Specialized harvesters

No end of other specialized harvesters are in existence, each of them specially designed for the purpose intended. Thus, we find cotton harvesters, pea harvesters, tomato harvesters, and even cherry and orange harvesters.

For harvesting root and tuber crops there exist various diggers, such as potato diggers, carrot diggers, onion diggers, even up to special sweet-potato diggers. But perhaps the best labour-saving devices are tuber and root harvesting combines among which the potato harvester stands out with particular prominence. This machine is, as a rule, not self-propelled, but actuated by a PTO from a tractor. Its main components are the shares, a haulm remover or topper, a chain elevator, a clod breaker, a lifting drum covered with polyethylene wire and a sorting table. The shares simultaneously dig down two potato rows. The mass dug out passes to the chain elevator whereupon the clods are broken by the clod breaker and the tubers separated. At the same time the removed haulm is thrown aside on the field. The tubers, separated from the clods, now pass over to the lifting drum which feeds them onto the sorting table which separates the tubers from the remaining earth. Finally the clean potatoes are fed into a bin.

The crimper

It is widely admitted that hay crimping is a fast, efficient, short cut to higher quality hay. It reduces, after mowing, the loss that results from long exposure in the field and han­dling the hay crop.

Crimping cuts down the risks of obtaining poor hay by shortening the time the crop is exposed to the weather and prevents the mechanical damage that so often goes with outdated haymaking methods. More and more research is being carried out in the world on modern methods of haymaking and time after time this research proves that crimping the crop immediately after mowing is the surest, safest and most desirable way of making higher quality hay. When grass is mown and no special measures are taken moisture is lost rapidly from the leaf and slowly from the stem. When the stem is fit to bale the leaf is so dry that it will shatter when it is touched. It stands to reason that to avoid this it is essential to equalise the drying rate of the stem and the leaf. The longer the crop is left out in the weather the greater is the loss of feed value.

This is the field where the crimper can help by equalising the drying rate of the stem and the leaf which eliminates the most undesirable features of conventional haymaking methods.