Harvesting Grains
Once you have made it through the growing season the time has approached to harvest the grain from the field. Harvesting is fun and rewarding but can also be challenging. Learning about the proper equipment and how to operate will save you time and hopefully result in a bountiful harvest. Read the articles below for more information on harvesting grains!
Managing Cereal Grains for Forage
And, if you don’t want to get out the Big Red Combine to gather a small sample for testing, or a handful for tomorrow morning’s pancakes, there is the …
A Hand Held Combine!
By Heather Darby, UVM Extension Agronomist
I have to say that I am extremely excited about our latest equipment purchase! Most farmers love to talk shop and compare notes on new steel. Well, I like my equipment too except that it often comes in much smaller packages. Our latest find (thanks to Dorn Cox) was a hand held combine. Yes folks, a mini combine that runs off a 14 volt battery (similar to a power tool).
It is light weight and works just like a full size combine. The machine is called minibatt and is sold in the United States through a company called Reichardt electronic innovations (West Fargo, ND). It costs around $800 for the machine that comes equipped with concaves for wheat, barley, and oats. It also includes 2 sample cups, 2 rechargeable batteries, and a charger. Oh yeah, most importantly, it comes in a real snazzy metal carrying case and includes a minibatt hat to wear as you combine your crop!
Combining Wheat
The minibatt was designed for use in Europe. It is primarily used to take samples to determine moisture content prior to harvesting. It is cost saving for farmers as they no longer have to break out the combine to get these samples. I have used the minibatt primarily for our small scale field trials. However it has also come in handy to help farmer’s determine moisture content prior to harvesting their fields. Recently, we decided to accessorize the minibatt and ordered the canola-kit ($250).
Since our team was experimenting with canola I figured we must buy the canola-kit. It turns out the canola-kit has actually made the minibatt even more useful to our team. The canola-kit is a hopper that the minibatt can attach to. The plants are placed in the hooper and slowly lowered into the mouth of the minibatt for threshing. It is also perfect to thresh small amounts of wheat or most any grain out of the field.
Canola Kit Attached
The “minibatt” can thresh one pound of grain every 3-4 minutes. According to the manufacturer it can also be used to combine herb and flower seed. This tool might be very handy for a small scale grain grower or specialty seed producer.
