[AT] combining grain sorghum with an older combine

jtchall at nc.rr.com jtchall at nc.rr.com
Mon Sep 3 04:58:23 PDT 2012


Looking for a voice of experience here. We have a new market in my area for grain sorghum (milo). Up until now it was very rarely planted, most folks around here have never seen a field of it. My dad planted a little back in the 50’s. His problem was harvesting it—trying to get and keep the heads into the header. They were planting it in rows as wide as corn—which didn’t help. I’ve got mine in 15” rows. From what I have seen on you-tube videos and from talking with agronomists and other farmers,  you run no more of the plant in the machine than is necessary and also keep your ground speed up to help push the crop in.  Sounds simple but I don’t think my 35 year old combine always plays by the same rules as a modern machine. I had an older fellow from the southwest (Texas I think) tell me they used to bolt a piece of PVC pipe right behind the guards to keep the heads from rolling out.  Any other ideas concerning header loss or are there other concerns I need to address? One other thing I forgot to mention, we are going to be allowed to cut it pretty high in moisture---I think it is close to 20%. I think that is so we can get the jump on birds and deer—we can’t sell the bird-resistant varieties. How long can a crop that high in moisture sit in a truck/grain cart without spoiling?

John Hall



More information about the AT mailing list