How I combine small grains

I just want to say my memory is just fine,, I have well over 45 years running working and setting Case combines,, I have also ran at times for others JD and MF combines,, I agree all should be able to be set to do a good job,, I am just stating what I have seen in my years,, I have now cut back on acres I cut every year,, for 30 plus of my years doing this I ran 800-2000 acres every year, cutting mainly Wheat then but I also did a lot of alfalfa and grass seed harvesting as well,, and of course Oats and Barley,, also raised and cut Camelina, Millet and Safflower oil seed crops,, the pics are of three of my Case machines cutting 100 bpa plus winter Wheat on my farm,, all three machines had the largest heads they could have,,, in this crop I would have liked a smaller size but by slowing down and knowing how to set them I was able to save almost all grain and stay in the 1-2% dockage and zero cracking. the man in the pic is my Uncle John,, this was the last time he got to run a combine, great memories for me, for those of you who can tell how a machine is working and if its set properly look at the windrows of straw that tells the tale to me
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Good pics and info Tom, it sure would be fun baling those fluffy windrows. Rod.

Tom,
Great pictures ... sure looks like a great time with 3 Case combines doing what they were built for ..
THANKS for sharing and telling what's going on ...

.............. mark

forgot a few shots of the bin samples
first pick is Oats
second is Hay Barley
third is winter Wheat, the light colored seed was wild Oats
fourth is Crested Wheat grass seed
and last is Alfalfa seed

cnt

Baling those windrows is exactly what I was thinking. Totally agree on the setup as the key! Several farmer friends would join forces and knock out each others crop at peak moisture content. I've seen competition in the fields, with different color machines, who could cut the most. You could walk behind the machine, look on the ground, and tell who the winner was.
Thanks for the photos....

If you can set it for some of those tiny light seeded crops you can set it for anything.

CaseNutty1660: What are your doing for the parts that can only be OEM??? Are there cylinder bars and such still being made by after market sources??? Your running machines that have not been in production for over 40 years. I know others are running older machines of other brands too but those brands where at least in production at later dates. I am just curious because I do not know of any Case combines in use around here. I really do not remember many back when they where in production either.

I have both NOS and used parts as well as parts machines, when I was custom cutting a lot I would use that money to buy sets of belts for them,, I also have several new sets of rub bars, for the most part I have all good ones in the machines I use,, but yes parts can be a challenge if you do not know where to look,,
cnt

Rodand Tx. Funny how great minds think a like. Have a Case 330 that would look good in those windrows. Looks real good with those combines.

All combine settings are a series of compromises. If you are getting a perfect sample in the bin , then you are blowing small light sets out. If you have zero losses out the back, then you will have small seeds ot lihgt trash in the bin.The seeds in the fields vary greatly in size and simply cannot be perfectly harvested in any combine. If a winter wheat sample here in Ontario had small light seeds in it, it would be docked for fusarium or some other disease. Whilst I cannot judge the wheat sample above by a picture, wild oat seed in a sample here would be rejected or severely docked. This year in our soys, there was about a bushel to the acre on the ground before we pulled in with the combine. The sample was still 17 percent moisture, the top of the plant was brittle dry, but the bottom 6 inches was tough and green. Simply walking through the field shelled numerous beans from the pod. Cutter bar losses were easily 2 or 3 percent because so many bean pods simply burst open when cut or pulled in by the reel. The sample was mediocre at best due to the green pods
Fortunately, these were crusher beans, so dockage at the elevator was zero, since they had to go through the drier and a surcharge was made then to account for foreign material. Leaving the beans in the field to dry down more would result in even higher shatter losses. So, we compromised... pay a bit of drying, save as many years beans as we could, get the crop off in a timely matter to get the following winter wheat crop in the ground by an optimum date to give it the best chance for next year's crop. Every load
I saw dumped at the elevator looked like mine, some better some worse. Every crop and every combine, if it has a good operator, will have to make some compromises at harvest. There is no such thing as a perfectly uniform crop, so the combine is set to do the best it can on the most of the crop. Just my humble opinion. Ben

Now those are machines I understand. Love your pictures especially the one with the rain showers in the distance. The only year my Dad needed custom cutters the ones he hired had Case combines. That was in 1956 or 57. His old pull type baldwin quit shortly after getting started. The model A Ford engine popped a valve and killed its self. That ole Baldwin made a lot of memories. Some not so good.

How did/do you till the straw?
Russel

we only cut here when the moisture is 13% or below, we do not dry grain or have drier bins here or at least I never have seen one,, as you see in my bin shots above I do get some of the "weed" seeds in the bin for sure if it is in the field,, and you are correct about say a under weight kernel, I do set it to blow those out as in small grains here they dock you for that any way, I only want the heavier ones to keep my test weight up as good as can be, I do not consider those a "loss" as I would not be paid for it anyway
cnt

that year the straw was so heavy I sold it to a local contractor who baled it with a big square baler 4x4x8 I think it was
cnt

those windrows were just right for the big square baler they were a bit big for the 330,,, very few years we get that much straw though so your 330 would be welcome for sure!!! I have a 330 wire tye I may start using soon
cnt

Yes, it is interesting to note the different challenges a combine operator faces in different ares.Here every bushel of corn combined is run through a drier. In years were the crop is slow to mature, some corn will be harvested at over 30 percent moisture just to get the crop off the field before it snows. At 60 cents per bushel drying charge, one soon can hit the hundred dollar per acre just to get the crop dried. It is interesting to see your harvest and that of rusty6 north of you and compare the differences. And it is good to see the older machines outperforming newer ones in quality of sample. Ben

We tried baling rye windrows about like that once. We had nothing that would go slow enough with the 268 NH baler we had, so we hooked it to our 1066, even though that was way overkill, and baled it in 1 LO, with the T/A back, and it was slooow. The rye straw was still pushing out the sides of the baler pick up.

(quoted from post at 17:44:40 10/16/16) It is interesting to see your harvest and that of rusty6 north of you and compare the differences. And it is good to see the older machines outperforming newer ones in quality of sample. Ben

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I'll put my two cents worth in to say I don't have many good memories of running Case machines. The 460 pull type was pretty easy to plug no matter how careful I drove. Cylinder/beater belt would slip soon as a load hit the cylinder.
I've rarely been happy with the job any combine of mine did. Either too much grain going out the back or else a mess of trash in the hopper. Conditions vary so much in the fields with heavy swaths , then light, so have to be satisfied with a compromise of settings. PLus with the chaff spreader on the pull type John Deere you can't see what grain is coming off the sieves as it is spun out over a wide area.

I could have come and changed a few things on your 460 that would have made a Huge difference in performance,, its just a matter of know what was wrong,,, sorry you did not have good luck with them,, or others as it sounds
cnt

(quoted from post at 03:09:54 10/17/16) I could have come and changed a few things on your 460 that would have made a Huge difference in performance,, its just a matter of know what was wrong,,, sorry you did not have good luck with them,, or others as it sounds
cnt

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I was a bit new to combining back then. I think knowing what I know now I might be able to make it work better. I know in the last year I used the 460 I discovered that frequent applications of belt dressing made a huge difference to capacity. They had a weak spring loaded tightener on the cylinder to beater drive and that was the weak link in the chain that stopped me every time.
I sold the 460 years ago but still have a partial parts machine.
Now this 930 tractor I do regret trading off. Great tractor!