combining wheat or barley

jeremy in NE · Jan 2, 2009

I posted this on combine forum also, but thought I would post here too. I just started doing some custom combining in 08 and the guys are thinking of planting wheat or barley in 09. They are organic farmers so there will probably be weeds. My question is do I windrow first so weeds dry down or do I run them threw the combine. I have no experience with either of these crops so any help would be greatly appreciated. I am running a JD 9400. Thanks

RayP(MI) · Jan 2, 2009

In the old days, grain was cut, shocked and allowed to dry before thrashing. Grain was cut a little green, before the weeds had as much of an advantage. When the thrashing actually happened a week or two later, the weeds had dried down, and the thrashing machine did a good job of cleaning the grain. We grow a field of oats each year to provide oats for the local steam show thrashing demonstrations. So I know it works - we get nice clean grain. If you have the optiion of cutting and drying in the windrows, it might be to your advantage. However, you will probably suffer losses, especially if it doesn't dry down well in the windrows.

bradk · Jan 2, 2009

The fields have to be pretty dang weed-free to cut small grain standing.Gonna have lots and lots of weeds in organic crops.

Windrowing is probably only solution.Only bad thing is a swather and a pickup head for the combine is going to be needed.

Don-Wi · Jan 2, 2009

Without a doubt I would swath first. We plant oats and cut them with our hesston hydro-swing first. Drop the crimper off as well as a ffew other peices, and let it fall on the ground.

It doens't save as much grain as a draper head on a self-propelled swather, but it's far better than cutting it standing. We plant it with alfalfa so there's always something green along with it.

We hire the combining out. Couple years ago they tried to do it standing and they broke a belt that cost more than they could charge us. We told them we could swath it but they said not to and they paid the price. So did we because the ground was a bit damp and very soft. If we would have swathed it first, that machine would heve been lighter and wouldn't sink in as much. It would also give the ground a day or 2 to dry out before the big combine runs on it.

All in all, in any crop like that around here that's full of weeds it's swathed first. Lots of the bigger guys do their wheat standing, but they also spray it to control weeds so no problems.

Donovan from Wisconsin

fixerupper · Jan 2, 2009

What part of Nebraska are you in? Eastern is a lot wetter than western in that state. We combined weedy organic wheat in dry Colorado and the owner didn't seem concerned about the green weed sileage in the tank and it was going into bins without air at 100+ degrees.

If it's swathed and allowed to dry the weedy matter mostly blows out the back but the wheat will be so dry you will have to be careful not to over-thresh and overload the chaffer with ground up straw.

It also depends on where he markets the grain. If it's going straight to the dealer he might not want all that green stuff in the wheat. If he stores it at home and doesn't have air on the bin it might heat. Then you'll have to swath it. But then again, if the weeds aren't too bad and the wheat is real dry, like 9 or 10% the moisture from the green stuff won't bother. It's kind of a call you'll have to make at harvest.

What size head do you have on the 9400? I wouldn't go into weedy wheat with anything bigger than 15' on a combine that size. Unslugging a combine when it's 100 degrees is not fun at all. Jim

flying belgian · Jan 2, 2009

I have raised wheat every year all my life. Always swath it even if it is weed free. Better test weight on the wheat and you can get more straw if you want by swathing real short. Can't combine that low as you will get to much green stuff and grain will never be dry.

davejoe · Jan 2, 2009

If the field is reasonably weed free it is sometimes more important just to get the crop off, especially just to gain some wheat straw. If the stand has alot of weeds is is better to cut and dry, plus lots of green weeds going through the combine just sounds so bad. Dave

Anonymous-0 · Jan 2, 2009

wheat will sprout in the windrow if you get a wet spell, Butte86 resisted this but that variety is long lost to history, I've st. cut wheat the past two years, otherwise we used to keep the windrower 1/2 a day ahead of the combine, oats can lay for a long time and has to be windrowed here to get the straw dry. More power to them if they can make it work without spray but the few around here trying it have a weedy mess. More wild mustard than oats and more wild sunflowers, foxtail and and every other weed you can imagine than corn and soybeans. Twice the price for 1/2 the yield and a lifetime supply of weed seeds.They rotary hoe and cultivate about 4 times.

Leroy · Jan 4, 2009

There is not going to be enough grain in the weeds to pay the combining bill that would have to be 5 times the bill on clean grain. Those kind of spots here are gone around and left stand.

combining wheat or barley

jeremy in NE

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RayP(MI)

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bradk

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Don-Wi

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fixerupper

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flying belgian

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davejoe

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Anonymous-0

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Leroy

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