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Cross-Conveyor Builds Big Windrows
Consolidation of rows of straw or hay in the field can make baling more efficient, but it can also lead to quality losses resulting from handling with a side-delivery rake.
Agricultural engineers at Auburn University have come up with a system that consolidates the rows without a side-delivery rake. They rigged u
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Cross-Conveyor Builds Big Windrows HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Miscellaneous 4-3-3 Consolidation of rows of straw or hay in the field can make baling more efficient, but it can also lead to quality losses resulting from handling with a side-delivery rake.
Agricultural engineers at Auburn University have come up with a system that consolidates the rows without a side-delivery rake. They rigged up a "cross conveyor" attachment for the combine that drops residue onto a conveyor belt and moves it sideways to be dumped on top of another windrow.
Using a short conveyor, they can place the crop residue onto the windrow from two or three rows away. Using a long conveyor, they can move the crop residue from four or five rows away. Thus, 10 rows can be consolidated into one.
The prototype conveyor was made for Auburn by the Lilliston Company, a major hay and tillage equipment manufacturer. The short conveyor runs on the tractor power take off, and the long one is belt-driven by the combine.
"Anybody could put one together in a small shop," says C. M. Stokes, the designer from Auburn University. "It just needs to fit the cutter head of the combine. The conveyor is geared up to run slightly faster than the ground speed of the combine, so the crop residue doesn't pile up."
The advantages of combining windrows are several. First, leaves are not lost because the rows don't need to be raked. Second, the heavy windrows are ideal for rolling into big bales. And third, the whole process saves energy.
Stokes feels that the system is adaptable for harvesting all kinds of hay and crop residues, though it was designed and tested in peanut hay.
Any combine to be used with the cross conveyor must be modified.
The rear hood needs to be raised to increase ground clearance, and the rear wheels need to be moved back to compensate for the added weight of the conveyor.
In spite of the modifications that are needed, Stokes is finding more and more interest in the cross conveyor because of the energy it will save.
For more details, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, C. M. Stokes, Dept. of Agricultural Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, Ala. 36830 (ph 205 826-4180.
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