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peas / lentils

10K views 28 replies 13 participants last post by  Don Boles 
#1 ·
i have a new holland tr 97 with a 30' macdon rigid header.

i guess i should start off by saying this is my first year farming since i was a teenager, i've done custom combining and pre working since then but have had nothing to do with the inner workings of a farm. my father has been retired for about 10 years and with the price of oil i decided now was a good time to give it a shot.

i have 650 acres of large green lentils 300 acres of peas 300 acres of durum and 300 acres of durum seeded im starting to get ready for harvest but am having a hard time deciding whether i should purchase a new to me combine / header just a header or make do with the equipment i have. any opinions or input would be greatly apreciated.
 
#9 ·
just my 2 cents - sounds like you know the combine, which is good - go through it good!
But the header - make the big jump to a 36' FD70/75 is where I would put my money!!
Not to be dorky FF, all MD headers are 0 or 5 ending sizes.
This is production year 11 that way, ever since "D" series headers.
For even more useless trivia, the "D" series headers marked the end of offset header attaching, everything centered since.

breezy, I think a TR 97 is good in those crops but agree with FF a header update to an FD 70/75, they do make a 30' as well.
If it's really flat very careful setting of floatation on the 960 might buy you a year.
But it should be your first upgrade consideration.
 
#7 ·
@flatfoot my dad figures a 36' is too big for the combine... i don't really know but i am trying to keep costs down until i see some grain in the bin, on the other hand i do want to upgrade the combine and if i get the right header ill be ahead in that regard. in saying that i need to buy a 4wd tractor for next years seeding and cant be upgrading the entire farm in one year.
@bjtjjl the pease are on fairly flat land with few rocks, the lentils have quite a few coulees and water runs on one half and the other half is fairly flat with more rocks but everything has been rolled. i agree with you about making do with what i have i was thinking about putting a pea auger on the header and i tdoes have gauge wheels.
 
#8 ·
If your trying not to spend too much money. Keep what ya got and go find a good used auger flex
Also I know guys that have used a 20 ft sund pickup to do peas not sure how they work in lentils. But that might be a real economic option for ya
 
#10 ·
30' fits our operation rather well here too (heavy irrigated wheat straw), and I'd like to pick up a second 30'f FD70 some day, but you can't really find any headers new or used less than 35'. 40' seems the most common coming Saskatchewan. There's just very little market for headers under 35'. Ordering a brand new header is very expensive too, so we'll eventually move to 35' I think.

A wider header just means you have to slow the combine down a bit and be more careful, but it would probably work just fine.

I can't speak for lentils at all, but in peas, the 30' rigid macdon, if you set it right on the ground and have it float properly, should do a passable job. If you have an adjustable link arm to control the tip, tip the header forward a ways. We cut dry beans with a 25' macdon swather, and it does a decent job of scraping the ground and 5' isn't that much wider. The flex header does a much better job of course. They are sweet headers.
 
#13 ·
If the 30 ft macdon works as Good as a 30 ft Honey Bee , keep it
We cut large green lentils for years with our HB and it worked super. Put header in Float and cut at 6 mph not missing any!
Trouble came when we moved up to 36 ft and lodged lentils.
36 ft did not follow ground like the 30 ft

Have since upgraded Combine and have 40 ft flex
Neighbour still using my old 30 ft HB and cutting reds at speed !!
 
#20 ·
If the Macdon wont do it then get a HoneyBee 30' and save a lot of dollars till you know what you want. We were cutting 5.5 mph in peas last fall with our HB30 on 2388. Had it pushing just a little dirt when too wet out. The heavy duty Flexi fingers would have grabbed what ever was being missed. We have the lighter duty flexi fingers and were bending a few whenever the going was tough tilll we had them all off by the time peas were done. Did not really miss any pods without them so did not bother replacing as they bent. We were presetting the header height and using the automatic header height control to keep some header weight on the combine throat. Header floated well on the leaf springs of the adapter and springs of the gauge wheel struts.
 
#22 ·
Yup we used todo it right infant of the combine when we didn't have a header for one combine. Its awesome for the combine cause you can drive 6-7mph but the swaths want to roll away in wind. We never tried swathing when they were a bit green, always did a pre harvest burndown and then combine directly behind.
 
#24 ·
Lots of green lentils are still swathed in these parts. It's a dying practice. Supposedly the seeds hold their green colour better when swathed vs chemical dessication.

There's been a few farmers thrash most of their field of lentils in the ditch alongside the field...not fun.
 
#25 ·
That and the opposite thing, turned wet, had pea swaths turn into what could be best described as slime. It's the one and only time I tried swathing peas as as desiccation tool.
I imagine lentil swaths have little volume to them and may not be as likely to slime.

Also, even on what might look like flat ground I can cut lower with an 40' FD vs a 35' rigid table (which they all are) swather. No contest.:)
 
#26 ·
Lots of lentils cut with haybine with rollers blocked open in the past. Some guys rigged up double swath attachment and pulled swath roller. Lentils were grown long before flex headers were invented or straight cut was norm. Not saying it was the best but it worked sometimes.
Think quality in greens held up just as good but they only pay you for #2 or better anyways.
 
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