Header Drop Trays

Measuring harvest grain loss has become a lot easier and safer with the advent of Drop Trays, which can be remotely activated using electromagnets. The use of these trays, has allowed header losses at over 10% of the crop yield to be measured. This loss represents a huge financial cost at harvest time, plus the additional cost of managing volunteer weeds and their associated issues throughout the summer fallow and into the following crop.

Growers should be targeting a maximum crop loss of 3%, but it should be very achievable to reduce this to around 1%, particularly in cereals with appropriate header setup. Header capacity also needs to remain high, otherwise the increased cost of harvesting and potential risk of weather damage, will offset any financial gain from reduced losses.

Many growers will change to a narrow windrow when assessing losses, as it is easier to find the grain. However, this will modify the chaff flow and wind through the header, which may change the amount of grain lost. Drop Trays are best used without changing the method of residue management, whether that be chop and spread, chaff lining, or narrow windrows. When spreading residue, it is also important to test each side of the header, as grain loss may not be even from one side to the other. To test each side of the header, the Drop Tray can be attached to the comb in cereals, or placed beside canola windrows.

Being able to measure harvest losses, allows the integrated loss monitor in the header to be more accurately calibrated. The loss monitors on most modern headers, are rarely calibrated and therefore unreliable. When calibrated, they can provide very useful information ‘on the go’, particularly during changes in harvesting conditions, such as harvesting into the night, or under different temperature and moisture conditions. This information allows machine settings to be changed, to minimise losses.

Each test will take approximately 10-20 minutes, depending on the speed of the operator. However this can be undertaken by staff such as chaser bin drivers, to limit header downtime. Once the header has been setup correctly and losses are consistently low, most growers will only test the machine periodically to confirm that everything is still functioning as normal.

Drop Trays cost around $3,500, including all of the associated products such as chaff separator. This is a very minor cost when compared to the huge savings that can be generated from reducing harvest losses and improving header efficiency.

More information and a loss calculator can be found at the following link:

https://grdc.com.au/resources-and-publications/apps/harvest-loss-calculator