Soybean Harvester?

NcBoy · Nov 24, 2016

Hey y'all. I'm new to the tractor world, but I just bought a 1975 (I think) JD 830 which I'm really excited about. I'm planning to use it in a vegetable garden as well as to grow food for my hogs and chickens. My question is, what do you use to harvest soybeans with? Surely there's a way to do it without a combine. Bringing a combine in for a few acres of soybeans can't be economical, but harvesting them by hand doesn't sound appealing either. Is there a 3 point implement that can be run with a 35hp tractor that will harvest a row or two at a time?

Gray

rrlund · Nov 24, 2016

An old pull type combine would be your only option. An old Allis Chalmers AllCrop or something similar.

NcBoy · Nov 24, 2016

I was afraid that might be the case. I guess I'll start researching small, inexpensive combines. I plan to have about 15 acres in corn/soybeans this year and I'll probably be adding to that in future years. By the time I bought a corn picker, and a AC 66 or the like, I could probably just about buy a small used combine.

Thanks for the response.

Gray

Richard G. · Nov 24, 2016

Send me an email message. I have an idea for you.
Richard in NW SC

NcBoy · Nov 24, 2016

(quoted from post at 21:57:01 11/24/16) Send me an email message. I have an idea for you.
Richard in NW SC

I didn't see your email address in your profile, and it wouldn't let me send you a PM. If you want, you can shoot me an email at [email protected]

I appreciate any ideas!

Gray

Oh and P.S. Gotta love the Carolinas!

coonie minnie · Nov 24, 2016

I think if you are doing 15 acres, you should ask around the neighborhood for someone to custom do it for you. At the scale you are at, it would be a lot cheaper and would be less headaches. Not maybe what
you want to hear, but it is the truth.

Good luck to you, and happy thanksgiving!

BushogPapa · Nov 24, 2016

Sounds like he has hit the Lottery and is gonna FARM, 'Till it's ALL Gone..!!

He is not Listening, guys...

NcBoy · Nov 24, 2016

I completely understand where you're coming from, but my stubbornness refuses to give up the idea I can do it myself ha. I hate relying on others. It's something I should probably work on.

Thank you, and I happy thanksgiving to you too!

gtractorfan · Nov 25, 2016

How were soybeans harvested before combines? I imagine they were cut at some premature stage, hand loaded on wagons and ???

Gary from Muleshoe · Nov 25, 2016

Look around for a J I Case 660 bigger
combine. They are cheap and reliable. You
will most.likely need to do some repairs but
parts are available.

Leroy · Nov 25, 2016

Don't even think about getting somebody to custom cut for you, If you do find somebody it will NOT be done with anything but how fast can I get done and how much can I overcharge him? I will charge him more than the crop is worth so he doesn't ask me again. Used to be you could find somebody that would do it and do a decent job, not any more. Now it would cost more to get it done For one year than the combine that would do it will sell for and he would have it for future years. His question he needs to answer is his corn, what does he want to do with it? Ear and store at home to feed? Sell? Shell and store at home to feed? Shell and store at elevator for feed? shell and sell?

cleddy · Nov 25, 2016

You guys must all be youngsters. I could be wrong but I don't think they grew soybeans
before there were combines. If they did all small grain like Wheat,Barly,Rye, and Oats
and ect. they used the Grain Binders to bundle the grain and moved it to a Theshing
Machine (maybe one person owned one in area)to separate the grain from stalks. Before
that way back in history (before 1900)they cut it with hand tools and beat the grain out
by hand. The old timers picked corn by hand before the Corn Pickers came into use.

