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Colby, Kansas | There are a wide variety of experiences with regard to how the stubble remains after harvest. I don't know what were doing right/wrong, we've been using them since 2001 on our operation. We have fewer problems than many have reported with stubble into piles and/or laying down. Not saying it doesn't happen, but its not typically a huge problem for us. Part of that my be geography, were in the broken plains and the ground is terraced, maybe that makes a difference with more surface roughness as opposed to say the Scott City area, but I tend to believe our wind is as bad as it is 60-90 miles south on the table.
I've talked with many people about their stubble and how it remains, I can't say that consistent variety trends have emerged except for obviously varieties rated high in stem strength are a good choice. With several producers who have had the most severe problems with stubble detaching and piling up, the common theme was a very active history of manure application and/or an abundance of N in the system as evidenced by high proteins occurring with high yields. That would make sense as microbial activity enhanced by manure application and an abundance of N would speed decomposition. Certainly the year-to-year variability of winter weather makes a difference as well, i.e. warmer winters will keep the microbes more active breaking down residue. Some other discussions have involved the possible role of micro-nutrients and fungicides controlling root crown deterioration issues.
This is an area some research is needed, as improving the stand-ability of the stubble would help capitalize on the agronomic benefits of stripper headers more consistently. As dpilot mentioned, the more even distribution of residue after harvest can help planter performance as well as result in less variability in crop condition within a field due to emergence (soil temp) differences or nutrient issues from tie-up in the heavy "windrows" of residue that often occur.
In my experience, the machine and agronomic benefits from a stripper header are in general inverse to each other. When you have 70 bu wheat, the value of retaining every bit of residue is probably fairly minimal (distribution is still an issue), but in 70 bu wheat is where the machine capacity differences really shine. Conversely, in 5-35 bu wheat, there really isn't a machine capacity advantage to be gained, but thats when the agronomic benefits are huge because at those yields levels we need to keep every piece of straw we can for as long as we can.
The lack of adoption in the Panhandles continues to be a head scratcher for me. In my home area the vast majority of wheat acres are harvested via stripper.
There are some very experienced guys with stripper headers here on NAT, I'd continue to pick peoples brains as you consider going that route.
Lucas
EDIT: A very dry winter, probably partially responsible to how well our stubble is standing. Corn has since burned up from these pictures.
Edited by LHaag 7/14/2013 12:28
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Custom harvesters with stripper header...
