SHELBOURNE CVS32 vs AGCO 8200 Header

This a reconstruct of a 2019 post that I lost in an attempt to update after I recently noticed that the videos would not run.  This is four years out of sync with the post, (below), titled " STRIPPER HEADER -- YES/NO", August 6, 2023.

Because of CANOLA we upgraded our combine from a 1985 Gleaner N7 to a 2013 Gleaner S77.  The N series did not have enough room in the threshing area to allow canola stems to pass through blocking the area leading to the accelerator rolls.  The S series has an enormous amount of room allowing free flow.  S77 came with a 30' AGCO 8200 flex header with a Crary Air Reel.  The auger has exceptionally deep flighting and retractable fingers the full length of the auger.  It is very aggressive in moving bulky crop material to the feeder house of the combine.

When mounting the Shelbourne 2012 CVS32 on the N7, we upgraded the feeder house mounting that included tilt control.  This allowed us to direct mount the header on a 28 year newer combine.  To this point in time we have been harvesting canola and mustard with the CVS32 and putting up with the blockage issue because the standard head on the N7 did not move bulky material well.  Since we now have the 8200 with the ability to harvest bulky crop material we decided to compare the two headers for harvesting canola.  We liked the CVS32, but had some concern about rotor finger wear from processing the branch material associated with canola/mustard.

The 20 second video above is of the AGCO 8200.  The 38 second video below is of the CVS32. 

 The results of our comparison are:  The measured AGCO 8200 loss was 60% of the CVS32.  There are caveats to this however.  First of all, I was surprised how little seed was in the catch pan with the AGCO even though the reel was deep in the crop as shown in the video.  On the other hand the AGCO was missing a significant number of pods on low branches that didn't show in the pan.    These pods were being pushed down under the cutter bar.  Adjustments probably could have been made to catch those pods.  OK!, I'll accept the idea that the AGCO header has less header loss than the CVS header in canola.   What other comparisons can we make?  The CVS does not strip green material and put it through the processor like a sickle head.  This includes green crop pods/heads, and weedy material.  There was more growling of the processor with the AGCO.  Obviously more material was being processed.   --cleaner sample with the CVS because of less processing of green material.   --faster cutting with the CVS.  The CVS will fly through canola compared to the AGCO.  Speed is limited only by shatter from the pods impacting the nose of the hood.   Less material laying on the ground with the CVS.  Although most of the branching is processed, the stalks along with some branches and weed residue are left standing.  This leaves a better field condition for low disturbance single or double disc drills to seed the following crop.   --less tire wear/damage with the CVS.  The stalks are left longer, hence tires/tracks bend the stalk over instead of spearing.   --better moisture retention.  Long stalks, although not nearly as dense as wheat stubble, does a good job of trapping snow and leaving it in place on the field.

    This year we experienced some rain while harvesting winter wheat.  Even though the amounts were light, the humidity was high and delayed harvest.  With the CVS we were able to start several hours earlier than those with sickle heads.  This condition left the standing stubble with a different look, more head material left on the stalk, but I didn't find one kernel left in a head.  The following pic's are examples.

These heads were picked from the ground.  All the kernels were removed, although they look pretty much intact.  

    We love the Shelbourne heads and use it almost exclusively; however, there are conditions where it won't work as well as a flex head with sickle cut.  Being rigid over 32' is definitely problematic with short crops in our hilly topography.  I drove the combine for the first time in years and found it difficult to keep the header leveled with the crop.  I'm surprised that Kye hasn't complained louder about the need for auto header tilt and height control.  It's critical for the crop hit the nose of the hood at the proper height, and manual tilt adds operator stress to maintain that optimum contact.  Header height is critical for hood height.  We will add the auto control for these two functions next harvest.  Auto header control for the CVS is significantly more expensive than for a regular sickle header.  We were told that more ticklers and faster data processing was needed to avoid ground strikes at speeds operators drive the CVS. 

STRIPPER HEADER --YES/NO

Harvest is upon us and we have had two inquiries about our Shelbourne Stripper Head, so I'm making a post about it.  For more head detail visit the following link.   Stripper Header

 Does a stripper head have a future in your operation?  That will depend on what you want to accomplish. 

PRO's:  --tall stubble is great for snow catch.  Tall stubble will hold yours in place and catch some of your neighbors passing by.   --tall stubble reduces air velocity across the soil surface for potential moisture savings by reducing the replacement frequency of the surface boundary layer.   --there is a significant reduction of material that the combine has to process resulting in less overall machine wear.         --there is a significant reduction in dust at the throat of the feeder house resulting in better operator vision in the evenings with calm conditions.   --generally there is an increased speed of harvesting.    --generally, heavy single disc drills work better because there is less residue laying on the soil surface.   --if you intend to remove the straw, stripper headed stubble is great for swathing and baling.    

CON's:  --stripper heads can leave the field more challenging to seed.  Hoe drills will likely be problematic.   --stripper heads are less adaptable than a conventional cutter bar head for some crop types (crops with deep podding and crops with fragile seed coats).  The adjustable hood over the rotor of the stripper head is restricted to approximately 18"maximum opening for efficient crop intake.  An example, winter canola will set pods ~24"  down the plant compared to wheat at ~8"-12".    --ground hugging crops like lentils subject the rotor to more potential damage from ground strikes.  The stripper head rotor will fling rocks long distances with great force.  --there is a greater concern of starting a fire from vehicles in tall grain stubble.

NARRATIVE:    The Shelbourne Reynolds Company make three models of stripper heads (RX, CVS, RSD) that range from 12' to 42' wide.  Our head is a 2012 CVS32.  They all require an adaptor plate specific to the type of combine it is being mounted on.  We have found that auto tilt and auto height control are good investments to lower crop loss and reduce operator fatigue.  Hood position and rotor speed is operator controlled.  Correct settings of both are important to minimize crop loss, and may need adjusting to match different field conditions through out the day.  Notice that the rotor fingers have an elevated edge forming a cup like shape.  When that elevated edge is gone we consider the finger worn out.  We change out the fingers more frequent than Reynolds representative's told us.  When we inquired about the wear, we were reminded that wear is a function of volume processed.  Our crop yields generally are significantly higher than midwestern yields where the data is developed.

