Combines canola

Turk, You mind a bold questionIJ What did the canola cost you per acre to seed and sprayIJ We are curious about trying it as an alternate crop, and are SW of Wichita. Chuck

A bit from an Aussy! Canola in Wimmera of Victoria has been a good crop for years - when it rains that is! I meant long term like last 20 years. I sow it on fallow for extra moisture, budget on 1_2 to 3_4 tonne per acre. Too late to sow here, should go in early May, windrow late Nov. loves high fertility or inputs if it has the moisture to go with it, has a cleansing effect on the soil for 'bugs' that get into cereals, so is always good for the long term rotation of crops.

Our Canola was grown in cooperation with Monsanto. The honest answer on price of seed is I can't remember. We planted 5 pounds per acre of a Dekalb, roundup ready winter Canola. I know that I could have bought non roundup ready Canola for $1 per pound. I don't think the round up stuff was over $2 per pound. They gave us 22 oz. of round up. I used it in the fall and did not need to respray in the spring. We planted it with a John Deere air seeder, in a firm seed bed, into good moisture, and got an excellent stand at 5 pounds. When this stuff canopies, a weed doesn't have much chance.

Tip on straight cutting canola........."Don't"

gunner, We cut quite alot of canola over here in England, and in my opinion you have got the best combine for the job!! We spray ours off and fit a side knife to the header, when opening up a breed we run the divider in the sprayer tramlines. Have also picked up swaths with no trouble.Can't tell you much about header settings as we have the European 1030 header but we don't alter anything except sometimes take off the stone protectors behind the knife. You want the drum at the bottom of the feeder to be able to move right up. The concave is set so it is just narrower than the slotted grates-at least about 4 on the indicator. We run a full set so small wire concaves with no covers. The rotor is about 550-600 on a 1680 speciality so I would think a 1660 would be a bit faster. Fan at about 500, bottom sieve fully closed-it still gets through the holes. Top sieve just under half an inch, if it is too wide your tailings will blow off. Also switch your grain monitor off as it can't detect such small graind amoungst all that chaff.One other thing don't try and bale the straw, you can chop it with the stationary blades fully retracted it is that brittle. E mail me if you want any more details. - Paul

My tip: don't. In our conditions there's just too much shatter loss and you have lots of problems with uneven ripeness. We swath it all.

I have straight cut some canola last 2 years with a 4 bu increase each year. I will leave as much as I can this year. Make sure the crop is thick enough that it doesn't move much in a wind. I had a 50 mph wind hit a 20 acre patch last year and the only shatter was along the edge where the plant could shake. Plan on aeration as any depression in the field will be a bit tough. I used a 1010 30' with a pickup reel, worked well. I will be using a 36' Honeybee this year with pea auger on it, hope it works too. I demo'd the Biso straight cut attachment in 04 and it worked excellent. It moves the knife ahead 3' with a poly pan behind it and a shear on each end. $20,000 cdn It would take a long time to pay for it. My 1010 had minimal shatter at the ends.