Combines Direct cutting Corn

[Dan]

Only time I saw that done is when the guy had very few acres and no corn head. It will work the machine to the max. About the same when they set a JD Allcrop head on to do corn, it works the tar out of the machine. I can't comment on the straw quality. You may want to try it with your flex before buying another head. Good luck.

 

[Tom]

Thats a new one on me. Are you running on rowsIJ I solved that problem on an M2 by getting wheels that were dished more so they would run between rows. Tom Russell

 

[johnboy]

New to Gleaner,direct cutting can be done with a front with sunflower trays attached. the main problem is if the corn cobs are down the front won't pick them up.we find that here the stalks get broken up just nicely but that is is australian conditions.you slow down thats for

 

[T__langan]

That sounds like a better idea to me. If you're tires are driving the stalks down on two rows, get some spacers or something to make them run between the rows. Running the whole plant through on an R42 will really make her grunt I would guess. By the way, all combines might still have been cutting corn that way today if it weren't for the Baldwins who invented the snapping corn head. Just a bit of trivia. Tom langan

 

[New2Gleaner]

Thanks for the info! I did some measuring and if my calculations are correct, reversing the drive tires from left to right should bring them out enough to straddle 4 30" rows (about 94")! I guess I might be answering my own question here, but if I were to select a "stalkier" hybrid of corn, I would be able to raise the cornhead high enough to leave a decent amount of stalk standing. I agree that it doesn't make economic sense to work the tar out of an almost $200,000 (Canadian dollars, relax tbran) combine, just for the sake of stover. Besides, it's nice to leave a little residue on the field, anyway! Thanks for all your help. I'm quickly finding this forum to be far more helpful than any owners manual out there today.

 

[PETE]

Seems to me that you would have excessive rotor loss and a very cobby grain sample with all that extra material going through the machine, in addition you are going to work the dog-poop out of your machine. The benifits may be outweighed by the increased maintenace expense. Moving the wheels sounds like the best and easiest solution.

 

[New2Gleaner]

I've decided to move the wheels out to straddle 4 30" rows, but I'm going to try direct-cutting 4 rows with my flex head, anyway, just to satisfy my curiousity. I should mention that I already own a 6 row corn head, and I only need the stover from about 30 to 40 acres of corn, no more. It should be interesting to find out how well it works.

 

[Silver_bullet]

What I would recommend is getting your tires spaced between the rows, (just to save chewing up the tires if nothing else). leave the spreader off to put all the leaves and cobs in a windrow then swath behind the combine leaving the windrow where the combines windrow lays. Ideally, you would swath 4 rows out of the six leaving the other 2 rows for wind protection.

 

[Kurt]

I have direct cut corn with my 30 ft flex head..(R72) The corn was cargil drawf corn, it wasn't very tall only about 5 1_2 foot. I had to raise the reel up so as not to break the corn off. We were cutting the corn for dry grain so the stalk was completly dry, it ran through the combine just fine. It was just an experiment that we did on 50 acres a couple of years ago, I don't think I would want to do it all the time