    The WSU dry land research station at Lind, WA. shows no advantage in moisture saving with the stripper head.  This 8"- 12" rainfall site has very little crop residue to work with on light (near powder) soils, exposed to a lot of wind on a relatively flat open landscape.   That station is a challenging site, so I'll revise any statement I may have made on earlier posts in this way, --soil surface armor (cover) is very important for moisture savings when compared to bare soil.  Any crop residue height that can be developed or maintained beyond soil surface cover will have beneficial effects on saving additional moisture.  Thin standing residue with no soil surface cover under it, exposed to blistering sun, will pull moisture fast.

    The stripper head excels in small grains (wheat & barley).  We have harvested wheat-barley-garbs-spring canola-mustard and dry peas.  We currently own a Gleaner S77 and it came with an model 8200 30' auger header with an air assisted reel.  We use the 8200 head for dry peas and brassica (mustard and canola) crops.  With brassica's, most of the plant is processed, hence we found excess wear on the rotor fingers compared to small grains.  Although stripper head loss is low when harvesting brassica's, loss was still approximately twice that of the 8200 air assisted head.  We had excessive seed coat damage when harvesting dry peas.  That may have been do to bad rotor speed adjustment, but the Gleaner 8200 head also has a floating cutter bar for closer cut to the ground, along with deep flighting on a full fingered auger to mover bulky crop material to the feeder house.  We have never harvested lodged wheat that hugs the ground.  We are told that it will recover that type of lodged grain very well.

Stubble can end up taller than the crop after harvesting grain with heavy seed heads .  We mostly notice this phenomena with barley where heads with heavy grain pop up when the grain is removed.  I don't recommend leaving a patch of unharvested crop in the field unless you have the capability of machine mapping to show where you have cut, and where you haven't.

A sign of a farmer with a stripper head.  Avoid going into stripper headed fields when conditions are conducive for fire.  

At the right side of the blog click on "stripper head" under "label".  This brings up all postings on the Shelbourne Reynolds Stripper Header that I have made over the years.

Below are two videos from 2019 showing the Shelbourne stripper head and the AGCO 8200 harvesting canola.  These videos wouldn't play on the 2019 posting and I tried to update, and I think I have botched the whole posting, and maybe more.

Crop Summary for 2018

      Four years ago, with all commodity prices in the good to excellent range, it was a lot easier to maintain a good diverse mix of crops in our rotation.  Now, that goal is more challenging with most commodity prices in the dumper.  We are all limited on the short term monetary loss one can adsorb for the long term benefits of an expanded crop rotation.   In 2018, we were down to three crops, alfalfa, winter wheat, and spring canola, with only winter wheat and spring canola in a regular crop rotation.  Our alfalfa in a long rotation is more than eight years old.  It's very important for successful longterm no-tilling to have diverse crop rotation for weed, and disease control.  You get a wider selection of chemistry, and many soil borne diseases can decrease in severity.  The closer you get to mono-cropping the closer you get to a mono-chemical reliance.

     2018 Winter Wheat:  We started seeding the 10th of September at 80#/a, and went into the winter in great shape with several tillers.

     Yields were great with the ranch average breaking 100bu/ac, and some exceptional areas going over 150bu/a.  We have never had a farm average of 100bu/a, but normally have exceptional areas going 140bu/a, --there were more of them in 2018.  There were still ridges and eroded hilltops that were in the ~30-60bu/ac range.  It's really difficult to get top yielding crops on ground that is eroded or continuing to erode regardless of commercial inputs.  I didn't think we had any spring nights with frost, but there apparently was.  The wheat showed definite frost damage along with other issues.
      Brundage 96 replaced Madson winter wheat in our operation many years ago, and has performed very well.  While scouting our fields this past year I noticed that there were a lot of deformed heads, some missing meshes, different kernel size within meshes, some missing meshes along the head, --just odd appearing.  After having a couple of people look at it, no real conclusion could be made; however, it was suggested that maybe Brundage 96 has run it's course.  The fall of 2018 we seeded certified seed of Brundage 96 and NorWest Duet.  We'll watch the two cultivars and decide whether to continue with Brundage 96 after the 2019 harvest.  Part of the value of Brundage 96 is that it is not a propratory cultivar and we can save back the seed, which costs from a third to half that of buying a certified proprietary variety, --which they all are now.

      2018 Spring Canola: Winfield HyClass 730 was seeded the first week of April @ 5#/a.  The crop emerged very well, and I could see that it was way too thick.  Unlike 2017, the bloom lasted for a good three weeks.  The year looked perfect to me for growing both winter wheat and spring canola, --but not.  Canola is considered quite drought tolerant, and I concur with that after the long hot dry spell in the critical growing period of 2017.  Heat tolerance may be something else though, and heat may be dropping the yields below our expectations.  I'll have to check into that.  With the moisture that canola pulls, I'm thinking that our high plant population negatively effected our yield.   As we grow and learn more about this crop we'll get a better understanding.
      2018 Alfalfa:   The stand is old but production has not, in the past, slackened.  This years alfalfa crop was only about 50%.  The first cutting took close to a month to get off the field do to several rain events.  Starting with the first cutting, the other two cuttings cascaded down respectively in both tonnage and quality.   

