FARGO, N.D. – Urban encroachment into farming areas has been a problem in North America for decades. Although it’s not an issue in most of the Prairies, many productive agricultural areas are affected by increased populations and road traffic.
Even where residential traffic does not pose a problem, fields are more spread out due to farm consolidation. The time it takes to get an implement in and out of the transit mode has become a significant factor in machinery design.
That’s why Rex Korslien of Degelman Industries in Minot, North Dakota, is enthused about the new Geringhoff combine headers the company is importing from Germany. Degelman is the exclusive Geringhoff distributor for the United States and Canada.
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“We may never see the kind of population density and implement restrictions out here like they have down east and over in Europe. But the fact is that implements are continually getting bigger,” said Korslien.
“Farmers are now getting into 18-row, 45-foot headers. When you get up to that size of a header, it’s not just population crowding that gets in your way. It’s the gates, telephone poles, trees, everything. There’s not a lot of places you can easily manoeuvre a big header like that.”
Korslien said the big combine header problem can be solved the same way the big air drill and big sprayer boom problems were solved. That is by using hydraulics to fold it up.
“The biggest Geringhoff header we’ve sold so far was just delivered to Iowa. That was a 16-row, 30-inch row folding head that goes from 41 feet down to 21 feet in under a minute,” said Korslien.
“It’s a big economic saving for the serious corn grower. By the time a guy unhooks the conventional style corn header, loads it on the trailer and then gets it all set up again for the next field, he’s wasted an hour and a half, plus the transit time. Combine time is too expensive to waste like that.”
With the folding header, it’s one minute to fold into the transit mode, the same amount of transit time and then another minute to fold it back into the working mode. Korslien said everything is done hydraulically from the cab and there’s no need for a safety pin because when the arms fold up and over, gravity holds them in place.
Korslien said most combines accept the Geringhoff folding header without requiring modification.
“It runs off the hydraulic reel fore and aft circuit. There’s no need for an extra pump. If you already have reel fore and aft circuit, you use the same controls that are already on your combine.”
Geringhoff built its first folding headers for the German market in 1984. There are now about 20 such headers in Maryland and a handful in Iowa and Minnesota.
The full list price for the 12-row, 30-inch, 41-foot folding header shown in these photos is $93,000 US. Korslien said the introductory sale price has been reduced to $68,000.
