In a box of "stuff" from a garage sale I found a LifeLike blister pack of corn heads labled HO. Those things are huge. Are they really HO? Are the real things that big? WOW
I was asking about corn heads-a farm tool, the ones that attach to a tractor.
leewal I was asking about corn heads-a farm tool, the ones that attach to a tractor.
First; a corn head would go on a combine or chopper, not a tractor.
A'' 4 row wide'', would be 10/12 ft wide depending on style and make.
Then you got 6,8 and 12 row units and some bigger then that
I wonder what they are designed to attach to.
https://www.ebay.ca/i/231043191606
EDIT: I guess in rereading it I found out. They are flat car loads, probably not intended to actually attach to anything specific.
Those are models of cornheads, the thing you attach to the front of a Combine to harvest corn. I don't know if the LL model is to scale or not. They do look kinda big. Corn, wheat, other crops have different heads. Combines used to cost $150K, and a corn head about 50K, but I'm sure the price has gone up since the last time I've priced one. Farming is pretty capital intensive for a family.
Corn
Wheat
Bean Head
- Douglas
The combines have several very bright lights for night harvesting.
It's very impressive to drive at night through the state and see the huge monsters slowly moving and all lit up. If bad weather is coming, the farmers and families will work 24 hours a day during harvest to get the crop in.
York1 John
leewal Those things are huge. Are they really HO?
Yes, they are HO, but maybe not the most realistic model of a corn head.
For a really bizarre piece of agricultural equipment... The Austoft Model 770 Sugar Cane Harvester. Now that would be a great flat car load.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
UNCLEBUTCHFirst; a corn head would go on a combine or chopper, not a tractor.
These days, yes, not on a tractor.
Back in the day, though, two-row picker heads were quite common on tractors. The tractor would pull a wagon into which the whole ears of corn would be flung. This link takes you to a pic of a particularly homely version of one of these.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Two_row_corn_picker.jpg
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Mike, you type faster than I can on my iPad. I'll have to dig up a link to a "proper" corn picker in JD green - none of that Allis Chalmers orange.
The very first corn heads/pickers were actually made to attach to the side of a John Deer tractor. There were single and double row models. My wife's Grandfather was John Deere's Chief Engineer and held the patents for the first corn picker and combine, etc. during the 1930s and 40s.
Needless to say all of the equipment on our farm is John Deere Green - four tractors, gator, seed drill; bush hogs, augers: etc.
Ray
mlehman UNCLEBUTCH First; a corn head would go on a combine or chopper, not a tractor. These days, yes, not on a tractor. Back in the day, though, two-row picker heads were quite common on tractors. The tractor would pull a wagon into which the whole ears of corn would be flung. This link takes you to a pic of a particularly homely version of one of these. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Two_row_corn_picker.jpg
UNCLEBUTCH First; a corn head would go on a combine or chopper, not a tractor.
We (and by we I mean the family farm my grandparents owned) had a small, towed corn picker. Two rows maybe. I'm not sure if I ever saw it in action. I know it got used, because someone was filling up the corn crib and it sure wasn't getting done by hand.
It was the only John Deere piece on an otherwise International Harvester farm.
Thanks to all who replied. After seeing the photo of the harvester with the corn heads attached, and the size of them, I'm sure the LifeLike models are HO. Heck, they could even be "N" scale. The two I got fit perfectly in a 40' HO gon. They would probably look better in John Deere green than the bright shiny red they are molded in. With cost of equipment, I don't know how farmers do it.
leewalWith cost of equipment, I don't know how farmers do it.
I cannot speak for the corn belt, but we grow corn in Florida too.
Down here, the harvesting is not done by the farmer, an outside company comes in and harvests the crop. I know this is also common for cotton harvesting in Georgia.
SeeYou190Down here, the harvesting is not done by the farmer, an outside company comes in and harvests the crop. I know this is also common for cotton harvesting in Georgia.
Here, most farmers have their own combines for corn, but some custom harvesters pick for companies.
Our state does not grow much wheat. But the wheat harvesters are like what you say. Custom harvesters move through here, starting in Canada and moving through to Texas.
A family in my school ran a custom harvesting company, and the older kids started school later in the year when the harvesting was finished.
A new John Deere combine costs anywhere from $350,00 to $500,000.
Used tractor mounted corn pickers are still available. I would guess the market for these would be collectors or small specialty farm operations. I did see a youtube video of a new, foriegn manufactured picker in operation. They may still be popular in other parts of the world.
I ran across an article from the late 1970s of Vermeer Corporation's 4 and 6 row tractor mounted pickers. They could be mounted on a variety of tractors. A check of their website no longer shows them in production.