2017 HARVEST UPDATE

The 2017 crop year was a record breaker.  Never in my lifetime have we received 20.4" of rain/snow in a crop year at our SJ/Ewan operation.  Also, we have had near record or record breaking temperatures for the 2017 crop year.  That sounds like it should be a banner year with plenty of moisture and heat.  Well, not for us.  Timing of the rain and heat trumped everything.  The harvest of 2017 was mostly disappointing.
WINTER WHEAT:   (Brundage 96)  All of our winter wheat was seeded on pea ground (no ww on fallow ground).  The ground was dry, which meant we didn't consider seeding until after Oct. 1st, --a bad decision this year.  October was extremely wet all month.  Lesson learned?! --Seed in September regardless of dryness, and seed it deep (1.5-2") so it takes a significant rain to start it.  Had we done that, the Thornton winter wheat crop would have probably been 100-110% of average, and the less forgiving SJ/Ewan area winter wheat crop would have been in the range of 90-100% of average.  As it was, Thornton was ~90% of average, and SJ/Ewan was ~50% of average.
SPRING WHEAT (DNS):  (Glee)  The season started out with great soil moisture, and timely seeding, that developed into a very nice looking stand of spring wheat.  The unusual heat wave (~ three weeks ± 100 degrees) damaged the bloom and seed development.  Our quality was remarkably good, --the meshes were just blanked out.  Test weight was good and shriveled kernels were few, and protein was just under 14%.  Our yield was ~ 90% of average.

[Update 6/28/18] --Meetings held during the winter and spring on Canola have emphasized the importance of proper timing for chemical applications.  There will be a yield loss to the crop if chemical is applied after bolting commences.  We didn't get to the in-crop application until bolting started showing, along with some flowering, --this is probably why we were ~200#/a below a neighbors yield although we had a better stand and population.  The neighbors field was a couple of hundred feet higher, and that may have been a factor as well in terms of heat effect.
SPRING CANOLA:  (hyCLASS 930 rr) The crop was timely seeded.  The plant population was good.  The crop was growing well, but the heat hit in early bloom (for 2016 trials, we had nearly a month of bloom).  The high heat over the extended time did not let a re-bloom establish pods.  In fact the spring canola continued to bloom through the beginning of 2018, although no pods set.  The yield was ~ 30-40% of what we expected.  Any other field would have probably done better this particular year.  This field was our poorest soil, lowest elevation and all faced S and SW.  It took the brunt of the heat.  We are not deterred.  We think that spring canola is going to be a great alternative to winter wheat.  Also, it appears that we will be able to cut spring canola with the stripper header which is a big plus.  This field went into winter in great shape, --good residue, standing tall with most of the plants still living.   The tall canola stubble, although not thick like wheat stubble, is great for reducing wind velocity near the soil surface, and snow catch.  Winter of 2017-2018 was not a big snow year like 2016 but we haven't seen any drifting in that field compared to mowed or tilled fields.
      I haven't sorted out the data for any comparison between CF/winter wheat and CC/winter wheat, or our canola on ground that has had a cover crop and ground that has never had a cover crop.  I may include that as an update to this post or it may take a post of it's own.

GROWING A CROP IN TALL STANDING STUBBLE

   

Last spring-----As I watch our spring canola grow, the question that keeps nagging at me is 'is the standing stubble interfering with the growth of the canola (and other crops).  Most of the winter wheat stubble is laid flat, but there are areas where our drill leaves some stubble standing.  I have observed that spring wheat growing up through winter wheat stubble appears to grow taller in the early stages and tillers less.  When I mentioned this to Dwayne Beck his comment was "yes, and that's fine.  I don't want tillering of spring cereals".   Crop maturity is extended 7-10 days for each tiller.  One or two tillers may add to the yield, but, more will likely degrade your crop.  They take moisture and nutrients from the main stem if there is a shortage of either or the summer heat forces maturity.
     This fall-----It appears that tall tangled residue does hinder canola branch development.  Canola plants in very tall stubble with some of the stems lodged was observed with less branching and fewer and mispositioned leaves.  Normal harvest height using a sickle bar appears to have little impact.

WHY WE HAVE GONE ULD

      A recent post referenced to why our operation has gone ULD (ultra-low disturbance) direct seed system.  I didn't elaborate on this because, although the two mentioned subjects of that post connected in my mind, the Richard Mulvaney article was my main interest.  On reflection I've decided that our reasons for going ULD should be posted.

      On our quest to improve our soil we have encountered many obstacles, mistakes, disappointments, questions on how to proceed, and yet, having enough success to continue the quest.
      Soil EROSION, and removing fallow from our rotation was the initial driving force.  Any operation that reduces soil disturbance compared to what we are doing with conventional tillage will have a positive impact on the soil.  Direct seeding is a big jump in reducing soil disturbance.  Past history of direct seeding shows that the soil surface is left, more or less in a state of nakedness, and channeled.  Nakedness is correctable; however, I can't envision how you can 'drill' a crop and not channel, whether it be double disc, hoe, or a single disc, including the CrossSlot drill.  In the Palouse channeling can be a serious erosion issue if not considered when drilling the field.
      As we progressed, saving MOISTURE became the driving force.  Although we still have some erosion at times it was mostly contained, --at least visually.  As time passed and information gathered it became clear that we needed good soil structure, more soil organic matter, and more cover on the surface, to maximize the retention of moisture.  WSU-OSU research back in the 70-80's indicated moisture was used in four ways, -----1% to deep percolation, 4% to runoff, 12% to plant transpiration, 83% lost through evaporation off the soil surface.  Research is clear that a soil profile with a cool surface temperature and a calm surface, retains more moisture compared to a hot surface with air moving across it.  The more we reduce soil disturbance, the more residue we keep on the surface, and the calmer we can keep the air at the surface the better our soil moisture will be.  Taking these parameters to the maximum create a serious challenge for drill design.
      In 2012 we moved to ULD by buying a stripper header and hiring our seeding done by a CrossSlot drill.  Now, our ULD direct seed system consists of a Shelbourne stripper header, GVM 90' suspended boom self propelled sprayer and the CrossSlot drill.
Shelbourne stripper head: --maximizes vertical intercept of snow and wind.  The taller the stubble the more snow catch (very effective in the winter of 2016-7), and the taller the stubble the calmer the air at the soil surface.  (measurements are showing that to be very effective also.  The only down side is that we can't harvest every crop type with this header.)
GVM 90' suspended boom self propelled sprayer: --it's value is in reducing tracking in the field.  It's very evident that tracks of any type promote weed emergence compared to the untracked portions in a field.  We regularly see this in our fallow fields.
CrossSlot drill: --the machine that makes ULD possible.  The header and sprayer are the supporting cast.  When we were evaluating drill technologies, and our operation, trying to match a drill to the specifications and limitations that we faced, the CrossSlot opener was the obvious choice.  The CrossSlot has the ability through its depth and pressure related sensing capability to place seed in good earth at the assigned depth while passing through complex soil types and textures, residue types and amounts whether standing or laying down, without stopping for adjustments.  It's a remarkable technology, and we have learned not to move unless it is all working.  Until the residue became too heavy to manage, our other hoe or double disc drills, could start a good fall crop; however, we never had a very good producing spring crop because of voids left by hair pinning or clumps of residue that shed off the drill, or seed not being placed at the proper depth.
      We are now set up to do ULD, and with the CrossSlot we are ready for the next stage which is building soil health.  (which is becoming a whole new story)

