“Bushels per hour is what excites me…but only if I they are happening all day!"
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People send me stuff:
Here are my thoughts on combine output after waking this morning to find a fascinating email comparing the output of a new model combine verses that of a well proven machine.
NB: This comparison was produced by a large reputable manufacturer, however I have removed the maker’s names so as not to be seen to be promoting a particular brand/color. These are both class 7 rated machines.
Location: Southern Nebraska Corn Field
Yield: 230 bu/ac field average
Moisture: 14.6% field average
Regardless of the comparative performance, both machines can produce a mountain of corn each hour so let’s use these numbers to figure out what has to be transported away from Combine A each hour.
230 bushels/ac x 2000 ac = 460,000 bushels ÷ 135.6 hrs = 3392 bushels harvested/hour. Now I invite you to multiply this by the number of hours each day that your crop is harvestable. Or better still, multiply it by the number of hours your combine is NOT harvesting each day because the trucks aren’t back and the cart is full. Then ask yourself how you can get more corn out of the field each day.
My reading of the blurb surrounding this trial tells me that, despite the deep pockets of this huge company they only harvested 100 acres on the day and simply extrapolated the rest of the numbers. They would have no trouble finding the carts and trucks to carry away the grain for the 6.8 hours this trial took. It would be a totally different exercise if they wanted to keep that combine rolling for every harvestable hour of every harvestable day until the crop was safely in the bin.
This trial was a sprint, but us folk in the real world are involved in a marathon!
Owners of our Walkabout Mother Bin will happily tell (read Customer Reviews) you they invariably win the harvest marathon over their neighbors because the inclusion of their Walkabout Mother Bin in their harvest chain keeps their combines rolling all day long.
In any case, next time you are sitting idle in the middle of your 230 bushel/ac corn field in your 3000+bushel/hr combine with a full tank of grain, think about how a Walkabout Mother Bin would have prevented this huge loss of daily productivity.
PS: Your combine cab is probably the most expensive waiting room in history.