Tillage farmers are being advised to ensure that the chains in their combines’ grain elevators and augers are at the correct tension prior to the harvest season getting underway.
“Even relatively new machines should be checked out in this regard,” confirmed Teagasc Oak Park-based Brendan Burke.
“In most instances, it’s simply a case of removing a link in a chain in order to tighten it. But it’s better doing this now rather than have to stop combining in mid-harvest so as to sort out problems of this nature.
Harvest season
Both Burke and his Teagasc colleague, Dermot Forristal are highlighting the impact on crop quality of every step in the combining process.
“It’s important to get the balance between combine throughput and damaging the physical structure of grain correct,” Forristal said.
“Each crop will be different. Some will prove harder, or easier, than others when it comes to removing awns. Skinning of grains is another critically important issue, particularly when it comes to harvesting crops of malting barley.
“In circumstances where crops could be more predisposed to skinning, it’s a case of threshing more gently. Augers and elevators handling clean grain must also be in good condition as well,” he added.
Burke confirmed that winter barley crops harvested at Oak Park over the past few days have been more easily threshed than was the case in 2021.
“The weather has made all the difference,” he commented.
“Harvest conditions improved this week. This meant that crops were quite easily combined with very little awns on them. It was very easy to get a clean sample of barley.
“Crops were completely ripe. And we did not have to do anything extra to get a good, clean sample.”
Calibration
Dermot Forristal indicated that the grain loss monitors on most modern combines also need calibrated for Irish conditions.
He said: “The factory settings should be regarded as a baseline. They can be used to flag up situations of change.
“But the combine operator should also know what this means in terms of actual grain loss.
“Modern grain monitors are linked to forward speed and throughput. But some of the older versions were not. So a bit of calibration, where these grain loss monitors are concerned is no harm at all,” he added.
“The bottom line is the actual loss of grain per unit area harvested, irrespective of the combine’s forward speed.”