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Easy Way To Windrow Crop Residue
Wade Boehm lets his combine windrow crop residue. His Narrow Windrow Kit for Deere STS and S-Series combines drops crop residue in a 4-ft. wide strip behind the combine.
    “It saves labor and wear and tear on equipment, but most of all, it improves the quality of the residue being baled,” says Boehm. “I had a big issue with the quality of baled residue, whether I used a batwing mower or stalk shredder. Raking pulled in lower stalk material with no feed value, as well as root masses and mud.”
    Boehm recognized that what he wanted to bale was the shucks and leaves that came through the combine. “I’ve talked to people who just raise the chopper, but that leaves too wide a windrow,” he says.
    His solution was to fabricate 2 plates and attach them ahead of the stalk chopper. They direct the residue into a tight strip for baling. He even managed to use existing bolt holes for the plates.
    “I can raise the chopper, disconnect belts, and install the 2 plates in about 15 min.,” says Boehm.
    The same plates fit on 50, 60, and 70 STS and S-Series Deere combines. Boehm says getting them to work on both was his biggest challenge. The only real difference is the left plate on one series is the right on the other.
    “With the plates in place, the residue drops down for baling,” says Boehm. “On fields where I’ll be baling, I run the deck plates a little looser for more yield of shucks.”
    He finds the higher quality bales with high shuck and leaf content are ideal for replacing hay in cattle rations. “The bales just fall apart after cutting off net wrap or twine,” he says.
    Boehm used the plates himself for 3 years before deciding to patent them and put them up for sale. He sells them for $120 per set, plus shipping, with a lifetime replacement warranty.
    Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Boehm Ag Sales, 9345 N 51st Ave. W, Colfax, Iowa 50054 (ph 641 745-7756; www.boehmagsales.com).



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2020 - Volume #44, Issue #1