I think most grain farming operations in Iowa do their own harvesting. Not too much of contract harvesting done here at this time. There have been articles about some operations starting to use such contractors, so this may change. I get the impression that many wheat farmers use contract harvesting.
The John Deere plant in Ankeny IA makes cotton pickers. They used to ship out by rail, but no longer do. They no longer use rail at all for anything and the tracks have been removed.
Jeff
SeeYou190 leewal With cost of equipment, I don't know how farmers do it. I cannot speak for the corn belt, but we grow corn in Florida too. Down here, the harvesting is not done by the farmer, an outside company comes in and harvests the crop. I know this is also common for cotton harvesting in Georgia. -Kevin
leewal With cost of equipment, I don't know how farmers do it.
I think its a function of how much open space there is and how level the ground is. Southern Georgia and Florida are pretty flat and the plots are bigger and easier to get to.
Northwest Indiana is very flat. Some serious grain farming up there. The southern part is more hilly, and the family farms are smaller or the tillable land that's flat enough are smaller and spaced out. The farmers in those areas have to own their own equipment, and a lot of the grain farming is used to support hog or poultry feed, where the livestock brings in more money and the grain farming takes a back seat. The soil is more southern-clay based too making grain bushel-per-acre yields lower.
Up North, grain farming is more serious with better soils for greater crop yields, more like Illinois and Iowa, so they devote more land to pure grain farming, and those harvest companies can be efficient with the bigger swaths of open land. Farm after farm after farm, like an assemly line.
Just a little farming trivia from an economic standpoint.....
Not intending to nitpick, and I'm sure no one really cares But;
A corn head and a corn picker are completly different machines.
A corn ''picker'' is designed for one task, picking ear corn, has no use beyond that.
A ''head'' be that corn,wheat,or bean [more then a few styles] is an attachment for a combine. By changing the head and a few other adjustments, the same combine can harvest almost every crop
I work for harvest co. up here in WI. We service both mid size and large farms. The most comon reason is time and labor.
Hay and corn silage must be put up in a short time frame to ensure qualty.
We can harvest 500A. of hay per day. If the farmer was to do it, would take weeks. They don't have time,labor, and rather not invest in equipment/upkeep
The ''big'' guys only own the land the buildings are on. The crops are growen by costom growers,they just own the land,and hire us to plant and harvest, that changes every year.
We have hauled crops as far as 80mi
Most large dairy farms use costom harvesting, time,labor and investment.
Not nit-picking, but a corn picker is one form or a subset of the larger class of "heads."
The "head" refers to the head end of the machine. Whether tractor or combine-mounted, they both do the same thing: grab the stalk, then carrying the whole plant above where it's cut just above ground level back into the machinery. It's all pretty much the same to that point. A picker simply separates the corn ear whole and carries it into the trailing wagon. A combine strips the ear, husks the corn off the cob, spits out the detritus, and sends the now loose grains of corn into a bin until it's unloaded.
UNCLEBUTCH I work for harvest co. up here in WI. We service both mid size and large farms. The most comon reason is time and labor. Hay and corn silage must be put up in a short time frame to ensure qualty. We can harvest 500A. of hay per day. If the farmer was to do it, would take weeks. They don't have time,labor, and rather not invest in equipment/upkeep The ''big'' guys only own the land the buildings are on. The crops are growen by costom growers,they just own the land,and hire us to plant and harvest, that changes every year. We have hauled crops as far as 80mi Most large dairy farms use costom harvesting, time,labor and investment.
That's interesting.
As far as time and windows for harvesting, some might not know that when grain is processed or stored it needs to be dry. Too much moisture can cause mold and rot of the entire contents of the elevator, so the grain elevator dings the farmer on price if the moisture content of the grain is too high. The elevator has to use the dryer to lower the moisture content.
Hey, since this is a model railroading forum and not John Deere Monthly, here is a pic of Walthers model of a grain dryer:
The farmer is caught in a pinch because the cheapest way to dry grain is to leave it in the field, but then he runs the risk of the Autumn weather turning too cold so the ground doesn't dry out, then he can't get the equipment into the fields. I assume since the growing season in WI is shorter, that window for harvest might be narrower so it makes even more sense to hire a custom harvest company as to get the crops out of the field quickly before the weather turns.
With the pics of the combines above, the first pic is of the big-dog Deere that has four front drive wheels for getting onto wetter fields. The middle pic has only two drive wheels.
Please correct me if I'm wrong. You're the expert.
Doughless You're the expert.
