Top tips for staying afloat this harvest

With most of the grain harvest tied up around the country, approximately 10% of the total harvest is left, including beans and spring rape.

Conditions underfoot are becoming less favourable for today’s large combines and the fleet of transport equipment required to keep them cutting.

Many of the fields still to be cut are in the more marginal areas that were late to be sown due to their wet or tricky nature.

Though no damage may be seen externally, there may be unknown damage done

With this in mind, the Irish Farmers Journal will look at the best ways to get though these last days of harvest without any unnecessary loss of time or damage to machinery.

With modern combines putting massive weight on the front axle, the combination of the weight of machine, header and full grain tank can make it difficult to keep them afloat in the borderline conditions that may be common from here on.

There are a few different ways of dealing with this.

Wider wheels

Most combines now are running on sizeable front tyres.

Larger tyres are able to work at lower inflation pressures and, consequently, exert lower ground pressures.

If conditions are poor, it would be desirable to have tyres large enough to be able to operate at 1.0 bar pressure or less. In dry conditions, tyres big enough to work at 1.5 bar pressure or less would be desirable.

For example, on a standard five-walker machine a minimum tyre size of 650/75 R32 is required to work at the desired pressure.

Dual wheels

This option is the simplest and cheapest but comes with its own pitfalls.

If conditions are bad enough to require the fitting of dual wheels, then tyres of the same rolling diameter should be used so as to ensure equal pressure on the ground and also on the mechanics of the machine.

Dual wheels cannot be wider than the header on the combine and care needs to be taken when working in uneven fields or transporting between fields as the extra leverage given by the extra tyre could cause damage to the axle of the combine in extreme cases.

In the case of machines that are still in warranty, you should check with the manufacturers if duelling up is allowed under warranty conditions.

Both of these options improve your chances of staying afloat but should only be undertaken if really required.

If the unthinkable should happen and a machine starts to go down, the best plan of attack is to stop as soon as you notice a problem, raise the header off the ground and remove as much weight as possible from the machine by emptying the grain tank into a trailer if possible and trying to reverse out under the machine’s own power.

If this fails and towing is required, the chain or strap being used should be attached to the front axle if at all possible as pulling from the back axle can cause massive strain on the machine.

Speed kills

Though no damage may be seen externally, there may be unknown damage done.

No matter how the machine is being towed, slow and constant is the correct way to apply the tension to the towing link.

High speed will damage the combine and may also cause the chain or strap to break and become a danger to anyone in the area.

As much of a problem as combines are, tractors and trailers are at far greater risk of sinking in soft areas.

Take the opportunity

For this reason, all opportunities should be taken to use any hard areas in and around the field.

If the combine is coping with the conditions, it is better for it to travel to the trailers in a solid area, even if this means not fully loading the grain tank in order to get around safely and without doing any lasting damage.

The important part of harvesting in borderline conditions is to think and plan before doing anything. I know this is hard to do when the pressure is on but it may at least save some time or even help avoid a very large repair bill.

More important than any of that is that pulling a machine can be very dangerous with the weight and forces involved, so please be careful out there when tidying up this year’s harvest.

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