Get Ready for the Harvest
Don’t throw money away during the harvest with inefficient practices and sub-standard concaves. A harvester is only as good as the concave and the physical condition. The use of Estes XPR concaves helps produce wonderful results in many ways.
Ways the Estes Concaves Help the Farmer
The Estes XPR concaves stop grain damage and rotor loss. Every farmer knows that rotor loss is a huge amount and can be as much as 3-4.5 bushels per acre harvested. This is as much as 25k per thousand acres of harvest. Do you need that kind of loss? The use of Estes concaves stops this. Further, the clearance of the stock concave prevents the grain-on-steel meshing that damages the grain. By adjusting the feed, you can keep the thresher always full so you increase the amount of grain that you thresh. The other ways it helps are these:
● Use one concave for all crops.
● Increase in profits by changing ground speed.
● Three times more life.
● Perforated plates.
● Faster harvest.
● Cleaner grain tank.
Adjust the ground speed to improve harvesting efficiency. You will have to find the best speed through trial and error. Since you can use the Estes XPR concaves
for all crops, you don’t have to stop and change when you want to harvest a different crop. This helps you save time.
Factors Affecting the Performance of the Harvester
Many factors affect the performance of the harvester. Here is a look at the important ones:
- Moisture content.
- Feed rates.
- Rotor speed.
Moisture content affects many things including separating loss, un-threshed loss, and grain breakage aside from harvester performance. Higher moisture content will increase the friction between the grain and non-grain material. It also increases the adherence force between the grains and pods. One must choose the right time to harvest when the moisture is not high. The rotor speed also depends on the moisture content.
Higher rotor speeds increase threshing efficiency. This is due to better scouring during the high violence at increased speeds. Increasing the feed rate will decrease harvesting efficiency. The loss due to the centrifugal force in the threshing system decreases when the rotor speed gets increased.
Best Practices Before Harvesting
The first thing one has to do is to look over the machine and make a list of the things you must replace or repair. Remove the debris from both the inside and outside of the Estes XPR concaves. Clean the inside of the cab well and check for damage from rodents.
The cleaning system in some harvesters can cause considerable loss. Increased fan diameter and aggressive blade design have caused a more aggressive cleaning system. While washing, keep the water from splashing on the moving parts and bearings. Open the inspection plates and look at the insides. Change the oil and filters. Check and ensure the balance of the straw chopper. Tighten all the belts and check for cracks. Check elevator chains and feeder house chains.
Proper maintenance will help the farmer get ready for the harvest in time. This will prolong the life of the concaves and harvester.