VALUE OF TALL STUBBLE (RESIDUE)

 [SUMMARY] --The taller and more dense the standing residue, the less snow displacement takes place.
      As, when I started direct seeding (DS) many years ago, much of the time there is nothing dramatic to see from an enhanced conservation practice, --DS compared to conventional tillage.
      But, there are exceptions, and this winter is one of them.   This winter is a showcase for what tall residue left by the stripper header can mean for the coming crop.

Above:  This pic shows snow accumulation of 12", fairly evenly distributed over the field of spring wheat stubble that stands ≈24" tall.  Compare this pic to the pic below.

     This pic shows accumulation of 6" in a neighboring field of mowed/harvested stubble standing 7".  Both fields experienced the same snow and wind events.  Notice the small area of standing stubble ≈16"tall and the snow that accumulated in and down wind of the clump.  Which condition provides more moisture for the coming years crop?  --Obviously the condition shown in the top pic.  In this instance with the snow bearing 0.25" moisture for every 2" of snow,  the field in the top pic has accumulated potentially 0.75" more moisture than the field in the lower pic.

       To continue this story, the pic above shows a conventionally tilled field seeded to ww.  The point here is that with no vertical blockage (tall residue), the recent 3" snow fall left the field and piled up in the usual places.  The very white areas are what is left of that 3" snow fall.  The slightly darker area is the old crusted snow  The field shown in the pic at the top of this post did hold most of that snow fall for an additional ≈0.25" of moisture.

 
The two pictures, above, show two fields seeded to winter wheat.  On the left is seeded into a 9 cultivar CC.  The vertical blockage is relatively sparse, but still having an effect.  The snow cover is not as even as in the more dense stripper headed wheat and barley stubble, but snow displacement is significantly less than WW fields with no vertical blockage.  We have radish in this field.  The radishes have deteriorated, leaving holes through the frost layer. We expect to retain all the moisture available from the snow for that crop.   On the right is WW seeded on spring pea ground.  The crop was seeded into heavy residue (SP plus past WW residue); however, that residue provides no vertical blockage.  There are noticeable snow drifts, indicating that we have large areas in this field where the crop is missing more than 2" of potential moisture.   In this field we will be dependent on thawing conditions.  If the thaw is gradual, we'll retain the moisture in the field although it's distribution will be uneven.  If the thaw is accelerated, we'll lose a lot of this moisture, similar to 2014.  

    (UPDATE:  In late February we had a Chinook,  which is when warm air suddenly moves in, and in this case a light rain accompanied it, that quickly removed the snow.  When I saw water in the ditch near our home, I geared up and walked the fields to see where the water was originating, --hoping it was all from my neighbors portion of the drainage.  It wasn't!!  First evident was my neighbors winter wheat on black fallow ground.  It showed like a mottled black/white area beyond the border of our field.   The snow, a thin layer because of previous winds, was mostly gone, and water was coursing down the hillside leaving a badly eroded hillside.  The ditch water was heavy laden with soil.  Little, if any, of that moisture was able to enter the ground.  Our winter wheat on chem fallow ground had good surface protection, but mostly flat from a year of fallow.  It caught very little additional snow compared to my neighbors.  I saw water was rolling down our hillsides the same as our neighbors.  The difference was that the water we were losing was mostly clear.   There was very little soil included in the ditch water.  The bright spot though was the field of winter wheat we seeded into the cover crop.  When I walked out of our ww on chem fallow into the field of ww on cover crop it was like night and day.  We had a lot of snow caught in the cover crop residue.  There was no movement of water down the slopes of that field.  Every drop of water entered the soil profile.  The cover crop (specifically the radish) did its job of saving the moisture.  The ground was frozen 4-6" deep, but the radish grew, died, deteriorated, and left a hole through the frozen soil surface that allowed moisture to enter the soil profile.)

Another observation:  I decided to check on the frost depth and whether the snow cover made a difference. This was a chilly morning in single digit temperatures and no wind.  By this time we have experienced a lot of cold weather including three nights of below zero temperatures.   In this field with 12" snow cover, one stab and a push by standing on the trenching shovel drove it more than a foot into the ground. That was a surprise, and pretty good.  It felt like the shovel was going through a big rice crispy treat.  In another field I found a bare ridge with ww and tried the same technique.  I stabbed repeatedly in the same spot and never got more than 2".  The third field, a flat, had 6" snow cover.  I stabbed repeatedly and eventually would have been able to get the shovel to the depth shown in the picture, but it would have been a hole instead of a slice.
      I'm not sure what part snow cover has played in frost depth at this point in time.
      I think the field shown above is frozen fairly deep but has developed a better soil structure over the years using DS and now has a lower bulk density.  This should allow moisture to enter the soil profile faster than the other two fields that were conventionally tilled.

