Swathing grain

[Rob30]

Has anyone swathed grain with a sickle mower or a haybine. I don't know much about the proccess, but I am planning to grow some buck wheat next year. I want to swath it and let it cure for a few days before comining it.

[FarmboyBill]

First of all do u have a combine with a pickup attachment, cause if you dont, a regular combine grainhead with sickle and bat reel wont work. I would imagine you would cut it, wait a day OR 2 and then rake it, Wait another day or two and combine it. HERE, in Okieland, If we felt the need to do that, It would be mow, rake, combine nearly as fast as possible. I can understand it being alot more moisture in the grain when cut, hince the swathing. They used to make swathers for the north, that had a bat reel hooked to a sickle like a combine head, but it was pulled from one side, and the grain deposited on one side via canvis. U might want to look for one of those up there.

[wwubben]

There are attachments that connect to the sickle bar that leave the grain in windrows.One type moves it to the center and the other moves it to one side.The center one works better because it does not rope the windrow.I have not seen one of these on a sale for a long time though.It will work. Good luck.An old windrower that conveys with canvas would also work.

[wwubben]

I would try to avoid using a side rake.You lose so much grain.You can let the grain get real ripe and cut it with the sickle bar on the combine.

[sammyd]

a haybine will thrash all the seeds off your stuff unless you mess around and open up the rolls, then it will only thresh a lot of the seeds......, raking it will thrash quite a bit off unless you cut fairly green and rake right after.

[Rob30]

Thanks
I have grown oats and barley before, and a few field peas. However they did not have time to dry in the field. Our season is relatively short compared to you southerners. We strait combined it in late September. It was still fairly wet. We only have grown small amounts so we dried it in the mow of the barn. We are planning to grow much more in the next few years. We have access to between 2-300 acres of land that has not been worked in decades. People have cut hay off them, but they are mostly weeds now. I don't plan on doing it all at once, but 20-30 acres a year would be good. The problem is I don't have a mow big enough to spread and dry that much grain. Has anyone made a grain drier? I think that is my only other option.

[FarmboyBill]

My dad had one of those windrowers that hooked onto a horse mower. It had ribbons of flat stock steel around 1in wide, and 1/4in thick. They were set around 3 or 4in apart, and would bow up each one a little further way from the mower. His is the only one ive ever seen, Dont know if anybody could bend the steel right or not. Guess a guy could take a log say around 18in dia or better, and take the bark off of it. Then, heat the strips individully so that each one is around2 or 3 inches further back from the one next to it. I never saw it set up, So I dont know if it conveyed the grain clear across the strips and out the outer shoe end of the strips, or if they started out short , say 4ft back from the sickle, and kept getting longer from each end and desposited the grain in the middle. U would have to drill a hole at the straight end of each one, and bolt 2 strips of metal above the strips and below and below, they being wide enough to both bolt onto the streips, and also onto the bar of the mower. Think that might be a mess if you raised it, and then tried to lower it again. The Bow end was up in the air around 2 or 3ft.

[rambler]

Swathers are a dime a dozen, buy one used.

A sickle mower & siderake will leave 25-50% of your grain thrashed on the ground; the windrow will be a rop that your combine doesn't like; the grain heads will not be on top of the swath to dry out, but jumbled all over & not dry.

A hay conditioner has crimping rolls that squash the stems. These rolls will again trash too much grain out. And the windrow will not have the proper setup of the grainheads on top in the middle so they dry out; while the stem is fanned out below to support the grain heads on top. Grain won't dry as well, feed into the combine as well.

Small old grain driers are a dime a dozen in these parts. However they are very spendy to set up and run. You do not want to go this option if you can avoid it. You will avoid it when you figure out what it will cost you. Likely they are not easy to find if they don't grow corn in your area - only crop that it _really_ pays to have a drier setup, tho yes wheat or beans are sometimes run through a drier as well in rare years.

Should be able to find a good used swather for under $1000. By far a very good investment for 20 or more acres of small grains. You'll get your money back easy.

Some have removable crimper rolls, so can cut hay with them as well.

If you had 3-5 acres, you can mess around with a haybine and open the rolls wide and you're only doing it for a hobby so who cares what you lose; if you are over 10 acres this is a real deal and you need the real tools, don't waste time & money on the 'cheap way' to try to get by.

Get a swather. They have canvases in them to gently move the grain into a proper swath that will dry out, sun the heads, even dry out when rained on. Any of the 'get by' options you mention are totally wrong on this windrow formation, will be bad news.

--->Paul

[rambler]

Originally Posted by FarmBoyBill

My dad had one of those windrowers that hooked onto a horse mower. It had ribbons of flat stock steel around 1in wide, and 1/4in thick. They were set around 3 or 4in apart, and would bow up each one a little further way from the mower. His is the only one ive ever seen, Dont know if anybody could bend the steel right or not.

Seen a few at auctions; they work sorta ok in a dry climate like yours, they were thrown in the grove in a humid climate after the first year of trying in a humid area like mine. Worthless 'here'. The few I saw were in the grove junk iron pile....

Again, would make a messed up windrow which is ok - maybe prefered - for hay, but terrible idea for grains, where you want the heads uniformly on top in the middle, so it dries, so heads get sun, so the windrow feeds easily and without disturbance into the combine.

Doesn't pay to plant a crop if you plan to waste 1/2 of it during harvest with the wrong tools!

--->Paul

[FarmboyBill]

Think this man knows what hes talking bout

[rambler]

In deperate times (heavy rains on clay soils...) you try what you can to harvest a crop. Been down the sickle mower/ siderake path a few times on a couple acres of oats or wheat.

The result is always interesting and far less than one hopes for, but one hates to leave it be, or let the weeds continute to grow through....

--->Paul

[greengrow]

Go with the swather as Rambler says. You need your swath of grain to dry and feed into the combine. Even if you can dry a swath that is jumbled it will not feed into the combine properly and you will be not having much fun.

Match your swather size to your combine. Too wide a swather then there is too much crop in the swath for you combine and more issues as first gear could be too fast.

[farminghandyman]

if you buy a swather for grain use you want a canvas table, if you want it for feed you want the auger type head,

two different machines for two different products, even tho they look the same and do about the same type of job,

on the sickle mower, if you rake it as soon a you cut it you should be OK depending on how dry it is all ready, but have a second tractor or if you can rig it pull the rake behind the mower, I do not think you would thrash that much grain out that way,