51000 bushels in one day

I have seen that video before and all I can say is that CLAAS is one corn eating machine.When I started in custom harvest corn this year we were running two 642 Fords each with a four row head with a guy on the grain cart and tractor in 200-230 bpa corn and the very best we could do is ten semi loads in 9 hours.There were several times i checked and we were pulling 300 bushels every 7 minutes.We were putting 1000-1100 bushels per load and the combines hardly ever had to wait for the cart to dump on.If you doubled what we were doing you still wouldnt even be at half as much as he done-unbelievable!My old Fords have great capacity and to think that it would take basically eight of the ones like I run to move the same amount of corn he moved is mind boggling.
 
A combine that size is very thirsty but it eats through a lot of acres in an hour. The Lexions I've been around, with the Cat engine, have been the most economical combine fuel-wise I've ever seen. By my figures he's doing about 25 acres and maybe 5800 bushels per hour in 220-230 bushel/acre corn. A guess on fuel useage is 20 gallons per hour. My 105 gas used 5 GPH doing somewhere around 3.5 acres and 500 bushels per hour in 140 bushel corn. So the 105 theoretically used 58 gallons of gasoline to harvest 5800 bushels where the Lexion used 20? gallons. I don't know what a 105 diesel consumption is but I'm guessing 3 gallons so that would put it at 34.8 gallons to harvest 5800 bushels. Jim
 
I have cousins back in Ohio. They have about 4500 acres of crop out. A few years ago they where running two JD 9870s with 12 row heads on them. In 200 bushel plus corn they where running a 1000 bushels with the two in under five minutes. They filled one 100k bushel grain bin in under nine hours. So Lexion/Claas is not the only machine with a big appetite. I would bet that a CIH 8120 would also be in that class. There are very large machines out here now.

I remember when a neighbor got a JD 55 combine. He was bragging about how they shelled a thousand bushels one afternoon. At the time most of us where still picking ear corn. 500-700 bushels was a good day.

Here is another thought on this subject. Forty years ago that 500 acre plus corn field was more than likely two farms. Are we better off as a nation with it now being just a little piece of some private farm corporation???? The same men now would just be hired hands not owners of anything.

I like to look at the large equipment but I often think the Amish have a better long term outlook on this issue. They look at all machinery from the angle of how it will effect the community not just how it affects the farmer's pocket book. I don't really want to live that simply but I also don't think one or two guys farming whole counties is good either.
 
I do think the red and green companies have combines that will almostt match this one in corn. Don't know about soy or small grains. I just thought this was outlandishly impressive compared to the old combines I grew up with, and still like, for that matter. If you ask me what brand preference I have it would be red or green for several reasons with the biggest reason being parts and service availability. The biggest combine in the world can't compete if it's sitting still for a couple of days waiting for parts. BTDT!!!!. Jim
 
JD, you & I butt heads on a few issues, but we can agree on this one. :)

I'm not in the way of progress, stuff will always head towards bigger & better, but sometimes it's not always progress.

Yields have probably doubled in the past 40 years, and that's good. Farm sizes getting bigger and bigger is natural, but wish it weren't hastened along so much so big.

I'm impressed with myself when I can get 2000 bu out in a day, but I'm all alone, when I haul grain away, the combine sits....

--->Paul
 
Guess that makes my old one row Woods Bros. picker pulled with my JD D look pretty anemic. And I was thinking how much better it was than picking by hand. I think I could do about 60 bushels per hour if nothing broke or I got stuck.
 
Actually I've had tremendous parts and service running old silver conventional combines, hyd blocks, cleaning fans, in stock and dealer sitting there at 8:30 at night for me to pick them up.... One dealer has a great bone yard, can pick off hunks of iron for 1/3 the cost of new. I couldn't get any better from the red or green dealers.

Not arguing a color war with you, just saying, good service is out there in other colors as well.
 
The manufacturer should have pointed that out in the presentation. I sure would have when I was marketing manager.
 
Shoulda mentioned AGCO too. For us the nearest Claas/cat dealer is 65 miles. The next one is 75, then 90, then 150 miles. In Cat's favor, they have great overnight drop-shipping at different locations. For us it's 30 miles away in a town with an airport. We call in the part number to the nearest dealer and if he doesn't have it, it will be in that unlocked drop box usually the next morning. We just sort through the Cat parts that were dropped off for other people and pick our parts out. It'll only work in small town Iowa. Name another brand that does that! Jim
 
Its something else to make us obsolete. The thing that kills me is what do these guys do the rest of the year? I'm not in a huge hurry, I farm part time and I pay pretty good attention to whats going on around me. I'm just not seeing the need for these big machines, even if you had 5000 acres you don't need 1/2 that much capacity. These "big farmers" aren't in the field that much, in all honesty I don't know what they do with the other 10 months of the year, save 1 planting and 1 harvesting. And I farm some myself so no ones fooling me with "we work on brand new equipment for the other 1600 hrs a year".
 
the JD 9860 will eat alot of corn, at about 180 to 200 Ga. diesel a day! over $700 a day just for fuel!!
 

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