Small farm flour mills and little combines.

rockymountain cub · Sep 13, 2008

hi all,

I am exploring the idea of growing an acre of grain to produce flour for my large young family and to sell to locals who want localy grown product.

I don't want to invest a huge amount of money i can get by with the equipment i have but i would require a combine and a grain(flour mill)

could any one suggets models of each from era's gone by that i could rebuild for my idea?

I do realize i can buy comercial flour mills or just by flour from the store but I am looking for the family experience and to show my 5 children where food comes from

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

rrlund · Sep 13, 2008

Yes,save yourself a fortune and a LOT of headaches and just take the kids to some "antique village" and show them. It's like somebody thinking that they can raise two beef steers on an acre,sell one and have the other one in the freezer,free. I can't even imagine what that flour is going to cost you per pound,even amortized over 20 years.

jwal10 · Sep 13, 2008

I don"t think he wants to make money. He just wants to have the experience and maybe other people will want some home grown flour and if so that will help also. I would get a pull type combine of your choice of color, or a small self propelled. AC allcrops were a good allaround combine and a lot of interest and parts out there still. For a mill there are and were hand crank models that could used that way or be converted to electric drive. A small burr mill would do that too. Good luck and I hope you will be able to show others the old ways....James

old · Sep 13, 2008

A lot will depend on what you have for a tractor as to what you can use as far as a combine. If you can find one of the old AC all crops that is not to far gone it would do for what you want and it doesn't take a big tractor to pull it. Can't help you on a mill but if you have any local tractor shows that is a good place to at least learn some things
Hobby farm

ben brown · Sep 13, 2008

from you name i would guess your in moutain area . you might look for a 12a jd with it own engine/ if you in the ks. co. area i would try to find a mill then during harvest time go to a elevatoer get some good quality wheat. first year or so then you have a good idea of how much wheat you would need to grow. but what evey you do go for it never hurts to teach the kid how to feed them selves .

Anonymous-0 · Sep 13, 2008

Depending on what the climate is like where you live an acre will produce anywhere from thirty to sixty bushels of wheat. That seems like a lot of flour for a family so you would have some to sell/trade with other people oooor...use some in a grain/pellet stove for some or all of your heating needs. If you already have a tractor and some small tillage equipment you need to find an AC Allcrop combine. That wouldn't be too much additional investment. You could mow the wheat and shock it I suppose and hand flail it if you want to really get in touch with your food supply.
Google "Mother Earth News" and search the articles for wheat growing and milling. I bet someone has done it.

sbin · Sep 13, 2008

A company named Retsel makes a great grain mill. Google "Retsel craigslist" once or twice a week until you find a deal.We bought a Mil-rite with stone and metal burrs.The mill can be operated by hand but since some of the earliest inventions of man were alternate powered grain mills I would suggest using electric.
To harvest a sickle is real cheap until a good deal on a small combine comes along.

2t2@IA · Sep 13, 2008

If there are any nearby antique farm shows, try to attend. There is a flour mill and sometimes combining at the show near here. Talk to the paople operating the machines and ask them. Hope this helps.

greenbeanman in Kansas · Sep 13, 2008

It is going to be tough to operate a combine for harvesting just one acre.

You'll hardly get the combine set to optimum grain retention and cleanliness before you would be done.

Once finished there would be the chore of cleaning up the combine before storage.

A plot combine would be ideal. How about developing a stripper head and simply pull the kernels off of the stalks? You might even be able to mount it on a tractor and push it through the crop for harvesting. Push and dump the grain it has stripped off and repeat. V groove in plywood?

Cumberland General Store (catalog) used to carry quite a number of flour mills of various sizes. The company has had some struggles the last few years and I don't know if they have ANY available now or not.

Lehman's Hardware http://www.lehmans.com has some hand models and used to carry larger units. They are a great bunch and would no doubt provide you knowledge about what is still available in larger than home units.

Below is link for another company.

Ebay is always a good place to look for anything if you can put up with their demands.

Best wishes.
Flour mills.

buickanddeere · Sep 13, 2008

Probably the same people who import grey market japanese tractors could help.
The farms are very small there. I"ve seen small walk behine rice combines about 3ft wide and 8 ft long with a bagger attachment for rice handling.

Paul from MI · Sep 13, 2008

I tried my steel burr mill on wheat. I got a good consistent grind the right consistentcy to cook for cereal, but not good enough for flour. The same burr mill does an excellent job on corn for corn meal. Maybe if your mill has actual stones it will work.
Hard to beat an old Allis 60 for combining small areas.
Paul

Small farm flour mills and little combines.

rockymountain cub

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rrlund

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jwal10

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old

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ben brown

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Anonymous-0

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sbin

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2t2@IA

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greenbeanman in Kansas

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buickanddeere

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Paul from MI

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