question on small plot small grain harvesting
 

I have read a number of times on the board, "I would like to grow some wheat or oats, but can not get any one to combine them for me", (harvest them for me).


the Question is, if you have small plot, or raise small plots of wheat, oats, and or other standing grass like plants, what do you use to harvest them?

and the second part of the question is if you had some thing to harvest the grain off the ripe stocks would one be interested in small plot grains?

and three, what would a machine that would pull behind a small tractor, or ATV be worth to one? if it was available?

my thought was some type of machine about 4 foot wide that would harvest the grain off the straw/stocks, (the grain would still have to separated or cleaned from the chaff), in a later step,

Is there a market for "MINI" farming machinery?

What I am thinking is for homestead type places that would be dealing with under 10 aces,

There use to be..

This company has the threshing end of it down for you if you use a grain binder, or probably if you use a header. http://www.kincaidseedresearch.com/threshers.html

They also carry a line of plot combines, none of which most of us can justify the cost for one. http://www.kincaidseedresearch.com/plotcombines.html

Do I think there is a need? Yes

Is there a market? Yes, but only if the product is affordable in the eyes of the buyer and I hope your thread will answer that end of it.

Such machines are available overseas. Here is but one.
Here is a nice looking little unit. Looks kind of like built on a two wheeled tractor.

http://www.ehow.com/how_2149098_harvest-wheat-hand.html

http://www.scythesupply.com/articles/wheatHarvest.htm

The problem is that a big huge largest combine has the very same needed parts as the little tiny 4 foot wide machine you need.

So it needs about as many shafts, about as many sprockets, chains, bearings, etc.

Let's say they can cut corners, and it only needs 1/2 as many of those parts. And because they are smaller, the parts only cost 1/2 as much.

That still makes a very expensive machine that you can't afford to buy.

The unfortunate scale of things.

--->Paul

go to the (allis chalmers ALL CROP) Forum

Did you read the thread about Allis Chalmers All Crops? It is currently on the front page.

Does anyone harvest by hand? Using a Scythe?

I will agree if one just try to miniaturize a standard combine, the cost would not be cost effective,

I think I have a possible Idea that could be built and sold for about the price of a towable engine powered mower, it would be three to four foot wide, and towable by a garden tractor or ATV, or similar,

Like I said it would not nessarly totally clean the seed but would thresh the seed off the standing stocks, and the seed would need most likely need further winnowing,
it would be more than a header as the grain would be thrashed but not cleaned, it would have very little straw in it if any.

If some think it is a workable or sellable Idea, I may do some R&D on a proto type machine. to test and debug it, I have a current possible working version, of the basic machine, but I know it may need more work to make it more effective, where do you think the price range on some thing like this would be sellable at? WHAT IS AFFORDABLE?

Yes. I know a couple of people who do it, not sure how big of plots they do. I plan on doing it in the future (just moved to a new house and in the process of digging up the yard for gardens next year, may or may not get enough dug to try grains).

They use this business for supplies and information.

http://www.scythesupply.com/

I want to try a scythe. Stihl make a unit for their kombi system theycall the power scythe. Sort of like a miniature hand held/operated sickle bar mower. I have the kombi string trimmer and am considering adding the power scythe option for hay and grain harvest.

I think there is a need, for something like a multi-grain unit that can cut and/or thresh small grain plots for homesteading purposes. Rambler's post was spot on, a miniaturized version of the larger combines isn't what I would be looking for--or even striving for if I were building such a unit. You will have to think outside the box while still considering the 'anatomy' of each kind of grain you are harvesting. A sickle bar and a reel seems inevitable, but after the grain is cut, it seems like you could have any number of possibilities to thresh and clean it. I would think vacuum to collect the heads, and air pressure to thresh them and clean them. That way would eliminate lots of moving parts. (Suck the grain from the header in the field, blow it through a stationary machine in the barn.) You get the grain out of the field in a hurry and then, as needed, or as a community project, you thresh it and get it ready for grinding and/or storage.

But you would have to consider that many kinds of dry beans would need a chopping unit attached to the header since they are vining varities.

The old combines, like the A-C all Crop, suited the purpose of the family farms for years. It's time to define new parameters and go from there. Before long, we'll all be making our bread at home.....

geo

If you were just using it for small grains and not trying to do corn or soybeans, a smaller version of a stripper head could work ok, augering it right into a wagon or small hopper. That would thresh 80-90% of the grain and you could get the rest out later in a seed cleaner or however you wanted.

http://www.shelbourne.com/3/products...tripper-header

For small scale 1/2 acre or so it wouldn't be important to mechanize everything.
something like this if I could see it better would be fine.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/whiteaf...n/photostream/
A scythe and stooking the bundles would work for getting the crop in.
But threshing by banging with a flail or beating the stuff on the inside of a wheelbarrow is a pain in the tuckus.
A simple threshing drum that would stand up well and thresh a good percentage of the grain is all I would be looking for.
Winnowing by dropping the stuff on a clean cloth in front of a fan or picking up a fanning mill somewhere would be all that is needed as well.

http://script-host.com/self/archives/oats.JPG

go for it
 

make one...I've got the plot for you to try it on...in Colorado!

