oldstruck
Guest
Hi All! Have worked for our university for nearly 20 years. Here is my thoughts. Winterstieger; ok plot machine, very expensive to purchase, the air fan is not powerful enough to get clean samples. Repair is not difficult but not simple. Parts are expensive and you have to wait for them. Note the project I was with in 1988 bought a new one, basic machine, no cab, no automatic sampling system, 4 ft grain head. It was pretty finiky to adjust. $110,000. Recently another project bought one, same basic machine. $178,000 Hege, a bit smaller that the Winterstieger. same issue with the clean grain fan, but easier to work on, about 10-15% less to purchase that the Winterstiegers. Parts seem to be quicker to get here when needed. Repair is not difficult, and some what simpler than Winterstieger. The Hege seemed to have a sweet spot for everything we harvest. You did not have to adjust much. I do know that if you park a Hege behind the R42 and not realize the Hege is there, the Hege loses when the R42 is put in reverse. GFDI!!!! WHO PARKED THAT THERE!!!!! "You scratched my axle!" (reference to CaddyShack) Kincaid, They use NewHolland TR series machines and split the processing system down the center, so the machine can take two plots at one pass. The intake on the head is divided in the center also. Kincaid installs automaitic grain sampling systems and do a real nice job modifying the machine. Figure about twice the money that a used TR-88 off a dealer lot for one of theirs, but you have a real piece of equipment. The down side is you will need a big truck and combine trailer to move it from location to location. Unless you are close by. No personal experience with these, though. Kincaid can and will modify other machines, but thier forte is the TR's. Almeco is one that was not mentioned. The are not a bad little machine. Fairly simple to operate and maintain. The cost is about equal to a Hege, new. Parts are available fairly quickly from Almeco. Not much experience with it, but the projects that have them seem to have few complaints about them. Unlike the Winterstieger. Better clean grain samples. Gleaners, E, F, H, K (2 and 3 series). These are really good. If you can locate a company that can modify these. Then I would suggest this. 1. Inexpensive to purchase in the first place. (get a diesel one) 2. Parts other than the grain sampling systems, are readily available. 3. Usually the modifications to make it a plot combine run under $15,000. 4. Easy to adjust and work on. 5. A cab!!!!! USDA-ARS here has a F2 that has been modified by lindquist Welding in Giltner, NE that seems to be a good plot machine. Down side it is larger that the Winter, Hege, and Almeco to transport. BUT smaller than the NH TR's. It really comes down to what you are wanting to do with a plot combine, are you looking to do scientific analyisisIJ or just picking plots for yield comparison. Winterstieger, Almeco, Hege, make larger plot combines that are the size of the F Gleaner, but the cost is way out there. The farm I have manage for the past few years, does plot work, BUT our plots are full size equipment plots. 6 row 30". Most of the afore mentioned machines do 1,2 or 3 row plots, taken out of normal width planted areas. {I have to go in and clean them up with the R42 when they are done.} Plus the plots are any where from 25 to 75 feet long most of the time. We have some 70 ft plots and 50 ft plots also, on long term studies. Running a full sized machine (R42 6 row 30") I have to make sure I pull in get the processor full, (at about the time I get to the end of the plot) pull out of the plot, do a count of 20 seconds and shut the processor down (or just leave the processor run and throttle back after 20 seconds). Go to scale cart, unload (count 10 seconds after the last grain leaves the tank, then shut off the unloading auger, and then go to the next plot and start over. 28 plots on 2 acres takes about 3 to 4 hours to do. I have to make sure I do each plot the same so our data is as accurate as it can humanly_machine be. That is not to say I dont put in production plots that run the length of some of our fields. We do, but that is for my records to figure out what varieties to consider for the next couple growing seasons. We have 35 "fields" on 245 acres. Ranging from 0.3 acres to 21.7 acres. One 12.3 acre field is split into 7 areas ranging from 0.3 acres to 3.2 acres. We have contoured terraces on hillside to flat bottom ground. We grow corn, soybeans, milo, and wheat, on 3 to 7 year rotations, different fields have different rotations. The FSA office winces when I walk in the door each year. (Its not a simple corn_bean rotation.) I know some of you guys could knock out 240 acres in two days. The fastest we have ever harvested this farm was exactly 2 weeks, 1 Sunday we did not run during that time. I am no expert, but thought I would give you something to consider. I do know of a Hege that could be gotten pretty cheap at our university's next farm sale in 2009!