PHOTOGRAPHERS PARADISE

      The climate is very dynamic.  I don't remember the last time we have had weather that would develop such a spectacular sight of hoarfrost.  This morning is was 7degrees, 82% humidity and looked like a fairyland in our yard with all of the trees heavily laden.  My little Lumix doesn't do it justice.
      It has been two weeks since we have been above freezing temperatures.  Temperatures have been ranging from (-4) to (18).  If we could tell, I think we have ≈16" of snow.  The days with 15-25mph winds have moved everything around where there isn't sufficient vertical blockage.
      The stripper headed crops are showing their value with the snow catch.  Snow catch is huge.
       It's predicted that in about three days we will have temperatures in the 40's and a lot of rain.  If that comes about, erosion of unprotected fields will be devastating.   Our fields are well protected.  The question is, --will our WW seeded into covercrop (a lot of radish plants) allow the water to enter the frozen ground.

 

2016 - PRLCD - Drill Demonstation Video

This post is an extension of the June 13th post on the drill demonstration:  Spray Center Electronics brought a 4 prop drone, the Typhoon Q500 4K, by Yuneec ElectricAviation, and videoed the demonstration.  This is a 12:53 minute aerial view of the demonstration showing  all 7 units doing their thing.   < video of 2016 high residue drill demonstration>
     The test area was WW from the 2015 crop that had ≈100bu stubble, but not grain.  Approximately  300 feet of residue was left standing from a 32' Shelbourne Stripper Header.  At Each end, ≈100ft of stubble was mowed cross ways to the header travel with a 26 foot Schultz mower.  Between harvest, spraying and mowing, there were a lot of tracks that laid down the tall stubble.  There was basically solid  ground cover prior to any mowing.  Conditions were tough for any drill regardless of disc or hoe.
     The smoke is from a Case 4994 WT with an inexperienced operator not releasing the parking brake.  There was fire dropping onto the residue that was quickly extinguished along with fire on the oil/dirt deposits around the brake.  Unfortunate, but that is part of life at these events on occasion.

     Below are five pics from the five drill types demonstrated taken 17 days after the event.  All pics facing west from bldgs.  None of the drills were tuned for barley or had fertilizer.  One drill used a garb roll.  The operators just made sure they had barley coming out the tubes.  These pics were showing all level ground except the AgPro which was seeding on the hillside.  That was an additional complication.

 Horsch Anderson (all mowed area)

CrossSlot Drill (both areas)

JD 1890 (two pass in both areas)

Case 400 w 2280 cart (both areas)

AgPro with Bourgault point (both areas)

THE LONG & SHORT OF THE STRIPPER HEADER

IT'S ALL ABOUT MOISTURE  ---->  FARM TO SAVE IT OR LOSE IT
       Fact: --there is a layer at the soil surface, even though it looks dry, that is at 100% humidity.  This layer may be only 1-2micro's thick.  This layer is maintained until the soil profile can no longer draw on it's reserves.   How you manage this soil surface environment has a big impact on evaporation and the moisture available for the crop.
       Fact: --residue modifies soil temperature.  Soils are warmer through the winter and cooler during the summer with surface residue either standing or flat.
      83% of rainfall over a two year wheat/fallow rotation is lost off the soil surface through evaporation.  (see post of 9/19/2012)-- conclusion was to keep soils as cool as possible and air velocity across the soil surface as low as possible.  This translates to, --maintain as much cover as possible over the soil, and keep the cover as tall as possible, for as long as possible, to maximize moisture available for crop production.
      Our observations over 4 years indicates considerably fewer weed cultivars germinate and compete with the crop on ground that is not disturbed.  The more residue, the less disturbance, including disturbance from tracks/wheels, the better.
   
THE LONG:

       1-- Removing the straw row of a poor residue managing combine, is a major plus.  It gives new life to older machines and increases capacity by 10-20%.
      ---There is much less material being processed.  This has resulted in significant savings for us in combine repairs.

       2--Potential increase in moisture available to the crop by:  
      ---increasing snow catch (when we get it) over the standard cut or mowed height.  This resists snow drifting, leaving more even snow (water) distribution over the field.
      ---Accompanied with solar energy which warms the stems, the snow melts and enters the soil at the base of the plants in a slow controlled manner.
       ---reduced weed competition when used as part of the ULD system.  Fewer weeds, leaves more moisture for the crop.  Less surface disturbance including wheel tracks, the fewer the weeds.
       ---reducing air velocity over soil surface. Studies are showing reduced evaporation from tall stubble.  This means more moisture for the crop.
        ---reducing soil temperatures in the warm season.  Several studies, including our  own measurements with HOBO sensors show significant drop in summer surface temperatures compared to bare soil.  Studies concur, that lower soil temperatures conserves moisture for the crop.
       3--Modifies winter soil temperatures.  Our HOBO sensors are showing that tall stubble insulates the soil, not only in the summer to reduced soil temperatures, but also insulates the soil from the cold winter temperatures.
       4--The Shelbourne is a low maintenance header for us.
       5--The Shelbourne, being a sealed unit, reduces harvest dust around the combine cab.

THE SHORT:
       1--Is not useable for all the crops we grow.
              ---spring standup peas:  grade reduction from cracked/skinned seed coats.
              --mustard/canola:  problematic if stems carry seed pods extending more than 24 inches along the plants vertical axis.
              ---crops with seeds forming around a central stem like sorghum.
       2--Not all drills will successfully seed behind the stripper header.  Type and density of residue needs to be considered.
               

