fun to swath or straight cut after that..Neighbors have lost 1/2 there oats and bly in high winds by leaving it stand compared to a swath when conditions are dry..

[Klause]

Um. ....


I have a swather head on combine. Peas are coming off dry. The guys with swaths can't even combine today. I can cut as long or longer than a swather can.


Wheat in swaths around here is sprouting.


We are combining half a mile an hr faster cutting than picking up swaths...



to each their own

[riders2010]

wheat and peas around here sprouting standing up. its getting ridiculous.

[Hopperbin]

We will agree to dissagree. We all know a crop swathed a day before a frost will have sustansially less damage than a day after I hope. The decision gets difficult when the crop not ready to swath. Number 3 wheat us not much a deduction at the moment. A dollar fifty deduction to number 4 or feed is insentive to swath. There is no swathed wheat germating around here yet. I can see popcorn being popular tonight.

[Hopperbin]

Frost scare seems to have diminished a bit.

[Hopperbin]

Frost scare seems to have diminished a bit.