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| As previously discussed, I think it depends where your located, the crops you grow and their yields/residue volumes.
For example, if your in Iowa and use conventional tillage a spreader will be a good option.
If your double-cropping no-till soybean into wheat stubble within the South Eastern US, a chopper is the best way to go, especially if you have high wheat yields and large straw volumes. The first guys that struggle with cleaning the rows and achieving good seed to soil contact are the guys with spreaders - because long lengths of residue are more difficult to clear - especially if they are perched on top of standing wheat stubble as the photo of a spreader (below) illustrates. NOT GOOD!
The spreader was on a JD STS combine and it did not break up much of the residue with the rotor. In fact, some lengths of straw were totally intact, making moving of the residue with a row cleaner a real challenge on 15" rows.
The critical part of BOTH SYSTEMS is uniform distribution all the way across the header width. Most combines don't achieve this, some are not even close.
For anyone that's interested, below is a link to a handout I produced on residue management. It discusses the importance of uniform distribution, choppers and chopping corn heads.
http://www.needhamag.com/conference_handouts/
Phil N
http://www.needhamag.com/
Edited by Phil N 12/20/2008 10:45
 (C125 in heavy residue.jpg)
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 C125 in heavy residue.jpg (96KB - 63 downloads)
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Spreader or Chopper