When my Dad started growing Soybeans around 1950 he used the Allis Chalmers Pull type
combine which almost everyone could afford and they worked fine. When the first Self
propelled combine broke down at harvest time one time we got an old Allis Pull type
Combine again to finish the harvest. A few years ago I sold 2- pretty nice older Self
propelled Combines on an auction for about $100.00 each and the metal scrapper that
bought them left them behind because they weren't worth hauling away. I think used
Combines would be easy to afford-maybe more costly to maintain but affordable. Cleddy

paul · Nov 25, 2016

Soybeans were not popular up here in the north until the 1950s. They started out as a cattle feed, and were baled, green and dry, more like alfalfa in the beginning.

A relatively new crop.

Paul

JMS/.MN · Nov 25, 2016

Wow! You must have a tough neighborhood....

centash · Nov 25, 2016

Combined my first soybean crop in 1978 with a Gleaner E just like the one pictured. Ben

cleddy · Nov 25, 2016

Thanks for that response. This one was set up just for soybeans with the flexible cutting bar and Hydraulic control reel height. One year in about 1973-74 we had one of them bad wet falls and no one could get their soybeans out because of bad conditions but this one could
and we got ours out when it froze in December. In the spring neighbors were begging to borrow our machine which Dad let them do it but for the wear & tear on the Combine it really wasn't worth it. That what being good neighbors is all about.Cleddy

J. Schwiebert · Nov 25, 2016

My dad told me one year about 10 to 12 farmers came to him and asked him if he would thresh soybeans for them the next crop year. He ordered all the slow speed stuff for the next year. The next year one of them bought a combine and he combined everyone's beans. He never used the attachments. That was in the 30's around her in Northwest Ohio

farmerwithmutt · Nov 25, 2016

Small combines aren't that expensive until
they break down with rain coming in.
As to what they did before combines
somewhere I'm thinking that someone told me
they cut with a mower then picked it up
with a hay loader then fed it through a
thresher . Sounds like a lot of work
especially with the vines .

Moonlite37 · Nov 25, 2016

Before considering a combine you may want to think about how to haul the grain, A $500 combine is a possibility but a grain truck will cost much more and have other costs such as insurance license, battery, anti-freeze. surely thee are farmers in your area who are needing to do a few acres to make the payment on their machine

MikeinKy · Nov 25, 2016

I used to have about 15 or 20 acres, and I bought an old Gleaner K from a neighbor for $500 and used it for several years. He got a newer one and the dealer didn't want it on trade.

BMD · Nov 26, 2016

NcBoy:

If you look around you might find a AC ALL-Crop pull type combine at an estate auction in NC/SC/VA. They were very popular and many small/medium farms in the Carolina's and VA used them once upon a time.
Hard part is finding one that been kept under a shed.
BMD
ALL CROP INFO

BushogPapa · Nov 26, 2016

I believe that makes more sense than getting an AC 60..

It would take him at least 2 days to cut 15 acres with a 5 foot cut..and it takes up as much room as a newer self-propelled.,

An AC 60 MUST be stored inside or the canvases will be gone in one year or sooner..

I Loved them and they would get more Clover or Timothy seed that any other combine I ever saw, but pick up just ONE Rock ( cutting Sorbeans) and it WILL ruin your day...!!
BTDT..!

bass · Nov 26, 2016

OK, let me ask y'all this!

Ive never grown soybeans. can you run the vines with the beans still on them thru a hammer mill? was thinking about feeding this to some calves. old school, but cut the vines with beans, Ive got an old drop rake that still works. let the vines cure then run them thru a hammer mill with some corn stalks with ears still attached.

ideas are welcome. just an idea

bass

Gary from Muleshoe · Nov 27, 2016

Sure you can, Dad used to bale them and then
run them through the hammer mill. A bit time
consuming but he did it.

rrlund · Nov 27, 2016

I'd sure like to know where these deals are. Last K I saw on an auction up here brought $8500. I took the trailer to haul the heads home. Needless to say,I came home empty.

alliscombines · Nov 29, 2016

Then I would consider a pull type
combine.

alliscombines · Nov 29, 2016

They do the same thing here as well. So do the custom silage harvesters.

Soybean Harvester?

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