Harvest Ear Corn With Your Combine

Harvest ear corn with your combine COMBINES Accessories 10-6-1 Now you Can harvest unhusked ear corn with your combine, thanks to a new auger attachment invented by the late Norman Kracl of O'Neil, Neb. The attachment, powered off the feeder hoe drive chain, consists of a large 14 in. dia. horizontal auger inserted between the header and feeder house, and a 14 in. dia. vertical elevating auger. As ears are snapped off the stalks by the header, the auger intercepts them and moves them to the vertical auger for loading into a wagon or truck trailing alongside the combine. "Norman died of cancer in July, 1985, but lived to see a prototype of his invention working in the field," says Ron Smith, co-owner of Kracl Implement, a large Deere dealership headquartered in O'Neil, which Norman headed prior to his death. Ron and his associates picked up where Norman left off in getting the new auger attachment for harvesting unhusked ear corn for high energy silage, perfected and readied for manufacturing and marketing. "We mounted the prototype on a Deere 8820 equipped with a 6 row model 643 header. But it can easily be adapted to fit most self-propelled combines," Ron told FARM SHOW. With the attachment in place, the header is moved two feet forward from its original factory-designed position. "You still retain complete control of the header in being able to raise and lower it. Neither it, nor the feeder house, has to be altered in any way to accept the auger attachment. It simply bolts in place and takes less than an hour to install or remove," Ron points out. He adds that the attachment, equipped with 14 in. dia. augers, has "worked great" in handling the volume of ears snapped by a 6 row header in 185 bu. corn. "We think it will handle the output of even larger headers in high yielding, high moisture corn," notes Ron. "We have experienced some mechanical kernel damage to corn at the junction of the horizontal and vertical augers. However, all loose kernels, including damaged ones, move up the auger and into the wagon so they're not lost." Retail cost is "in the $5,000 to $6,000 range," says Ron. For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ron Smith, Kracl Implement, West Hwy. 20, O'Neil, Neb. 68763 (ph 402 336-1800).

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