Shelbourne Header -- 1st harvest - 2012

[Click on the label "stripper head" at the bottom of post for more posts on the subject.] 

 SUMMARY:  We harvested Brundage 96 winter wheat, Bob spring barley, and IdaGold spring mustard.  We are pleased with the results on all three crop types.  With the mustard, all of the tops are taken off and run through the combine leaving a ragged looking field with stems of varying lengths.  Wheat stubble looks daunting with 38-40" remaining standing.  Barley stubble stands 22-30".
MORE DETAIL:
        Winter Wheat:  Header was relatively easy to control even with an inexperienced operator.  It will take some time to gain experience to gage hood height and rotor speed for optimum performance.  Header loss was very low, but without straw in the machine, distribution across the sieve dramatically changed.  Our losses are higher than I find acceptable.  After about 50 hours, Kye has concluded that most of what is going through the concave is dropping onto the right side of the sieve, which is an overload.  Before next year we will have to make changes in the distribution augers or the floors of the augers to move material further across the sieve.  We'll need to have some adjustment capability because improvement will be through trial and error.  AND-- we will have to convert back to use this machine with a standard header for some crops (canola as an example).
         Spring Barley:  Barley harvests much more efficiently than with a standard head. Less head loss, less green in the tank including unripe kernels.  This is a great (and pleasant) surprise!  Barley has never given me much self satisfaction regardless of yield, because of the associated head loss.  Barley is inherently weak strawed which lends itself to lodging, and heads, if of good quality, tip over at the neck giving opportunity for catching on the reel.  Between the reel tossing heads,  and leaving the low heads on the ground, it is frustrating.  This header is going to save 100+ pounds of barley per acre.  We found that you cut patches that cut off from the main field immediately.  The edge of the cut and un-cut is difficult to distinguish, even at a short distance.  With barley, you break off the head stem at the crook, and the top portion of the stem is left frayed, giving a similar appearance to that of beards.
           Minimizing moisture loss with barley stubble for the following chemical fallow period is challenging.  Soil moisture loss is a given for the fallow period.  Fallow only provides approximately 30% more moisture to the following crop than annual cropping provides (see another Post -- labeled, moisture.  Barley is normally cut at, or near ground level offering little or no wind protection at the soil surface.  Convection pulls moisture to the surface developing a layer with higher humidity.  There is a point where that layer of higher humidity will slow convection.  Air circulating at the soil surface removes this layer.  The higher the wind velocity across the soil surface, the stronger the pull on available moisture.  This header leaves a much better condition.  The canopy (shading) is reduced when the head is removed; however, the height is not reduced.  Heat will still have a drying effect; however, the higher stubble reduces the wind velocity across the soil surface reducing the degrading of the humid layer.