Straight Cutting Canola

Traditionally, canola harvesting has consisted of cutting with a swather and picking up with the combine. However, with advances both in header technology and shatter resistant seed varieties, we are starting to see more customers straight cutting canola.

By straight cutting, producers are able to sell the swather, lower labour costs, and achieve a higher potential yield with the increased pod fill time. But with that comes the difficultly of managing pod shatter losses in the crop.

So how can we manage shatter losses to see the benefits of straight cutting canola?

Read on for some tips on how to setup your draper, flex draper, or auger header to optimize your current setup for canola, while also providing some aftermarket options that can further reduce loss.

Header Setup

When setting your header for canola, there are three main components to focus on: the reel, cutterbar, and draper/auger. With all of these components, the key focus is to treat the crop as gently as possible while still effectively feeding it into the combine.

Reel
Unlike wheat, it is important to not overuse the reel to feed the crop onto the header. The reel should be set as high and far back as possible, to minimize the interaction with the crop before it is over the table or draper so if it is shelled it will not be lost. It should also be run close to ground speed to not overfeed the crop and shell it before it is over the table. The fingers on the reel should be set to the middle position, so it is not wrapping crop around the reel but also not allowing crop to fall off the front of the header.

However, depending on crop conditions, there may be times where it is necessary to be more active with the reel to feed the crop onto the header, such as in crop that is laying away from you.

Cutterbar
To asssist with keeping the reel over the header, it is important to keep the cutterbar roughly parallel to the ground. This orientation will also keep shelled seeds from falling off the front of the header.
The cutterbar height should be 10 to 12 inches off the ground, although you may need to go lower depending on crop conditions.

Draper/Auger
The draper or auger speed should be kept as slow as possible to gently feed the crop to the feederhouse while avoiding bunching. For draper headers with top cross augers, the speed should be kept the same as or slightly faster then the drapers.

Aftermarket Products

While good harvesting results can be achieved using a basic draper or auger header, there are some aftermarket products that can further minimize losses.

Center Section Seal Kit
In smaller cereal crops, the center transition section on drapers can be an area of loss. To reduce these losses by approximately 40%, John Deere offers the center section seal kit, which is available through our parts department. This kit consists of metal plates that cover the majority of the gaps between the drapers and center feed belt.

Z�rn Vertical Side Knife
With the intertwined nature of canola, traditional hoop-type crop dividers tend to pull at the crop at the edge of the header, which leads to 8 to 10 inches of shelled crop along the edge of the row. To mitigate the issue, Z�rn Harvesting in Germnay has developed the vertical sideknife, an attachment that quickly and easily attaches onto the edge of the header to smoothly split the crop and achieve an approximate 2% yield increase. The side knives are mechanically driven off the cutterbar, making them reliable and easy to maintain.

Cutterbar
To asssist with keeping the reel over the header, it is important to keep the cutterbar roughly parallel to the ground. This orientation will also keep shelled seeds from falling off the front of the header.
The cutterbar height should be 10 to 12 inches off the ground, although you may need to go lower depending on crop conditions.

Aftermarket Products

By correctly setting your header, it is possible to see good yield results straight cutting with a standard draper, flex draper, or auger header. By adding a couple of aftermarket products to your setup, you can further minimize your losses and increase your yield while removing the need for windrowing.When getting into straight cutting canola, we recommend one of the following setups for improved performance:

*Note: Rigid Auger headers without an extended cutterbar kit do not offer as high of a level of performance as a draper header due to the shorter table length.

For additional information on straight cutting canola, setting your header correctly or the aftermarket products available, chat with your local Ag Salesman or Product Support Specialist.

*Disclaimer: Martin Deerline merged with Agland as of July 31, 2024, and is now known as Horizon Ag & Turf