Chopped my corn

farmerjason1 · Sep 13, 2023

I got my corn chopped. Thought I would share some pictures of how it's done here. I don't use the silage I just grow the corn and sell it to the dairy. This year had some of the biggest ears I've grown. A lot of 18 row ears and some 20 row ears. One picture is how they switch trucks non stop. They just shoot over the top of the full truck until the full truck is out of the way

farmerjason1 · Sep 13, 2023

For whatever reason it only let me post a few pictures so here are a few more

farmerjason1 · Sep 13, 2023

A few more pictures

paul · Sep 14, 2023

Nice.

Paul

Bob Bancroft · Sep 14, 2023

Interesting truck boxes. I've not seen anything like them. Where are you located?

drummer481 · Sep 14, 2023

GREAT pictures, never been around silage but this looks like a very efficient operation......................

Bruce from Can. · Sep 14, 2023

How many rows does that harvester cut in one past ? 6-8 ?

Blackhole49 · Sep 14, 2023

According to my count from the picture from behind, 12.

Butch(OH) · Sep 14, 2023

Nice, we are usually done chopping by last week but corn won't be ready for another week yet. Crops are all 2-3 weeks behind here.

coonie minnie · Sep 14, 2023

Good looking corn!

showcrop · Sep 14, 2023

One dairy farm in northern NH where I hung out as a kid switches trucks the same way. They run two of what I believe are eight row choppers, and around fifteen trucks. There is a big time dairy farmer on you tube who stops for each full truck. I put on a comment about why and he answered that they couldn't do it non-stop without a lot of bumping into each other and spilling a lot.

farmerjason1 · Sep 14, 2023

Thank you. Yes that is a 12 row chopper. It is a claas 990. It is a v-12 engine rated at 925hp. I'm in central CA. Those are a Danco silage box made locally. Very common box here

tomstractorsandtoys · Sep 14, 2023

The big custom outfit in my area chops into semis. In wet years they have a hitch on the front and use CaseIH quad tracks to pull the trucks. Tom

Charlie M · Sep 14, 2023

Sure not like the way we did it when I was growing up in the 60's on a small dairy farm. We had a 1 row chopper and if you had a 2 row you were big time. We blew into a self unloading wagon and was blown up 40 ft into a silo. We had a belt driven blower. I remember being 12 years old and my dad had gotten hurt putting up blower pipe at the neighbors (we shared the equipment) and I took over bringing in the wagons and unloading them. I also remember a lot of muddy falls trying to get corn out of the field. I still have equipment that could fill a silo - corn binder and ensilage cutter. I use the ensilage cutter to chop up old hay but haven't used the binder in a long time.

BarnyardEngineering · Sep 14, 2023

(quoted from post at 04:21:43 09/14/23)

One dairy farm in northern NH where I hung out as a kid switches trucks the same way. They run two of what I believe are eight row choppers, and around fifteen trucks. There is a big time dairy farmer on you tube who stops for each full truck. I put on a comment about why and he answered that they couldn't do it non-stop without a lot of bumping into each other and spilling a lot.

Let me guess, Farming Fixing & Fabricating? Based on a lot of the breakdowns he documents on youtube, some of his help leaves something to be desired.

But, as I'm sure everyone here knows, it's always been hard to find good help. The good ones are worth more but you can't afford to pay them more so they end up getting jobs outside the ag sector that pay better. When it comes to seasonal help the problem is exponentially worse. Anyone "good" has a full time job and can't just drop everything to come help you when your crop is ready.

I know with my little operation, I always end up behind the 8 ball because I can't disappear from my day job whenever something needs to be done on the farm. The weather hardly ever works out where the big work can be done on a weekend, and they frown on you taking days off without two weeks' notice.

Charlie M · Sep 14, 2023

I completely understand what you mean by a day job interfering with farm stuff - had that problem for 30 years. I was fortunate enough to be able to get a day fairly easy to bale hay but when you do stuff the
way I did which is old equipment and techniques from the 50's and 60's there is always stuff that doesn't get done because thee is just no time for it. I'm now retired and there still isn't enough time
sometimes. I've been retired 4 years and with a couple more years I will be caught up.

GeneMO · Sep 14, 2023

I am a crop adjuster part time. I found out the hard way that you do not get out in the field, on foot, to appraise corn when one of those big choppers is in the same field. I had to drop my equipment and run for my life once when the driver decided to chop right where I was.

From then on, I make them leave strips and I come in after the field is done.

Gene

Leroy · Sep 14, 2023

How much silage do they drop on the ground in changing trucks.

Buckhammer · Sep 14, 2023

That is also how the dairies here in Michigan do it, but they use bigger trucks. Quite a few dairies around me plant their corn in 15 inch rows.

ss55 · Sep 14, 2023

Do the trucks haul the silage directly to the dairy, or do you store the silage until the buyer needs it?

Is there much problem with soil compaction?

Chopped my corn

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