Combines Bean Straw and JD Rotaries

Tom, We had the same thing happen to us planting with an airseeder behind our neighbors JD rotary. The air seeder would plug continuously with soybean mulch through drill resulting in a rough looking seedbed. Eventually, we put on all new coulters to remedy the problem. Our neighbor sped up the hydraulic spreader and this helped somewhat. I imagine the chopper would be the way to go, although I know our neighbors combine does not have this option. Personally we have not had this problem running behind R series Gleaners without choppers, in our fields. The combination of the massive air blast and spreader paddles set on most aggressive seems to do a fine job of spreading the soybean mulch.

Tom, The issue is the lack of a chopper. Regardless of color, rotaries to such a good job of busting up the dry straws like wheat, barley and the like that they are sold without choppers in many cases. Put them in a bean field and you get what you have, problems. We had a neighbor borrow our old tandem disk to fix the problem. It is an IH disk with 7: blade spacings and the ability to take nearly all the pitch out of the gangs. He was able to cut up the bean straw and not "till" the ground. The next year he had a chopper for his Axial Flow. Chuck

Thanks for the replies, guys. We have always had an R60 or an Axial Flow do our beans without causing any muskrat houses in the field. The R60 has a chopper behind the cylinder but the concave was not engaged. The Case didnt have an external chopper but maybe it has an internal one like the Gleaner. Do you sometimes get the feeling someone is always throwing curveballs at usIJ Maybe it just keeps us on our toes.

Tom, why didn't you use your R60 last fallIJ

Good question, Ron. We needed help the past 3 years so we hired custom cutters to harvest and we did the rest with part-time hired hands. I sure have learned quite a bit about various combine brandssome good and some not so good. How is planting coming along for youIJ We finished corn yesterday before the monsoon hit so today is a welcome day off.

Same here Tom, finished corn day before the rain started. Going to start beans when it dries up again. Can't see planting beans before the 1st of May although lots of them were planted here in Renville County this past week. As of right now I have 1.2" in my rain gauge and it sounds like it will continue for a couple more days. Wish I lived closer to you maybe we could have worked out something for you to use my R62. I have two for beans, but can only use one for corn. Can't haul it away or dry it faster than one can pick it. But the problem for both of us is that we need to get the beans done in a timely way. By the time we start corn the beans should be finished and that's when the 2nd combine is sitting with nothing to do. Guess I need to find someone who could use it to pick corn.

Tom, I also have a 60 series combine, the first year i ran my chopper on low speed and i had problems with bean straw plugging up when I tilled my ground in the spring. From then on, i put my chopper on high speed and with chopping knives all the way in. Now I do not have a problem. I live in south central middesota and of today, we have 2 inches of rain for the weekend. Most people around here are done with corn, but just south of us a lot have not started corn because it has been too wet. Have a good season. Thanks.

Tom looking through one of my furrow magazines that deere puts out there is now a new tail option that spreads the crop residue from widths up to either 50 or 35 feet behind the combine. I kinda just rushed through the advertisement. At any rate, he should be able to spread it alot thinner for you if he got that and should help immensly with your problem. Might check dealership and get a brochure for him.

Thanks for the reply. We dont have any plugging problems after combining with the R60. The chopper is always on low speed with the knives retracted all the way except for years when yield is over 60 bu when we slide them in half way or all the way depending on how I feel. Hows that for a scientific approachIJ We should be back in the field in a couple of days if the wind keeps blowing and we dont get any rain. It sure didnt look good yesterday afternoon with all the lightning and thunder but we only got a trace of rain. Did you get anyIJ

Thanks for the reply, Rich. I dont think the plugging is caused by poor spreading. I was thinking long, uncut stems that wrap around NH3 knives and cultivator shanks are the problem. The next issue of the Furrow should be arriving one of these days. I will watch for an ad for the tail option thing. My custom cutter might not be too excited about it if the price is too high and what can you buy these days that isnt priced too highIJ livestock guys complain about broken up grain straw from rotary combines. Maybe JD designed their rotary to please folks who bale straw which may not be the best thing for folks like me who are looking for a good seedbed, not bales of strawIJ