BRANDON – Harvesting bushy crops with a draper header is often frustrating. Crops such as straight-cut canola, lentils and peas do not carry enough weight to move well on the canvas.
According to Gary McCrea of Ag Shield Manufacturing in Benito, Man., any type of crop with bushy spots in the field will not consistently feed the combine if a draper header is used.
“The slats on a draper are not very high and there’s no weight in the crop to create friction. The crop just sits there and floats while the canvas rolls by below,” McCrea said.
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“If you keep going forward, you just create a big, fluffy bunch of crop that won’t feed into the combine. If you do manage to get it in, then it goes in as a lump and it’s too much material for the combine to swallow all at once. In the worst case scenario, if you’ve got matted material, it just rides up right over the top of the header.”
Conventional cross augers are supposed to solve that problem, but they do not extend the full width of the header.
McCrea tried them on his own farm.
The short cross augers always left dead spots in the two corners of the header, almost like a backwater in a river. The crop just sits there in the corner and will not move into the main flow.
“That’s what gave us the idea to build a genuine full-width cross auger that fits right into the corners of the draper header. It grabs all the crop and feeds it into the combine. That is absolutely essential.”
Ag Shield Cross Augers are mounted on self-aligning ball bearings. The hydraulic motor drives the auger through a double chain coupler. Hydraulic power can be taken from either the reel circuit or the canvas circuit.
Each kit includes all necessary hoses and a speed control so the operator can set the canvas speed ratio for each different harvest situation.
The kits for MacDon headers have a centre gap to clear the feed auger and deflector shields to prevent hang-ups at the ends of the original feed auger.
For John Deere draper headers that do not have an available cross auger, the Ag Shield kit lets the combine work in a wider range of harvest conditions.
Ag Shield Cross Auger kits are available for Honeybee draper headers from 25 to 42 feet.
“Each kit is put together to match the specific brand and model of header in terms of fittings, speed control, bolts and everything else,” McCrea said.
“A couple of the kits require some small welds, but they’re all very easy to install. Read the instructions first, and four hours later you’ll be out combining those difficult crops.”
The price varies from one kit to the next, but McCrea said a typical price is $3,750 for a 36 foot header.
For more information, contact Gary McCrea at 800-561-0132 or visit www.agshield.com.