Stripper Header - Drill Demonstration

     Considering there were three other ag tour/events contending for peoples attention, we had over 100 people in attendance.  No media this year, --probably do to other better known events.  Interest in dealing with a stripper header is still there.  There were eight units that participated, --AgPro with Bourgault points, CrossSlot, Case 400 with Kile openers and 2280 cart, JD 1890 single disc opener that was set up as a two pass system, and the Horsch with Anderson opener.  Also three low disturbance fertilizer applicators were demonstrated.  The JD 1890 with Exactrix system where the seed boot was replaced with a fertilizer boot to deep band liquid NH3.  The Great Plains NP40 Nutri-Pro uses a coulter to cut a slot and stream liquid solution into that slot from above ground level. The Fast 8200 unit is  similar.  The drills seeded barley.  There was no solution provided for the fertilizer machines.  The area had a lot of residue.  The machinery park had the residue swathed and baled for building protection last summer.  The demonstration site had a mowed area on each end with standing (≈30") stubble in the middle.  Between harvest, spray applications, and mowing, there was a lot of wheel tracks with long stubble laid down.  Along with the fact that no leveling/smoothing operation has touched this site for over 20 years, this is a challenge for any drill to get a decent looking stand emerged.  Even though we hadn't received any appreciable moisture for 30 days, the site had good moisture levels, even in the scalped areas where the equipment is parked.  The following day, the site received 0.45" of rain.  That will eliminate any drying out the drills may have promoted.
       Where we strive for maximum moisture retention through low disturbance and residue, my bias of course, favors the CrossSlot, so, expectedly, it did the best, --at holding depth, consistent seeding without plugs or drags, and features a one pass system to maintain the ULD status that we strive for in our operation.
       The JD didn't hold depth in the mowed area which was the hardest for both it and the CS.  Too much variation in seeding conditions for spring loaded down pressure systems.  Also, the JD moves more dirt than the CS, and being set up as a two pass system, there is additional soil disturbance.
       All of the hoe type drill entries, were able to make it through the course, with more or less plugging and dragging.  Neither mowed nor standing stubble, with all the wheel tracks, was ideal for a hoe drill.  Even 30" stubble, when laid crossways to the line of travel spans across multiple opener widths.  Much of the time, coulters will cut through the mat in front of the hoe --but not all the time.  When a hoe passes among standing stalks, they tip and can become an obstacle to the next line of openers.
       Although I didn't watch any of the fertilizer applicators navigate the course, I could see from all the straw hanging, that the Great Plains NP40 struggled.  I didn't notice how the Fast 8200 faired, but my guess is that it was much the same.  With this type of application, where solution is directed towards a slot through a surface air gap, I have to wonder how much loss of N takes place. The JD 1890 fertilizer unit, like the drill version, probably suffered from depth control.
     Sorry to say, I was distracted,  and completely neglected to make a presentation about the stripper header and it's value to our operation, and the moisture it helps save.  I'll write two more posts that relate to: -- 1) the long and short of the stripper header, and 2) moisture saved with the stripper header in the near future.  I have yet to analysis the HOBO data gathered since September on soil temperatures under different residue scenarios .

All done, and equipment gone.  The site was completely used, but didn't need to go into the mustard.  We'll follow the site for awhile, then destroy it before weeds become a problem.

Residue & Wind

           The fall of 2015 we had several wind events of short duration where winds gusted to 30, 40 and 50mph, depending on the event.  I never gave much thought to it at the time; however, this spring it was a shock to see a couple of bare areas on SE slopes.
           This field started out with good standing cover of stripper headed spring barley that was chem fallowed, and seeded to WW around September 20th of 2015.  We missed the moisture so much of the field did not emerge until late October or early November.  This is a scene similar to what I experienced 30 years ago, in this same field,  when I mistakenly thought that it was good to mow standing stubble early in the season for ground cover.  it didn't take a lot of wind to deposit residue drifts up to a foot deep on our NE facing slopes at the time.  Only once did I make that mistake.  After that, I mowed a short time prior to seeding, leaving standing stubble most of the fallow year.  We needed to shorten the stubble to minimize problems drilling.

        The pic below shows where I chopped a hole in the packed residue drift.  The drift was  4" deep and very dense packed.  It was easy to cut this hole with my hand tool.  Walking on this was like walking on a firm sponge.  Very few WW cultivars emerge through this dense, deep mat.  As may be expected the soil surface was very damp.  Soil was cool but not cold, --probably in the low 60's.

       The pic below shows a WW plant that made it through this dense residue pack.   Close up shows that the plant received light nearly to the ground level.  I don't have a clue as to why a few cultivars emerged where the vast majority did not.

  

Hopefully, we won't have a repeat of these wind events for years to come.  One event in late November dropped our cast iron flag pole my grandfather put up over 100 years ago.  Winds topped 50mph.  Very little damage was noted except for the flag pole.

Our Farms Historic Rainfall

I have recently put 18 years of rainfall data in a spreadsheet ( 1998 - 2015).
---14.67"  is what it turns out to be our average yearly rainfall over the years, --with 9 years at or above, and 10 years at or below. (one point was counted in both, above/below).  The graph indicates our Ewan/St.John farm is in the 13-16" rainfall zone, instead of the 15-17" as most maps have us.  (Is this a real change from 1940-1970's)???
---Our lowest rainfall total was in 2002 with 10.31 inches.
---Our highest rainfall total was in 2006 with 18.35 inches
---Two years, 2015 & 2003, June received a trace, or no rain.  June is a benchmark for us.  Good rains normally translate to good yields, little rain translates to not so good yields.
---Six years, July received no rain.
---Five years, August had a trace, or no rain.
---June with more than 1.5 inches were (2014, 2013, 2012, 2010, 2005 ).  These were great crop years, or, had the potential had not other climatic forces become involved, --for example, Nov. of 2013 had an event where high winds accompanied by a sudden drop in temperature severely damaged the 2014 winter wheat through out the Palouse.  Most people had patches of good wheat, but the general yield was down approximately 25-30%,
---Our ULD system that incorporates the Shelbourne header and the CrossSlot drill is an attempt to lessen dependency on good June rains by reducing moisture loss through runoff and evaporation.  2014 was a great year to test the theory, but alas, the June 12 freeze ruined the potential of all our crops, both winter and spring.  All surviving crops were delayed in maturity, and the unusually high heat of July & August caused further damage.  The CrossSlot did all it was advertised to do, and the crops got a great start, but circumstances beyond our, or it's control lowered yields.
---Our rainfall tends to cycle up for three years, then, down for three years.  (+/- ?)
---If that pattern holds we may rise through the average precipitation line in 2016, and give us, depending on the June rains, a good crop, both winter and spring.
---The charts below use the same data, but the lines attempt to show three different aspects:  June rain,  total rain received, average monthly rain received.