Not hardy,
But your right about timeing, grain, mostly corn needs to be at a certain moisture to store [ 13/14%] The elv. will dry it and charge the grower per point dryed. I have had loads refused for being too wet. The grain won't flow tru thire system, and the extra timme spent to dry it down takes so long that it bogs down the whole system,
To dry in the field is best but depends on weather, and if you got 1000s of acres, how long can you waite. Winter will do a nasty job on corn or beans left standing too long.
Once hay reaches its prime feed value it needs to be harvested,or it loses value fast. Up here they cut every 21 days.
Corn silage, too wet andthe pile/bag will ''run''. A green pea soup like mess that will fermate. Animals can get drunk and die.
If too dry, it won't pack ,leaving air pockets and then mold.
The duals are for floatation, wet,spongy or really sandy soil,don't help all that much in mud.
Good help is getting harder to find. The farmer found his time was better spent taking care of his animals rather then in the fields.
I hated the smell of silage and just reading the word makes my stomach turn.
UNCLEBUTCH Good help is getting harder to find. The farmer found his time was better spent taking care of his animals rather then in the fields.
Dairy farming is a special thing. We had a few in Indiana. I'm in the financial services industry and back in my earlier days in Indiana I used to spend time dealing with farms from the lending aspect. Generally speaking, it was really difficult for a farmer to make a secure living strictly growing crops. Whether they owned the ground or cash rented to someone who did, and whether they owned the equipment or hired someone who did, they had to pay for the capital investment one way or the other. Crops have thin margins to begin with and they would get hammered if commodity prices moved against them during the long growing season, especially if they didn't lock in a forward contract. As a result, most stable farm operations needed to raise some level of livestock. In indiana, that was either hogs or turkeys. Beef is more in the West and chickens in the South.
My previous layout had a free lanced turkey pen bedding manufacturer. Brought in boxcars of recycled paper to mix with tank cars of kaolin clay to form a product to absorb the nasty droppings turkeys leave.
With cost of equipment, I don't know how farmers do it.
They say if you want to make a million dollars farming, you need to start with two million.
That's why I still work full time as a civil/environmental/mining engineer while my wife runs the farm. I help with chores early in the morning and after work - not much hobby time left. Just went through lambing and shearing with our Rambouillet sheep.
We buy most of our equipment used, and can find some pretty good deals. Many 15 year old tractors are as good as new one if they were maintained properly.
One of my all-time favorite films. It just has that certain appeal:
You can see several references to how the moisture plays an important role in the handling of the grain, from talk about the rain to measuring the moisture content of the delivered grain.
Try to watch it on a screen bigger than a pocket calculator. Lots of neat details to see here.
Cheers, Ed
gmpullman One of my all-time favorite films. It just has that certain appeal: You can see several references to how the moisture plays an important role in the handling of the grain, from talk about the rain to measuring the moisture content of the delivered grain. Try to watch it on a screen bigger than a pocket calculator. Lots of neat details to see here. Cheers, Ed
Back in the 70s growing up in NE, I'd hear about grain elevator explosions probably once a year, and they usually involved fatalities. That fine grain dust can be very combustible. I haven't heard of that many explosions lately (although I don't live in grain farming country anymore) so I assume most elevators have been fitted with properly sized dust collection systems.
Hey, here are pics of Walthers dust collectors that could be used for grain elevators......
Do you have number for the "blue" one. Can't find it under dust collectos on Walthers site.
leewalDo you have number for the "blue" one.
Looks like it is part of this kit.
I don't know if it is available as a separate kit. Sometimes Walthers will do that at a later date.
** Here it is:
https://www.walthers.com/cornerstone-modern-industrial-park-particulate-dust-cyclone
— and the organic vapor filter:
https://www.walthers.com/cornerstone-modern-industrial-park-organic-vapor-air-cleaner-kit
Good Luck, Ed
DoughlessBack in the 70s growing up in NE, I'd hear about grain elevator explosions probably once a year, and they usually involved fatalities. That fine grain dust can be very combustible. I haven't heard of that many explosions lately
They still happen, but very infrequently. Much more common is for a farmer or worker to fall into moving grain and suffocate.
Another problem is getting caught in an auger. Several years ago a local high school boy was killed in a corn bin by a sweep auger.
Looking at the picture of the cornhead attached to the Deere combine I suspect that the LifeLike product is to scale. They are huge as prototypes & models.
"My previous layout had a free lanced turkey pen bedding manufacturer. Brought in boxcars of recycled paper to mix with tank cars of kaolin clay to form a product to absorb the nasty droppings turkeys leave."