EC MN - Hour North of 'The Cities' | What do you have for labor? Solo, 2-3 guys, 10+? If you are in the 2-3 guys for labor make sure you size your combine to something NAT approved ; )
What type of yield or bushels in a day are you expecting to take off? 15,000 bushels per day? 20,000 bushels per day?
How far are you hauling? 2 miles? 10 miles? 20 miles? The further away you get the more attractive a semi will be.
What are you looking to spend either as a total or $/Ac? Cheap iron or more modern? Can get some cheap capacity out of less popular colors, but should also keep service in mind.
If you have small fields it will be difficult to unload on the go but can be done. If you can unload on the go it will bump up your acres per hour 25-50%, but you need that stuff hauled away, emptied quickly and returned back to do it again.
A folding 12R30 head would be great but isn't necessary if you can get to many small fields without removing the head...will probably want it off on the road though. Could have our head off the combine and road ready in the 5 minute range with 2 guys. Multi-point hookups make things work slick.
Probably going to want a combine that will be able to push 4K bushel an hour when you are in the good going. A wide head is nice for smaller fields...didn't believe it until we tried it.
Grain cart size would be nice to be as big or bigger than what you plan on dumping into to haul to storage. If a semi is the way you are going then I'd look at the 1000-1500 bu carts. We didn't even use our cart this fall...unload on the go right into the trucks...hope it is dry again next year to do the same, but I think our luck is running out on good falls.
Here's your line-up...
Class 7-8 Combine (3000-4000 bu/hr) Class 9 should hopefully get you into the 5000 bu/hr range *BU/HR DOES NOT DICTATE CLASS SIZE*
12R30 or 16R30 head...if 16R30 then you might want to look at the Class 9 if your yields are closer to 200 bu than 150 bu
300 HP tractor with a 1000-1500 bushel cart
Trucks...
3 Semis or 5 Straight trucks. Semis would be nice if you are always able to pull into the field and back out again, but with small fields that could get tricky.
Labor...
Probably going to be in the 5 person range...if you have less then add more trucks
Info I gave is worth what you paid for it...
Lance |
100 acres of corn per day
