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He Built A Narrow Row Silage Chopper Head
When he couldn't find a narrow-row silage chopper on the market, James Brown of Oto, Iowa, built his own 20-in. head out of two used 4-row, 30-in. Deere heads. He mounted the resulting 6-row unit on his self-propelled Uni-Harvester power unit.
"It lets me use the same planting equipment on my corn and soybeans. A
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He Built A Narrow Row Silage Chopper Head HAY & FORAGE HARVESTING Forage Harvesters 22-1-36 When he couldn't find a narrow-row silage chopper on the market, James Brown of Oto, Iowa, built his own 20-in. head out of two used 4-row, 30-in. Deere heads. He mounted the resulting 6-row unit on his self-propelled Uni-Harvester power unit.
"It lets me use the same planting equipment on my corn and soybeans. And the 20-in. rows result in higher silage yields," says Brown. "I spent about $4,000 to build it."
He bought two used 4-row 30-in. Deere "stalker" heads that were in good shape. He slid the row units together on one head and added two row units from the other head to make six rows.
Brown built the narrow row chopper head 2 years ago and has used it to cut about 200 acres of silage. "I already had the Uni-Harvester power unit which had a 4-row, 30-in. head mounted on it. There was no way to narrow it down.
"I built the narrow-row head because I wanted to plant all my crops in 20-in. rows. Deere sells a 20-in. corn head for combines, but not a narrow row silage chopper head. The only other alternative is the Lundahl or Kemper heads but I think they're too expensive - about $38,000 for a new 15-ft. Kemper model or $15,000 for a used one.
"Deere made the stalker heads in the early 1970's for three or four years but didn't build very many of them. However, they're ideal for this modification. The heads were made in 4-row 30 and 38-in. versions. They look similar to the Deere row crop bean head and cut close to the ground. They were originally designed to harvest whole plant corn stalks after the field had already been harvested. The stalks made feed that was good enough for stock cows."
Brown says he's willing to custom build the 20-in. heads which will fit any Deere self-propelled chopper and newer Uni Choppers.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, James D. Brown, 3821 280th St., Oto, Iowa 51044 (ph 712 827-4155).
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