Combines Oats thru a R5

The price of oats almost got high enough to consider planting them this year. That would have put me in the same boat you are in---wondering if a Hyperized machine would do well in small grain. let us know how it goes for you. Tom in MN

Irv, Several customers in this area have run oats with a machine that have all of our threshing and seperations tricks. In your modifications,have you done all the upgrades ie;wires removed from concave,rear of concave lowered(no wedge),double stacked helicals on thresher side,seperation grate left of concave,channel helical bars on seperator side of cage,shrunken rotor with hi-lo cylinder bar configuration,four paddles on the end of the rotor,F2 toothed cncave bars on the seperator grate. If all of these have been done you should stilll have no problem threshing oats. If the oats are ripe,they are usually pretty easy to thresh. Start with a 1_2"-5_8" concave setting and open up to 3_4" if you can maitain a good thresh. You may have to install one or two filler bars depending on how much wet material there is in a windrow.With a hypered machine,rotor speed should be 400-600rpm.Chaffer setting of 5_8"-3_4",seive setting of 3_8",and fan choke of 5-7 depending on shoe load. The straw coming from this machine should look like it has been run through a crimper. Remember though,if you are running windrows,they will tend to dry the stems and will cause more break-up of the straw. Cutting standing oats leaves the straw more intact. Hope this helps,let us know if it don't. Hyper Harvest II

We don't have the seperator grate in the bottom of the cage....since doing the work to the combine a few years ago, we have thought about it, but it's not done yet. By doing the modifications (I think the hi-lo and the helical changes deserve most of the credit),the machine is so different to run, esp. in tough beans, so we were_are a little curious as to how it will work in oats. Made the deal on the head w_ pickup, so I guess we're committed now.... Many thanks! Irv

Tom, We grew some oats last year, as it's a nice place to go with some of that stinky stuff from the hog pits. Turned out to be our best cash crop! 130bu_@ and lots of straw. Only 40@ last year, and we hired it done. We had people driving onto the yard, trying to buy straw that was already sold. This year, contracted the oats at a good price, and it looks good so far.... Irv

The Melroe 388 will work fine and last long. Be sure to maintain the teeth. If one breaks replace it fairly quickly as it will otherwise bind on the rollers and tear the rubber belt. It is probably better to remove it and run with a blank spot than to leave a broken one in. Oats at 120 is fun. The challenge to a dryland wheat farmer is in getting the grain away. Good luck.