Combines Watched a

[Tim_nj]

I wouldn't doubt I see it advertized by one of the Pennsylvania jockeys in a few months. They'll buy something like that for $1800, spend $1500 to truck it here, then get $7000+ for it. The big, new combines just don't fit into many operations around here (figuratively and literally). There are a lot of roads and bridges that an R75 won't fit through, even with no heads on.

 

[Thor]

If a guy would watch auctions he could get two or three l's and l2's and use all three of them for way less than he could buy an R75 and the two or three could cut as much as the bigger combine for way less the cost. You can pay for lots of labor and parts for the cost of the new machine. It makes sense to run older equipment and have a way less cost per acre.

 

[PoorFarmer]

Now all I need is 2 more qualified combine operators, and 3 more truck drivers. Between the torn up equipment, salaries, and cost of lunches, a guy has to ask is it really worth itIJ Can you get Fieldstar installed in an lIJ

 

[John]

I'll bet there are a lot of us who could not use a Fieldstar to become more profitable.

 

[Tim_nj]

Didn't do anything but cost money for the few who tried it here. Got to have the right kind of fields, and enough of them, to make that system pay.

 

[D_Mayes]

You forgot that they will all get together after payday, get drunk, not show up for work or show up get hurt then sue. All this happens with severe storms on the way to destroy the crops that you need to pay the lawyers.

 

[Soy_Breeding_Boy]

I am currently looking at putting a micro-trak (Grain-trak) into my F2. There are directions and patterns for putting one into the l and M series of Combine.

 

[Kurt]

I'm not sure I agree with you. First they should be sold as a combine performance monitor. Paid for half of mine the first harvest. Tried to speed up cutting beans and found out that I was losing 8 bushel an acre because of not getting them in the head. It also could be sold as an irrigation mangement tool. I run my nitrogen through my center pivot irrigation system. The monitor showed where my help let the fertilizer pump run empty for a ways and cost 80 bushel an acre. So the next year that sure didn't happen. I think it is very easy to pay for one of these monitors. Just my 2 cents worth Kurt

 

[Tim_nj]

I think I'd notice an 8 bu. an acre loss off the head even without a monitor . . . . Irrigation example works, but since we don't irrigate here, doesn't make me want to invest in a system. My point was that you can't universally apply something over the whole country. Just because it makes a big difference in someone's operation in Nebraska (for example),doesn't mean it'll have the same impact on an operation in New Jersey. I have to convince my NRCS office of this from time-to-time.

 

[burbert]

It's good to stop once in a while and check the ground behind the combine. loss will show up there, and it would be easy to see 8 bushel being thrown over. Good way to save money in the long run. I never consider that stop time in a field as a waste, since the good combine jockey is always doing some sort of maintenance, when outside the cab.