Hi all. Today turned out to be a beautiful day with sun and slight breeze. Finally got to shell some corn. You have no idea how wierd that is to say being a complete green horn at growing grain corn. Several days........or weeks ago, I had the corn down to high 16% moisture. Then......it rained. And it rained some more. So now the moisture in some areas was 18 annahaff. I'll sample some that is sitting on the combine tomorrow and see what it says.

 Just to share a bit of my harvest with you since you all share yours with me, here's a few pics to go with my first ever experience "shelling corn".

 Using my super secret CIH20'10108r30 prototype/experimental header, I started in. Sure is sorta tough on those plastic fingers aint it.

 Kind of cool to see that. Never had corn in the unload auger before.

 Even had to get another truck to dump into. Dust actually flew today.

 Making progress and the sun just kept getting brighter. Life is grand.

 Once again, completely new sight to behold. I'll have to wait till I'm done, as I still have 7 acres to do, but it is a different variety and I have no room to keep it seperate, but just figger'n as close as I can from measurements, I think I'm getting about 170bpa even with all the loss from the header. I was planning on a complete failure and getting about 80bpa or so. This was a pleasant supprise.

 This is what I get in the tank.

 I set the camera on macro and took this pic of that same pile. Does this look ok?

 Empty rotor is about 420 and running about 380 loaded. Sometimes 340 or lower when the header collects a bunch on the very end and sends it through.

 This is about all the ol' paddle fan can do.

 It's a bit slow going taking in 3-4' of stalk and the leaves that go with it along with all the husks. But later as the day warmed, I was able to get 2.4 out of it.

 No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. That is a corn combine with R3s on it. And yes, they got some mud on them. First time for everything I guess. This combine has never seen mud in its life. A moist gopher hill is as close as its ever gotten before.

 Wud'ya think Oso? Should we try to grow this funny looking crop next year?

 Thanks to many here that have stated their settings for corn so that I could steal some ideas where to start. Ended up with about 420 rotor, 930 fan, about #4 concaves, vanes in medium, front helical concave blocked, second helical small wire open, and third concave swapped to a large wire I had sitting around. I figured I'd try the old Harvest services fixed air foil chaffer again after many years of sitting in the shed. Shoe set about 3/8".

 Thanks for looking and being patient as I learn these new crops.

 Any questions or comments welcome.

 Thanks again.

 Someday someone should invent a header for corn. Maybe use some sort of gathering belts and some sort of roller to catch the stalk and pull it downward. What do you think? might that work?.........

 ps: I only have 20 acres and I could'nt find a corn head for anything. So...........I made do with what I have.

Nice pics Don.

Now be honest, you picked all the broken kernels out before you macro'd the pic.

Can you explain more about the header loss?

 Yep, I'm just a few minutes SW of both Portand and Tigard. If you loked up US 26 on the Oregon map and went west from portland to exit 57, that would be my location. I can see all the signs around that exit from my place.

 Beans did'nt do very well. 27bpa. Some of that was shatter loss. I had to swathe them and I know it is bad enough to show combining corn with a platform here, so I figured I best not say much about the beans. You know what I mean.

 The stalks behind a platform header are quite sharp and dangerous, so a guy has to be carefull even where he stops to climb down the ladder. Had to do the best I could to avoid opposite travel of the direction the stalks were leaning, but so far, the tires are still holding air.

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 Jon, nope, did'nt have time to pick the broken kernels out. You can see one kernal that is chipped for sure. I think the fines settle as the pile grows dont they? Most of the broken kernels are from the small wire concave. If you look which side of the kernel is usually chipped, it is because it was forced through the wires on the small wire concave with the wide part of the kernel against the wires. IMO anyway after taking a pair of needlenose pliers and seeing if the kernels would fit.

 I was just able to take 8 30" rows with the 20' platform. I paid 6.50 an acre to have the corn topped so I would not have to take that much more through the machine. But sometimes an ear would hit the platform, then bounce outward just enough that the ear would hang over the syckle and get cut off, loosing the ear to the ground. Not many that way, but a few. Also the disappearing fingers on this type header would shell a few kernels off and spread them to the ground. I could see and hear them hit the windshield from time to time. Then of course, the reel would simply scrape down some of the ears that were still not dropped all the way and knock several kernels off. I hope to get out to the field today before the heavy rain and take some pics of the threshed cobs and loss.

 All in all though, I was having a great time harvesting corn for the first time ever.

Don,

That looks real nice.  Pretty good crop for that short of maturity corn.  You did a great job with combine settings, very nice sample in the tank.  I am sure it was a little different than running fesue and you probably couldn't load the truck quite as full!  I know your feeling on the beans.  We have a much harder time getting a good crop with them also.  We do look to have a decent bean crop this year, problem is getting it out of the field.  We should be done by now and only have about 10% out.  Most corn is still over 30%. 

Gunner

 Hi Jorn. Eero and crew were just here visiting with my neighbor. My neighbor then come over and we got to talking about all the cool equipment you folks get to use. My neighbor was wondering about equipment shows over in your area. I told him about "Agritechnica". Now he wants to plan a trip over there to see it.

 Ya, Oso seems fine with growing pretty much anything that uses machines with engines to grow it.

...at least I hope to. ! ?

 Sorry to hear so many folks in your area are having so much foul weather. It sounds like its either frozen imature crops or rain that wont quit. Hopefully it will clear soon and you can get things combined.

 Yes, it was a whole different experience "shelling" corn than run'n fescue. Beans were a whole experience as well. I hope to do it over again next year if possible. Both beans and corn. I seriously doubt the grass market will spring back that fast. People have to eat, but they dont have to plant or replant their lawns and of course if they cant afford a game of golf, the courses are'nt going to overseed so much.

 Take care and stay safe John. REally enjoyed seeing your pics and how much Nick has grown.

....have to wait and see if we can do a better job securing a market. I thought I had this sold before I ordered the seed. Same as the beans. But wow did I ever learn a lesson about that. I hope to have finnaly found someone to take it high moisture and should be shipping it out this week.

 If I do raise corn next I may have to upgrade or add to, the irrigation line up.

 Thanks for looking. I enjoy your pictures and commentary.

 Thanks for the kind words.

 I have to say, after watching the stuff feed, I think 20" corn rows would do fine with a platform as the space between the rows was allowing an occassional ear to leave the header. I had this corn topped when it was just starting to blacklayer. I wish the topper was able to cut lower, but there are limits to the amount of material that can fall behind the bar and before the chassis on the older toppers.

 Hi Christian. No problems at all cutting with a stock syckle, fine, top serrated section and standard combine guards. Only real issue is the plastic reel teeth breaking off.

 I have been readin your threads with interest. I hope to not miss any next spring should you decide to try your hand at corn. I know you were considering a few new ideas for your area. As long as it dont break the bank, there's no better way to learn the details than to just jump in and give it a go. Please keep us in the loop on what you decide.

 Also need to find a brochure or some more info on the Belarus 4x4 tractors. My neighbor that stopped by was heckling the Belarus brand till I told him of some of the features they had. Now he wants to know more about them.

 Thanks. I fully understand what you say about the cutter to auger area on the platform. Even my header was just getting the corn in.

 A corn topper is just a syckle bar on a high clearence, narrow tired machine. It cuts the tops off the stalks. Same as a detassler, but using a syckle bar instead of a pair of rolls that pull the top of the corn out of the stalk.

 Yep, grass seed market is not looking good right now.

 Oso, (he) loves anything with an engine. No-one can get near the forklift or the farm pickups without his permission.

 Thanks for looking.