Harvest Planning: Swath Timing And Straight Cutting

Jul 28, 2016

Some of the earliest canola fields could be ready to swath in two weeks. For those growers, we provide this short primer on swath timing and straight combining.

Swath timing: Swathing at 60% seed colour change (SCC) on the main stem will mean higher yield and quality than swathing at 30% seed colour change on the main stem. SCC is considered any amount of yellow or brown on the seed. Waiting allows more seeds on side branches to fill out and contribute to yield. With fewer plants per square foot than, say, a decade ago, more yield comes from these side branches than ever before.

Straight combining: More and more canola growers are incorporating straight combining into their canola harvest programs, but it may not be suited to every field or every farmer’s risk approach.

Pre-harvest intervals: If you plan to swath in 14 days, that limits the insecticide and fungicides available for application — if these are deemed necessary. The Spray-to-Swath tool will show what products are available within a specific time frame.

Source : Albertacanola

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Border View Farms is a mid-sized family farm that sits on the Ohio-Michigan border. My name is Nathan. I make and edit all of the videos posted here. I farm with my dad, Mark and uncle, Phil. Our part-time employee, Brock, also helps with the filming. 1980 was our first year in Waldron where our main farm is now. Since then we have grown the operation from just a couple hundred acres to over 3,000. Watch my 500th video for a history of our farm I filmed with my dad.

I started making these videos in the fall of 2019 as a way to help show what I do on a daily basis as a farmer. Agriculture is different from any other industry and I believe the more people that are showing their small piece of agriculture, helps to build our story. We face unique challenges and stressful situations but have some of the most rewarding payoffs in the end. I get to spend everyday doing what I love, raising my kids on the farm, and trying to push our farm to be better every year. I hope that I can address questions or concerns that you might have about farms and agriculture.