![]() Since high-moisture sorghum packs tighter than high-moisture corn, air circulation is inhibited and heating problems may result. Remove all high-moisture grain before refilling. Holding High-Moisture Sorghum ahead of the Dryerīe extremely cautious when holding high-moisture grain sorghum ahead of the dryer. Set the upper sieve 1/2 to 2/3 open with the lower sieve 1/3 to 1/2 open. Inspect sieves often during operation to check for matting or clogging. Some manufacturers make straw walker covers with smaller holes that stop stems while allowing the grain to drop through. ![]() ![]() Sorghum stems often catch and choke the straw walkers, which may cause inconvenience and lost time. The chaffer extension can be closed to prevent this material from entering the tailings conveyor. Pieces of stalk returned to the cylinder in the tailings will be further ground into fines. As a result, grain sorghum stalks are more likely to be chopped up and carried to the grain tank. Grain sorghum stalks contain more moisture and are smaller than most corn stalks. See your combine instruction manual for details about adjustments. Clearance for rotors in rotary combines is usually greater. Concave clearance should be about 1/2 inch in front and about 3/16 inch at the rear. Some combine manufacturers recommend removing concave bars. The cylinder speed for sorghum should be less than that for wheat. Set your combine cylinder and concave to separate the seed from the head without over-threshing. You may need wide reel bats if plant height varies greatly. Set the reel height high enough to avoid catching under and throwing the grain heads on the ground. Set combine reel bat speed 15 to 25 percent faster than ground speed to minimize losses. In this case, you might want to take a partial swath to prevent overloading and still maintain field speed. Consequently, a 30-inch row is usually easier to harvest than a 40-inch row.Ĭombine header losses are usually less at a speed of 2.5 to 3 miles per hour however, this speed may exceed the capacity of the combine rack and shoe if the stand is dense. Narrow row spacing helps to discourage lodging due to adjacent plants supporting broken stalks. Raise the header high enough to harvest only the grain heads with a minimum of leaves and stalks. You can harvest sorghum using row crop or sickle bar headers. The optimum harvest moisture, about 20 percent, minimizes harvest losses and drying expense.īecause field drying is difficult and leads to excessive field losses from birds, wildlife and lodging, harvest early and dry your sorghum mechanically to maintain quality and minimize harvest losses. Attempts to harvest above 25 percent moisture will usually produce either unthreshed heads or cracked grain. Grain sorghum plants mature when the moisture in the grain drops to about 30 percent however, the seed are usually too soft for harvesting when moisture content exceeds 25 percent. ![]() With some modifications, you can use existing equipment for both sorghum and other grains. ![]() Holding High-Moisture Sorghum ahead of the DryerĬompared to other grains, grain sorghum has unique characteristics that must be understood before successfully harvesting, drying and storing it. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |