John Deere's "premier corn and bean
machine"
John Deere & Company describes the 9560 STS combine as its "premier
corn and bean machine," and when my farming neighbors purchased it
last year, it caught everyone's attention.
At 15-feet high, 14 tons and with 5-foot diameter tires, its gleaming
hulk dwarfed the men gathered around to admire it. A menacing set of
"snouts" off the front end looked like a line of rockets ready to
fire.
Two sets of metal stairs lead to a spacious cab where the 21st century
reigns supreme. Computerized from tip to tail, a series of screens
keeps track of everything from speed and fuel level to the number of
bushels harvested per acre. Off the back swings a long unload auger to
transfer grain from combine to truck.
"It is awesome," Ja Meany, president of Hy-Point Grain, says of the
9560. "We fight over who gets to drive it."
The mammoth green machines that rumble across the tawny cornfields are
as much a part of autumn for me as changing leaves. Often while
pulling up frost-blasted tomato vines in my yard, one will chug past
in a cloud of dust and whirling corn chaff. The farmer in his machine
and I in my garden don't usually intersect, but last week when I saw
the big combine pulling up to unload its golden cargo, I sprinted to
meet it, hoping to catch a ride.
Bobby Ludlow, a driver for Hy-Point Farms and part-time farmer, swung
out the lower stairs and I climbed up to the passenger seat. Ensconced
in our climate-controlled, glassed-in perch, we rolled over the
stubbled field he had finished harvesting earlier and headed to
another five acres beyond the hedgerow.
I expected it to be like riding in a hay wagon - all lurches, bounces,
and bumps - but it was smooth and quiet, barely registering the uneven
ground beneath us. As we turned into the field at Hy-Point Farms in
northern New Castle County, straight rows of upright corn waited.
Ludlow, who told me he's been driving farming equipment for 30 of his
38 years, maneuvered the machine as easily as a pick-up truck, lining
up the snouts to fit between the rows. With the press of a button the
rollers sprang into action and we cruised into the crop. Poised just
above the whirring, whizzing commotion below us, I leaned forward to
watch as Ludlow explained the process.
Rollers with rotating blades pull the stalks down, which causes the
ears of corn to be trapped between two pieces of metal above the
rollers. As the shredded stalks fall back to the ground, the ears are
fed into a bullet rotor that rolls them between a spinning cylinder
and a grate that threshes the corn, sending the grain up into a
holding tank. A high-speed chopper spits out the cobs back onto the
ground in small pieces so that they disintegrate faster. When the
holding tank is full, an alarm sounds.
Up and down the rows we drove, leveling the stalks and watching the
tank behind our heads fill higher and higher with corn kernels. At one
point while making a turn, one of the snouts lifted higher than the
others and Ludlow explained that they can sense large impediments in
the field such as rocks and will adjust their height accordingly.
Because the corn was so perfectly straight and dry - only 18 percent
moisture according to the sensor - we motored along at about 4 miles
per hour, a ripping good speed for such a small field. On a fine day
like that, the five-acre field might be able to be harvested in about
an hour. The harvested corn will ultimately be sold for chicken feed,
making it one of Delaware's most important agricultural crops. All the
more reason to have a 9560 STS to do the job right.
Source: delawareonline
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