Conclusions (?):  When I started this post three days ago, the goal was to state a few obvious points that stuck out in the 18 years of data, but as I got more into it, the more intriguing it became.  I'm not going into any more detail than what's been stated above; other than to say that,  I'm extremely glad we chose to upgrade to a ULD system.  In the short time (4 years), I can visually see it is paying off.  We are, and always have been in climate change.  What that means for the future is argued daily.  I'm convinced the Shelbourne and CrossSlot is the best option for meeting the challenges in the future.

StripperHeader - snow catch 2

Today I relaunched my HOBO's temperature sensors, which should have been in the ground 6wks ago.  This is in the SJ-Ewan area.  We actually had enough snow to show significant difference between mowed stubble and tall stubble.  This field was fallowed in 2015 behind WW.  The stubble stood (26-30") but has succumbed somewhat to the elements.  The mowed portion of the field stands ≈4".  The only place I encountered frost was in the bare ground site for the HOBO sensor, and it was soft.

This pic shows the mowed portion with a lot of wheel tracks, which reduced the height even more.

This pic shows the un-mowed portion.  The stubble at this point in time is a jumble.  Between weather events and wheel tracks, a lot of snow catch has been compromised.  There are snow depth variations within the standing stubble.  The snow depth is fairly even in the mowed area.

These two pics show the snow depth in the stubble on the left, and also the depth in the mowed area on the right.  The stubble here doesn't demonstrate the melt around the stems as it did in Thornton.

     Now that our interest is to keep the stubble as tall as possible, and noticing that it lays down, crumbles, or in other ways shrinks, we need to rethink some aspects of our operation to improve this condition.  Maybe: --change to narrower wheels/tires on the sprayer and combine to reduce trample.  Change wheat and barley to stiffer cultivars that will resist deterioration.  This would help maintain residue during periods when low residue crops are raised.

StripperHeader-snow catch

        Thanks to a reader looking for an update on snow catch with the stripper head, I checked out Thornton where we have standing stripper headed sbly stubble, --and more snow.  It was a timely look as our snow is being effected by this beautiful 48 degree day.  Hard to imagine that a couple of days ago we were in the highs of upper 20's, and New Years eve we were at -2 degrees.  There is some frost in the ground.
       In December, while St. John/Ewan area was getting a mixture of snow/rain, Thornton received all snow with winds that blew both from the NE and SW during these snow deposits.  This left drifts on both sides of the hills on vulnerable land.
       The drought of 2015 reduced the stubble height to ≈19" and barley being relatively weak straw, didn't stand very well after experiencing some weather events (wind, rain).  However, I could see a significant difference in snow redeposition comparing, cultivated ground and short stubble (4-5"), to our stripper headed field.  A new harvest technique is becoming quite popular in the region.  This technique uses high capacity combines with fine chop straw processors, and 40' flexible draper heads that can follow close to the ground, and process most of the crops top growth.  It has it's advantages when trying to direct seed with a hoe type drill, or when cultivating.  The technique is not so great for disc type drills.  This new technique does have it's down side for saving moisture by allowing snow redeposition, and air movement near the soil surface.

         When I approached Thornton this was a scene that greeted me.  This is a significant snow drift on a northwest facing slope.  Obviously a major redeposition of snow on this cultivated field.  The rough surface did not give much resistance to snow movement.  

       Above is a pic showing the snow redeposition on a NE slope, where the top pic shows a NW slope.  This pic shows snow moved off the short (4-5") stubble left by the new harvest technique.   

       The pic above shows two farming methods side by side.  On the left is our stripper headed sbly, and the right shows plowed ground.  The plowed ground shows obvious redeposition.  The stripper headed field has some redeposition where there is thin short stubble (eroded ridge lines, wheel tracks), but all the ground had >4" in the worst cases.

       This pic shows the effect of short thin stubble.  This is our stripper headed sbly on an eroded ridge.  The stubble is relatively thin and ≈12" tall compared to the better ground with thicker stand and 19" or greater stubble height.  There is still >4" of snow left on this exposed ridge.  The pic's upper left shows redeposition.  There is 9-12" in that N facing drift, so we lost some snow from the weaker ground.

     This pic sort of shows redeposition of snow from wheel track to standing stubble.  There is 2-3" difference in many places, depending on slope, direction, width, and condition of the stubble.  

      Notice that the snow is lower where stubble is standing tall and dense.  Radiant heat is being transferred down the stems and melting snow near the stem.

     This pic from Feb. 2014 gives a better view of the same phenomena of snow melting around/close to the stems.

      This pic is from November 2015 following a nice 1.1" of rain on what had been a very dry fall at Thornton.  There is a very heavy mat of residue and the sbly stubble is about 26" tall in this location.  This spade hole is ≈7" deep, and it shows moisture through that depth at the sides of the pic which exposes two seed rows.  You can make out the root line on both rows.  The middle(mid row) wetted to 3".  We seed on 10" row centers.   

       I didn't take a shovel with me today to dig through the snow and frost, but I'm betting, that in our field, the snow is melting and moving into the soil profile through those undisturbed stem/root channels, similar to what is seen in the pic above.