We use a scythe. :)

I've seen this machine in action (but not used it myself) and it seems like a good tool for the job. I found it a bit spendy for the self-sufficient guy with a single acre of grain, but maybe you could form a buying co-op with a couple of neighbors and pass it around.

http://www.backtotheland.com/html/wheat_thrasher.html

WOW I've been looking for something like that for years. I gave up on the idea of small plots a couple of years ago.

Have you seen this? http://www.prairiehabitats.com/Images/PTSS_Brochure.pdf

Can't find the price of it though, and don't want to call them just to ask, when I can't buy one now anyhow... but if you are serious - maybe you could let us know?

Ive got a big book put out in the mid 70s that had every old thing needed for farming or gardening (it seemed). They had several of those in there by several oveseas manufactures. Theyve surely been around since the 60s if not older over there.. For near a grand, with taxes and shipping, Ill stick to my AC

Heck, for Id buy onna them for that money. Id find a junk AC ALL CROP, take off the gather mech, and the bin mech, build a trough to feed the bundles in, and just make a stationery thresher outa it. Probably a Cub Farmall could power it

A large combine will cost you $100,000 or more. If you can build one at half the price it would cost you $50,000. Unless you can build one for 3 or 4 thousand you will not have a market for them. Their are several foreign builders of combines that may have something used but it will cost you more to ship it here than it is worth. I think that Kobota has one that is used for test plots.

yes I have seen the grass stripper and that is what a lot of what I am thinking about, I took the one I made out to the water hole that still had some wheat standing in it, and tried my custom made grass stripper on the wheat, it did a good job, like said it would need further cleaning,
the wheat has been standing since July and not harvested,

I went out and tried the stripper on the water hole that did not get cut during wheat harvest, this is to day "before",

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...Picture065.jpg

this the stripper working

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...Picture068.jpg

after the stripper passed

http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...Picture073.jpg

this is what was in the box after wards, I think there would be way of lessing some of the chaff, as I had the screens over the boxes to catch it all
http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/n...Picture069.jpg



there are some Ideas I think that would improve it and cut the cost some, some would be changing the lift system and would like to make it dump(blow over) some of the light chaff.

note: the date formate is day, month, year, on the camera,

did it actually thresh any grain out?

i have thought, esp in the past when i used to bake a lot of bread, to do that..but I'm watching carbs so right now it isn't a necessary thing for me to do..however, if i had animals that I was required to have grains for them to eat i would probably consider it again...maybe allow them to eat it as standing grain rather than to combine it? don't know....the DNR plants rye fields here for the deer and the deer eat on the rye fields in the winter time..and probably other times. However, i supposed that harvesting enough for your animals is a good idea if you have the space, time and inclination ..but only really if it does save you enough money to make it worth it, or if you are concerned about the quality of the grains that you would otherwise have to purchase (chemicals, etcc)

cattle on ripe grain can be a waste. It's a lot more delicate than corn. Where I milk we ran the herd on a patch of barley. They stomped a lot of it in the ground. And it really didn't do anything to help the milk production.
Small grains are probably better off harvested ripe and used as part of a ration or grazed when green so that the cattle also receive the benefit of the plant.
I have read of guys that scythe and bundle their grains then feed the bundles. The cattle eat what they can of the grain and the rest is bedding.

I did a search for foot powered thresher after reading one of the post. Check out this video of a exercise bike powered thresher from an inventive college student:

http://www.hampshire.edu/news/media/pedal.htm

I also came across this document which has construction plans for a variety of people powered farming implements. The last set of plans is for a foot powered thresher (starts on pg 58)

http://www.ibiblio.org/london/agriculture/06-232.pdf

I planted a small plot (less than 1/10th acre) of wheat this year. Thinking of harvesting with a scythe then threshing by hand. Shouldn't be too work intensive seeing how small the plot is. Might consider building one of the foot powered threshers in the future if I expand the plot.

Older used combines are the cheapest equipment you can buy. Around here one could buy a 4 row machine ( able to pick 4 rows of corn) for under $2500. Check out farm sales in your area. That being said, maintaining or even owning a combine for 1,5 or even 20 acres or wheat is not cost efficient.
You live in Colorado, a lot of wheat grown there. Do some investigating, find a farmer who grows similar to what you want and buy a few bushel straight off the combine. He may think you are a bit weird, but hey your live in Colorado so he would be right (joke).

yes it did, it end up shattering very Little on the ground, all the heads and grain ended up in the box, yes it would need additional threshing or some what different stripper, but I think that could be easily addressed in some modifications that many make it easer to use. or separate stationary machine