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Dumb question or two??

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TimWafer

06-13-2006 11:52:58




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Doing some research on growing Canola to make Biodiesel out of. From what I've read they use a “swather” to cut it. Let it dry, then combine it. What exactly is a swather? I've never heard of one around here. (Central NY). Looks like a haybine but I assume there is no conditioning rollers/ crimpers in it?? Could I just cut it with a sickle bar cutter, let it dry and then combine it?
Also what should I look for in a combine for Canola? Anything special you need? Don’t know much about combines either.
I’m assuming I can grow it. It sounds very similar to the brassica I plant for deer food plots and that does real well. I just never tried harvesting any of it.

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paul

06-13-2006 21:50:46




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 Re: Dumb question or two?? in reply to TimWafer, 06-13-2006 11:52:58  
Soybeans should give you the same oil, more of it, & less issue harvesting if you want biodiesel & they grow in your area....

Swather is common in the northern states for oats, wheat, barley, etc. It cuts the crop, moves it to the middle on canvases, and makes a nice neat windrow with the straw on the bottom, the heads centered & on top. This is so the grain is protected, and can dry down.

Ain't nothing else going to treat your crop nice & gentle & give you a windrow that feeds easy 7 gentle into the combine (which will need a pickup, or dummy header with belts to pick up the windrow).

Cutting with the sickle bar is ok - tho you drive a lot of the crop into the damp dirty ground. Then you gotta rake it, which knocks a lot of seed off, plus leaves a ropey tumbled windrow with the seeds on the bottom/ sides. Then when you come with the combine it sucks in these ropey windrows & plugs, has wet sopts, dry seed knocks off.....

Get the picture? :)

I've run a swather & dummy head for a few decades here in MN, and in wet, weedy, bad conditions have done the sickle mower/ siderake as desperation in small spots. Been there, done that.

If you are serious, you will need a swather with draper (the canvases) or figure out the other methods of harvesting straight-cut with the combine.

--->Paul

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Drill

06-13-2006 16:28:13




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 Swather in canola in reply to TimWafer, 06-13-2006 11:52:58  
third party image



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Bob N.Y.

06-13-2006 15:48:30




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 Re: Dumb question or two?? in reply to TimWafer, 06-13-2006 11:52:58  
There is a crop consultant in Otsego County you need to talk to. I know his name but not his address. He writes a regular column for the "Country Folks" newspaper. He is a big proponent of canola and all brassicas.



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TimWafer

06-13-2006 17:29:00




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 Re: Dumb question or two?? in reply to Bob N.Y., 06-13-2006 15:48:30  
I get "Country Folks". I will look through it for him. Thanks Bob!



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TimWafer

06-13-2006 17:32:40




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 Re: Dumb question or two?? in reply to TimWafer, 06-13-2006 17:29:00  
OH! What is his name?



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Bob N.Y.

06-14-2006 05:40:02




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 Re: Dumb question or two?? in reply to TimWafer, 06-13-2006 17:32:40  
First name is Paris.



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Glen in TX

06-13-2006 15:29:32




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 Re: Dumb question or two?? in reply to TimWafer, 06-13-2006 11:52:58  
Check with your extension service or just keep trying several online searches. They are talking of canola here too for a biodiesel plant but no one really growing it much or knows much about it yet. I know they have grown it in northern states and Canada for years so trying searching those areas also. Good luck.



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mjbrown

06-13-2006 13:51:32




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 Re: Dumb question or two?? in reply to TimWafer, 06-13-2006 11:52:58  
Tim;
I live in Cayuga county CNY and canola was grown around here for a couple of years about ten years ago. It was direct combined in the fall. The seed is very fine and all the handling equipment has to be tight or you lose a lot. Farmers were advised to duct tape any and all tiny holes they could find in combines, wagons, trucks, augers. bins you name it. Agway in Geneva was the only buyer I think and shipping it out of state to be processed. The venture flopped after a couple years and now no one grows it. I remember having the Cornell pamphlet for canola practices but I didn't try it.

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Stan - Florida

06-13-2006 13:11:09




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 Re: Dumb question or two?? in reply to TimWafer, 06-13-2006 11:52:58  
Tim,

The term "swather" is very common in Canada and probably a lot of other places. Another term for it could be "windrower", I think.

Sorry I can't help on the real question, though.

Stan



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RAB

06-13-2006 12:52:54




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 Re: Dumb question or two?? in reply to TimWafer, 06-13-2006 11:52:58  
An alternative (in UK) is to spray off the greenery at a suitable time and combine after leaves have died/dried but the pods have not popped. Nearly all swathed and dried, I would think, these days. Used to use gramoxone, now use roundup?
Regards, RAB



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steve from mo - dangit!

06-13-2006 12:13:48




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 Dumb answers are still free. in reply to TimWafer, 06-13-2006 11:52:58  
You might try your university extension service. They"d probably have a handbook about canola growing, harvesting, etc.

Most any combine would handle canola, although you"d be better off looking at what people are using for canola and how they like it.

A swather would make a windrow out of the cut material. You could mow it and use a rake, but that"s another pass over the field and more grain loss.

A combine pickup is used to literally pick up the windrow of cur grain and feed it into the combine. They don"t work as well if the material is not in a wondrow.

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Mike (WA)

06-13-2006 12:09:41




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 Re: Dumb question or two?? in reply to TimWafer, 06-13-2006 11:52:58  
A swather is basically a mower set up like the header of a combine, that pulls the crop to the middle of the machine and leaves it in a swath behind. You have to cut canola before it is mature enough to harvest, because the seed pods shatter and your crop is gone, if you leave it long enough to direct cut with a combine. Only problem with using a sickle bar mower is the difficulty in picking it up with the combine later.

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