Small Scale Small Grain Harvesting

[JustinM]

For any out there looking for ideas on how to harvest small grains like wheat, oats, millet and barley at a small scale (a few acres or less) there are some options out there. As many know, the day of the small combine that could be powered by a 50 horsepower tractor is long gone. Vintage pull-type combines from back in the 50s can be found rusting away in farmer's boneyards. Finding a vintage pull type combine in good condition as well as getting parts to refurbish it can be very challenging. And 15- to 30-year old combines are way too expensive and impractical for a few acres of grain. Upon doing some research, I found that the use of a mower/collector to cut and move the grain off the field (first photo) and a portable threshing machine (second photo) is likely the most practical and least cost method of harvesting small grains in small scale situations.

If anyone else has more ideas on small scale small grain harvesting, please post a comment.

 

[JustinM]

For those who couldn't see the thresher in my first post, here's another photo that'll hopefully be viewable.

And, here's a video of it in action: