Mini Combine For Small Farms

Mini Combine For Small Farms COMBINES Miscellaneous 31-5-19 Small farms and specialty grain producers don't have many options when it comes to harvesting thin crops. Small combines are hard to find in good shape. When Anthony Butard needed to harvest multiple small plots of beans and small grain on his 100-acre farm in Oregon, he turned to a small portable thresher made by an Italian company. "We grow about an acre and a half of durum wheat and a number of different kinds of beans so we ordered concaves and screens for both crops," says Butard. Ferrari Tractors in California markets the Cicoria ATX 2000 in North America. The pto-driven thresher is pulled to the field and leveled. It requires at least a 45 hp tractor and can be equipped with a straw cutting/crushing unit. The thresher has a barred conveyor belt feeder, axial flow rotor, adjustable concaves and replaceable screens. Straw is discharged by tube away from the unit, while clean grain or beans can be bag filled. Cicoria also makes two smaller threshers with one designed for hand feeding. The Plot 375 can thresh a wide variety of cereals, oil seeds and small seeded plants from clover to garden produce. A three-phase electric motor or a 6 hp gas engine can power it. Cylinder speed and air flow can be adjusted to regulate threshing, with feeding rate determined by the sound of the threshing and by viewing the process through Plexiglas plates. Seed stems or stalks are fed into the machine by hand and withdrawn after the seed has been removed by a rubber-bladed drum. Butard notes that his ATX 2000 wasn't cheap at $22,000, but adds the price did include both bean and grain screens. Shipping the machine from Italy added $5,000 to the price. In the four years since Butard ordered his machines, prices have increased. "The ATX 2000L now costs $35,000 at the factory, though shipping has stayed at $5,000," says Eugene Canales, Ferrari Tractors, CIE. "However, the less automated Plot 375 costs $16,000 delivered in the U.S." Butard stresses that while costly, the thresher has expanded the products he can sell. "Its versatility opens up lots of new and different crop options," he says. One product is frikeh, made from immature durum wheat that is harvested green, just as the grain matures out of the milk stage. Butard and his crew cut the grain by hand and pile it on sheets of corrugated tin. Using large propane torches, they parch the wheat, burning away the awns. Then it is threshed, cleaned and finally dried on screens. Butard uses a small seed cleaner that can clean about half a ton of grain a day. He notes that the hands-on process is ideal for small farmers looking for new products. Although he didn't even know what frikeh was a few years ago, he now struggles to fill local demand. "It is used in salads and soups like bulgur or rice, but it has a smoky quality," explains Butard. "We will sell a thousand pounds in three or four weeks for about $6 per pound." While satisfied with the job the thresher does, Butard notes that it's hard to clean out. He has to keep varieties separate for customers and for his own seed saving for next year's crop. He also plans to refurbish a 1950's vintage All-Crop Allis Chalmers combine. "With the resurgence of small plots, we need someone to reintroduce some form of the All-Crop combine," he says. "I'd love to see someone turn out a $10,000 to $12,000 machine with the option of pto or motor drive." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ayers Creek Farm, 15219 SW Spring Hill Rd, Gaston, Oregon 97119 (ph 503 985-0177; aboutard@orednet.org) or Ferrari Tractors CIE, P.O. Box 1045, Gridley, Calif. 95948 (ph 530 846-6401; fax 530 846-0390; ferraritractors@ferrari-tractors.com; www. ferrari-tractors.com).

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