Auger vs. Draper Soybean Headers: The Economics

Does individual bean or pod loss from an auger-fed platform add up enough to support the cost of switching to a draper-style head?

Central Illinois farmer, George Roberts, discusses the economics of purchasing an auger-fed bean header vs. a draper bean header on his limited acres of soybeans. We film an in-the-field count of the grain loss behind the auger-fed header to test George’s working hypothesis that a draper head helps reduce grain loss.

Grain Loss Count In the Field

George searches through the bean straw and counts the individual soybeans to find average grain loss and to see if the wasted grain would pay for the extra cost of upgrading to a higher-cost draper head. According to George, with the limited acres of soybeans in his operation, the grain loss of a well-maintained and properly optimized auger-fed head does not justify paying the price to switch platforms after taking into account asset depreciation.

financial Management for Agribusiness Success

George focuses on leveraging practical thinking, in-field results, and elbow grease to forge a successful growing operation on his family farm.

 Calmer Recommended Settings for Soybean Harvesting

Marion discusses a wide variety of topics related to diagnosing and troubleshooting various areas related to your combine, corn head to bean platform for a successful harvest.