Harvesting in a circle

[Sarxis]

I've seen some talk about using concentric circles or spiraling inside a field as an alternative method of harvesting. I can see not having to make directional turns at the end of fields as a big 'pro' and time saver. But I am curious of how to manage the corners of fields.

Anyone have any experience and tried-and-true techniques for using this method?

[leifege640]

You might have to lose a little off of the corners, but that is just my opinion.

[DarrenK]

If you're asking about hired help, the auto combine mod supports this without a problem and is what I use for all non-row crops. This is such a fundamental technique that it should've been part of the base game. I thought for sure they were going to add it on the current game, but we see how that turned out. If you're talking about driving a combine yourself, corners are done last.

[husher]

I'm doing this a lot when i'm working my Vogelsburg farm, the fields are tight and there's collisions on most things, so here's how; work anti clockwise with the harvester chute innermost, second gear is best and judicious use of the steering is advised, use three quarters of the harvester head and let the over lap be the piece that cuts that annoying piece you may leave in the corner, the turn should be always to the left and start it a few seconds before you get to the edge of the field. Doing this you can successfully move in 'ever decreasing circles' until the turn becomes too sharp only then break off and resume linear cuts in the center of the field, it works best on Wheat and Barley; you can see how the spiral forms and use the proceeding trail as a guide. doing it this way makes bailing (especially with the ancient baler) much easier. Remember a combine is a rigid piece of machinery and has a fixed turning circle, take it too far and ... well i'll leave that to your imagination. spiral bailing isn't difficult it just takes practice and guess what? no wages to pay out!

[Kevarny]

Hi!
Harvesting in a circle has been done in Australia for decades and it is a simple process. First you must travel in a clock wise direction keeping the discharge chute away from the unharvested grain to stop vehicles traveling over this area, the corners are a simple dance move called a pirouette to the left as I will explain, you drive your harvester past the standing grain at the corner and then without even lifting the cutter bar or even slowing down you do a hard left turn until your cutter bar is again against the grain this time at right angles to the time you left it effectively making a right angle right turn by turning left. This allows multiple harvesters to operate on the same field or as we say paddock without any crashes or mishaps as long as each allows the one in front time to do his pirouette before arriving at the same corner. I have seen up to ten operating the same paddock with up to twelve or so trucks servicing the discharge chutes to keep all harvesters moving all day. Once this move is perfected by a driver there are no gaps and not a single grain is missed on the corners and the wear and tear on the harvester is kept to a minimum as there is no slowing or stopping or starting, changing of gears, raising or lowering of the cutter bar the only thing operated at the turn is the steering. everything else is maintained at operating speed and position for the entire day.

[theabsurdone]

Kevarny - This technique sounds brilliant!! I am definitely going to try it.

[Sarxis]

Yes, very awesome. I will have to try this out. Of course in terms of courseplay enabled FS2013 it doesn't matter about wear and tear, but for manually driving a harvester it makes for a smooth run over the paddock.

[Kevarny]

Yes give it a go perhaps start off on speed level one until you master the arc of the turn and then you can move up to level two but once the arc is mastered any angle of turn to the right is made easy with this method it is simply making the arc to meet up with the next run along the face of the unharvested section.

[leifege640]

I do this type of turn when I harvest chaff with the Pottinger Mex 6. The chopper doesn't like turning to the right, but is much easier to do the left turns.