Combines Terraces IJ

[Deerebines]

Riceman Well, Some terraces are easy and some are a Pain in the A$$! We usually cut the side of the terrace that is closest to the channel first. Then either come back on the other side or come back and cut the channel. Usually depends on what's at the end or if someone's in a land above cutting or below. We just let whatever extra header there is hang over the top side of the terraces to keep the lower end from gouging the dirt. Sometimes you just can't help it and get a load of dirt in the plat anyways. Also....sometimes when cutting back on the channel some of them are so deep that you end up just letting some of the plat stick up in the air opposite of the terrace itself. In the end it is a game of give and take. The main objective is to get as much as you can without eating any dirt. What really sucks is the wet years when the channels' are full of water. Then your try to "reach out" with the header and get as much standing there as you can without burying the combine. Makes for an interesting harvest some years. I hope I didn't confuse you more.

 

[adam_l]

deerebines did what we did when I was on harvest. We would cut the terraces out untill we reached the far end of the field and the cut out the flat part working back to where we wanted to end up. Terraces make for interesting truck driving too. Finding where the lowest part to cross can be tricky. You get very disorientated at night. I've benn lossed more than once at night when there is no wind and the dust just hangs there.

 

[Deerebines]

Adam Your not kidding about getting lost. Even in a field you have farmed for years when it get's dark it can get deceiving. It's alot better now since we got the grain cart and leave the trucks parked by the road. Cart driver radio's up and the truck driver turns on the park lights and then they can find their way back. I still don't know how we did it all these years before till we got the cart. That makes such short work of a field not having to drive to the truck or bring the truck out into the field every time. Not to mention less fire hazard too when we ran the ole gasser's. Deerebines

 

[kinetic]

Deerebines is exactly right, it's give and take with terraces. There is no real solution. Some are easy some are hard. I have cut some in NW Kansas that were so steep I was sliding down them unless I kept my rear wheels at about a 1_4 turn. When cutting terraces, it is also a good idea to keep the wobble box end of your header, the side that is up in the air. We have run into many problems before, tearing out wobble boxes in tough wheat, and keeping that end out of the dirt is just something else to help prevent damage. In wet years, you sometimes just have to leave a field, there is no way to get the wheat in the backside of the terrace. A lot of guy's will skimp out and run a 25ft header because they say the extra length is a problem, which in my experience is not true. 30 ft will work fine on a terrace if you have an experienced operator. My 2 cents worth. Kinetic

 

[Deerebines]

Kinetic I'd forgotten that point about making sure the wobble box end is up in the air but I do the same thing when cutting out terraces if at all possible. I've never had any problem's with the wobble box because of gouging dirt but I try to not influence it by running that end so close to the ground. Nice part about almost all Deere heads I've seen are the skid's they have underneath. Dang near makes it impossible to eat to much dirt say vs. My pop's Massey. Now that thing could be a bulldozer if you arn't careful. As a kid I cussed the NRCS (scs) offices for these darn pain's in the neck. I couldn't see any importance in them and wanted to doze them all down. Funny how with age you get a bit wiser. I still am not a great fan of cutting them out but it sure beats the ruts that you could be bouncing down the hill 50 feet from that terrace if it wasn't there. Deerebines