It is almost 200 years ago since Cyrus McCormick invented the reaper with its ubiquitous reel and reciprocating knife. In July 1831 in Virginia – not the one in Cavan but in the good ole US – the 18-year-old McCormick demonstrated his invention which would change the world of harvesting for ever.

His cutterbar knife with its fingers and sections has remained and, up until now, stood the test of time.

So, why don’t I wait a mere six years to its bicentenary to properly celebrate his invention? Two reasons. The first is six years out at my age is a long time and that other reaper – the Grim one – might mow me down first and I’d have missed the opportunity. The second is more complex and maybe, just maybe, we shouldn’t celebrate him at all.

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McCormick was clearly an inspired and inventive man and the world should be grateful for his timeless invention. Of course, he went on to great things and his company ultimately became part of International Harvester. However, I think it’s time to scrap his system and develop a new cutterbar system to be ready for bicentenary 2031.

That gives the brightest and best brains in today’s combine world six years to come up with something a lot better. Because let’s call a spade a spade, McCormick’s invention has been around for too long.

It’s an outdated invention that was fine for a horse-drawn reaper when you could poke a lump on the cutterbar with a stick but in today’s world, it’s highly inefficient and not good in difficult conditions.

We need a modern-day Cyrus. All this became obvious to me while I was reaping lodged oats. A mere handful of poorly cut stubble stuck in the knife is enough to quickly snowball into an auger-blocking mess with mindless cursing of Cyrus H McCormick and all he stands for.

I mean mowers abandoned his cutting mechanism 60 years ago when Piet Zweegers (PZ) said feck that yoke and went on to invent the revolutionary drum mower.

So why do Claas and all the rest of them still persist with this old-fashioned mechanism of wobble boxes, rivets and serrated sections?

I mean rivets went down with the Titanic and it’s high time McCormick’s clattering box of bits and sections went the same way.

Cometh the hour...

So come on Claas supremo Trevor Tyrrell, relative of mine and son of good Edenderry farming stock, marshal the design troops and let’s have a total reinvention of the combine cutterbar by 2031 and rightfully consign Cyrus McCormick to history.

And it has to be able to take a whack of a stone at 5km/hr, because that’s one thing Cyrus’s shake rattle and roll effort could do. And you could get the lads to have a look at the dreaded crop divider because it’s no better in a twisted damp lying mess.

However, if either the re-modelled knife or divider vaguely resemble McCormick’s invention, fair’s fair, and we’ll have to celebrate his bicentenary in 2031.

McCormick’s harvesting successors (that’s now Case IH) are probably already developing Cyrus Take Two for a revolutionary release in July 2031. Hopefully.

The standing oats crops did well at an average 3.71t/ac at 52.5 KPH but the aforementioned lodged crop tumbled to 2.8t. And while it’s bad enough combining such a crop, it leaves a messy legacy of uncut flat crop to block the drill. And now the dusty oilseed rape is coming in at 2t/ac and Cyrus’s cutterbar extended forward is fine at that.

Somehow, unfortunately, I think it’ll survive into its third century.