How Much Canola Does Your Combine Throw Over?

Sep 24, 2015

Canola growers often lose 2 bu./ac. out the back of the combine, and losses can easily reach 5 bu./ac. if the combine is pushed beyond its threshing capacity.

Every combine will have a sweet spot where the settings and ground speed are just right for the conditions and losses are within the acceptable range of 0.5-1 bu./ac.

The only way to find that sweet spot is to first set the combine concave spacing, cylinder/rotor speed, fan speed, and sieve and chaffer spacing to match the canola harvesting conditions, then use a drop pan to measure the losses for these settings. If losses are too high for your liking, adjust these settings or reduce ground speed until losses are acceptable. Use the links below to find more on measuring losses.

The Harvest Loss app from the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association can make it easier to quantify the seed loss from harvesting operations by converting a seed loss measurement taken during harvest into a loss per acre. The user enters the amount of seed in a sampling area of known size, either in weight, volume, or kernel number. The cutting width and sieve width are entered to determine the concentration factor. The app uses bushel or seed weight to calculate losses. These can be expressed in total loss (lbs/acre or bu/acre), as a percentage of yield, or as a cost.

Source : AlbertaCanola

Video: A chain harrow is a game changer

Utilizing a rotational grazing method on our farmstead with our sheep helps to let the pasture/paddocks rest. We also just invested in a chain harrow to allow us to drag the paddocks our sheep just left to break up and spread their manure around, dethatch thicker grass areas, and to rough up bare dirt areas to all for a better seed to soil contact if we overseed that paddock. This was our first time really using the chain harrow besides initially testing it out. We are very impressed with the work it did and how and area that was majority dirt, could be roughed up before reseeding.

Did you know we also operate a small business on the homestead. We make homemade, handcrafted soaps, shampoo bars, hair and beard products in addition to offering our pasture raised pork, lamb, and 100% raw honey. You can find out more about our products and ingredients by visiting our website at www.mimiandpoppysplace.com. There you can shop our products and sign up for our monthly newsletter that highlights a soap or ingredient, gives monthly updates about the homestead, and also lists the markets, festivals, and events we’ll be attending that month.