      For several years (even prior to the introduction of our ULD system) I have been aware that the moisture moves quickly through the soil profile in our fields.  The soil doesn't get mucky under foot.  Most of the time I feel we could spray or seed the day following a significant rain.  We resist the temptation, --mostly.  I have some concern about what is happening to the soluble nutrients, --they have to be going with the water deeper in the profile, --and that is, in part, what is driving my interest in cultivars like radishes (cover crop cultivars in general), to recover deep nutrients and redeposit near the surface for crop use.  Recently I read a summary of some research stating our field crops are only utilizing 35-50% of applied nitrogen.--that further raises my concern.  Well, this topic is for another post.

      TO SUMMARIZE:  

     ----I am extremely pleased with the direction we are going with our ULD system.   The stripper head is doing it's part in the effort to gather and maintain our limited moisture resource.  It's been part of the answer to all the problems we have faced in the past with direct seeding, and offers us the versatility to solve problems I envision we will encounter in the future. My only regret is that we probably can't make the stripper work for all of our crop types.  

No-Till Farmer Magazine

      This past year, 2015, I had the opportunity to contribute my thoughts to two subjects that I have some passion for.  The first, in the August edition, 2015, (volume 44, No. 8) I responded to the question of how do you handle crop residue.  These thoughts and a pic show up on page 90 in the section titled "No-Tillers Tackle Residue Issue From Every Angle", along with the thoughts of twenty other people.
      The second opportunity came as a feature item in the November edition, 2015, (volume 44, No.11), titled "Overcoming No-Till Stumbling Blocks", starting on page 22.  This article was written from a telephone interview with Martha Mintz along with some material I submitted to her.  Martha is listed as a Contributing Editor and regularly writes articles under the logo " What I've Learned From No-Tilling...".  It came out pretty good if I do say so myself.  < Eriksen interview  >
      While looking up what Martha Mintz contributed over the years to No-Till Farmer, I came across an article where she interviewed Guy Swanson for a piece titled "Bringing No-Till To The Palouse".  Mort Swanson, Guy's father, is the name that everyone in the Palouse remembers as THE inventor-early practitioner of No-Till.  This article was posted in the November edition, 201, < Bringing no-till to the Palouse >.  It's a great read for someone interested in the background of no-till in the Palouse.  Mort is no longer with us but Guy is hail & hearty and manufacturing/selling EXACTRIX systems for applying liquid anhydrous ammonia fertilizer.
       No-Till Farmer has been around since 1972.  I was a subscriber for a while in it's early days, but found that it was a midwest and east magazine that I couldn't relate too.  Today, No-Till Farmer is still primarily an east of the Rocky Mountains publication but I am finding that even though we are in two different climatic zones, Continental vs our Mediterranean classification,  the same problems exist.  Practices and Research done east of the "divide" has concepts that apply here,--our task is to adapt that knowledge base to our climate limitations and strengths.  With our Stripper Head, self propelled sprayer, and CrossSlot drill, we have all the practices available for controlling soil erosion; however, we still have water loss.  Soil health has improved, and it will continue to improve to some extent; however, that improvement will be limited until we get more plant diversity, and remove fallow.  Cover Crops and Interseeding crops potentially hold the answer to these questions.  The trick is, how to apply.
       The Koppen Climate classification model designating the Pacific Northwest as mostly Mediterranean does not fit very well.  We don't fit the Continental or the Coastal either.  Our climate diversity is likely to be a topic of discussion for a long time as to what classification we really fit.

2015 Harvest with Stripper Header -- Chickpeas

We left a lot of chickpea pods on the ground.  Was this unique to the stripper header or was it the year? To get a comparison I visited two operations, one using a new MacDon 40' draper header with all the bells and whistles, and the other using an older 24' International auger header equipped with a pea bar.  Both of those operations were complaining about the amount of chickpea pods that were left on the ground.  To me, it appeared that those operations had similar losses, and they were less than our losses.
      Things that were apparent:
-- After observing the two other operations that were in a higher rainfall, if we had not had the 28 degree night June 12th, I think we could have had a pretty decent crop.  The frost devastated the low ground.
-- The 40' draper did an amazing job of getting close to the ground without picking up dirt.  That big header was light on its feet, and the flex in the middle allowed it to follow the ground contours quite well.  The ground was smooth and soft.  The terrain was fairly consistent with few sharp slope transitions.  The vines were tangled and some branching was on the ground.
-- The older 24' pea bar equipped auger header was on harder soil surface and still had difficulty with pushing dirt. It had no auto header control features.  There were a lot of low pods on the vines.  Many vines were not standing erect.
-- Our ground had more sharp slope transitions than the other two operations which makes for more challenge.  Our ground also has a rougher surface.  It has been 20+ years since we have leveled the surface with cultivation or even a harrow.  Our stand population was a little less and the vines appeared to stand a little better than the other two operations, but there were many low hanging pods.
-- A 32 foot ridged stripper header is too long for this short statured crop in our hilly terrain.
-- Since pod drop was the main loss observed in all three operations, and all operations had some bare seed on the ground, I don't think the stripper head shelled and spit out seed any worse than the other two header types.
-- I don't think the stripper header processing is any harder on the chickpea seed than the other header types.
-- We were able to leave a lot of chickpea residue standing following harvest, and very little old residue was reprocessed.  The other operations clipped the crop at ground level and processed all the residue, leaving a fast degradable, low carbon surface cover.
-- Our heavy residue may be a problem with other header types.  A least, much more would be reprocessed.  This in turn will degrade our surface cover.
-- I think a 20' Shelbourne stripper header will work just fine for this crop in our terrain, --and even better if you include the auto header control features.

     The weeds we encountered were nearly all Russian Thistle.  They are a problem when large and green; however, if they are dried down, they were not any real issue.  They do slow up your ground speed.