Heavy Equipment Combines
What farmers once had to do by hand has evolved to include heavy equipment combines. Instead of spending hours working the fields and hiring farmhands to gather all the crops at the right moment, farmers can use combines. Harvesters are used on small and large farms to gather crops quickly at a much faster pace.
What is a heavy equipment combine?A heavy-duty combine is used by farmers to collect their bounty. Specifically, a combine harvester is able to cut and gather quickly, which saves hours of manual labor. It's a versatile machine that is able to perform reaping, winnowing, and threshing at the same time. A heavy-duty combine only collects the crop and leaves any remaining items, such as straw, on the ground. The straw can later be baled as a second crop or used in a farmer's barns.
Are heavy machine combines all manufactured by the same company?Heavy machine combines offer a variety of the same functions, but not all machines are created by the same company. The same manufacturers that make the majority of farming tools make combines, including:
- John Deere
- New Holland
- CAT
- Case IH
Farmers can choose to use a combine harvester to collect a variety of grain and seed crops or focus on one. Plants that can be harvested with a combine include:
- Flax
- Oat, rye, barley and wheat
- Corn
- Soybeans
- Sunflowers and canola
Combine harvesters often come with a number of different head choices. Farmers can replace the head of their harvester to complete different jobs faster. After harvesting crops with the standard combine head, a pickup header or draper's head may be installed on the heavy equipment.
A pickup header, sometimes called a dummy head, is installed on a harvester when plants have already been cut. It's used by some farmers who need to move quickly during a large harvest on their farms.
A draper's head reduces the use of power needed to cut plants such as wheat. With no auger, a draper head can reduce maintenance and auger repairs. When all the bounty has been harvested, a combine harvester can be used to level the land and prepare the soil for the next round of planting. A farmer will usually go through many different heads on their combine in the same area before finishing the season.