Field Work: Operating a Forage Harvester

A. Using the Pickup Attachment:

1. Make good windrows. They should be straight and raked in the direction the forage was mowed. One 6- or 7-foot swath should make one windrow.

2. Select your tractor gear speed to suit the size of the windrow. If you are pulling an engine-driven harvester, you can slow the tractor when picking up large or heavy windrows.

3. Keep your cutter speed constant for best results.

4. Adjust the pickup attachment's skids to keep the finger ends approximately 1 inch from the ground. Do not let the pickup fingers dig into the earth.

5. Adjust the balance springs so that there is little weight on the skids. A hydraulic lift is very handy when going over uneven land.

6. Run the tractor engine or harvester engine slowly and engage the clutch gradually when you apply power at the harvester. This clutch will engage the cutting and blowing mechanisms only.

7. Engage the feed clutch by moving the lever near the tractor seat. Do this with the engine running slowly until you know everything is clear. Then increase your speed.

8. Check your machine for loose parts each day before using it.

9. Adjust the tongue in the field to make the harvester track correctly. If you are opening the field, put the machine behind the tractor where it runs over the first windrow. After one round, reverse your direction and move the machine to the right of the tractor.

B. Using the Row-Crop Attachment:

1. Adjust the harvester speed so there will be a uniform flow of forage between the gathering points. Do not overload.

2. Check the knives and sickle section at intervals to make sure they are tight and sharp.

3. Keep the corn rows in the center of the gatherers.

4. Adjust the height of the gathering points with the tilting control so that the points do not dig in.

5. Raise the entire machine on its axle if the sickle is too low when the points are correct. Do not run the sickle section in the ground.

6. Use a 1/2- or 5/8-inch cut for corn.

C. Using the Direct-Cut Attachment:

1. Adjust the length of cut to fit the moisture content of the grass or legume. Rather dry forage requires a fine cut – perhaps as fine as your machine can cut. Wet forage requires a longer cut for good packing with a minimum of lost liquid at the silo. A finer cut requires more power, but the cut material packs much better.

2. Keep your cutter bar in good cutting condition.

3. Adjust the ground speed of your harvester to the density of the crop, the amount entering the chopper, and the amount of power available. The speed should never exceed 4 miles per hour.