WINNIPEG – Harvesting and handling canola from snow-covered fields is
not a preferred winter pastime, but it is a viable option when canola
prices are strong.
John Mayko, senior agronomist with the Canola Council of Canada, says
up to 20 percent of Saskatchewan’s canola crop may still be in swath.
He urged growers to harvest it as soon as possible to prevent seed loss
through shattering, animal damage and grade loss.
“You can safely combine canola up to about 18 to 20 percent moisture
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but the seed must be dried,” he said.
Les Hill of the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute in Humboldt,
Sask., said most unharvested canola has 14 to 15 percent moisture and
the snow and ice could push it to 30 percent.
“The big concern is to remove all that snow and ice moisture before the
seed goes into the bin.”
Mayko said farmers can’t wait too long.
“Leave your canola in the field until spring and you may have very
little canola to harvest and what’s there will likely have zero value.”
He said crushers generally do not accept over-wintered, spring-threshed
canola because of higher free fatty acids and moulds and fungi that
cause grey-coloured seed.
In the past week, PAMI officials have talked to dozens of farmers about
the canola they’ve harvested since the snow arrived.
“The quality certainly is not going to improve since the snow came,”
Hill said.
“However, a lot of guys say they’ve been getting good volume and not
bad quality.
“You have to realize that if the seed was green before it snowed, you
can’t help it by letting it age in the swath. It will still be green
when you put it through the combine. I’ve had guys tell me how their
seed turned grey when they’ve left it until spring, and then it’s
worthless.”
Hill said producers report best results running their canola windrows
through a swather with an open type pickup to lift them and shake off
some ice and snow. They have had good luck with old drum-style pickups,
Sund pickups and Elmer’s pickups.
Farmers have also called PAMI to warn about what does not work. Hill
said producers have reported bad results with side delivery rakes, hay
fluffers and hay conditioners. It’s the consensus that these
implements just mix the snow and ice back into the windrow.
One producer ran canola windrows through a big round baler with the
chamber open. He reported a lot of shattering and seed loss, and
doesn’t recommend trying it on canola.
“One farmer had reasonable success mounting an air reel fan on his
combine, much like you’d get with a Keho or Crary,” Hill said.
“He ran some ducting to blow the snow and ice off the crop after it
came through his Sund pickup. Now that he’s done, he says it might
have worked better if he had aimed the air flow more to the side to
blow the snow away.”
Producers told PAMI they are running their combines at normal speed,
with as much air as possible. One producer had success installing a
screen on the clean elevator door to filter out small, light
snowflakes.
Hill said the most common problem is gumming on the sieves.
“Snow starts to melt when it’s getting that much mechanical energy put
to it. Then it quickly refreezes when the cold air hits it, so it
really forms a strong bond to the seeds. One fellow called to say he
had the same problem in 1996, so he ducted the exhaust into the fan to
get some heat in there.”
Another option might be to channel heated air from the radiator into
the fan.
All snow, ice and related moisture must be removed and the seed dried
to a safe moisture level before it goes into the bin.
“If you put it into the bin with any of the ice and snow or additional
moisture, it’s going to freeze into one big solid lump,” Hill said.
“It must be dry before it goes into a bin.”
Numerous growers reported success running the canola through a rotary
cleaner set up with bigger screens so the canola seed drops through and
the ice chunks remain. Cleaners with air fans seemed to do a better
job removing snow and ice.
From the cleaner, the seed goes into the dryer.
“Guys say the continuous-style dryer works the best,” Hill said. “Some
dryers with agitators also seem to work pretty well.”
One producer had good results circulating his canola through the dryer
before turning on the heat, allowing most of the ice and snow to run
out before applying heat.
Hill said some farmers believe if they wait until the temperature drops
to Ð20, most of these problems will disappear because the ice and snow
will snap off.
But that is dangerous, he said.
“Every day you wait, you increase the odds of a major snowfall, greater
yield loss and lost quality. It’s a bad gamble.”
