Swathing of oilseed used to be the only way to desiccate the crop. The theory is to cut the crop high and leave it to lie on top of its own stubble to ripen, this is done instead of using chemicals to kill off the crop pre-harvest.
The machine for this is a rare sight and is basically a combine header with two belts bringing the crop to the middle of the machine to leave it in a row for the combine to pick up and thresh.
Francis and Eunon Furlong from Wexford are the owners of this rare machine. It is a Shelbourne Reynolds Mentor with a 16ft head.
The Shelbourne Reynolds Mentor is a rare sight in Ireland.
The swather is powered by a Cummins engine producing 80hp. The steering system is very interesting, with the back wheels operating as casters giving the machine the ability to turn very tightly and return back down the field on the very next swathe and reduce the need to open shuts. This means that there is less driving on the headland crop while turning.
Francis Furlong at the wheel of the swarter in a crop of winter oil seed rape.
Travel
Eunon and Francis cover the majority of the southeast and midlands of the country from their base in Wexford. They have been known to travel as far as Tullamore to work for farmers. Francis says the main advantages of doing this instead of direct combining are that there is no requirement to alter the combine with either extendable reels or a side knife. Therefore the combine can come from another crop and with no change to cut the OSR. The reduction of chemical use is also another advantage of this system.
The crop is left lying on top of tall stubbles to help it dry.
Obviously this year is a good year for it as the weather for ripening the crop is very favourable. In a more broken year it may not be as useful. Due to this, Francis sees large swings from year to year in the acreage he covers.
When I asked him about the sort of output he was achieving, he said that it varied greatly depending on the crop and he couldn’t put a figure on it.
In the crop he was in, his forward speed seemed to be very good and a serious work rate could be achieved.
With the wide range of forward speeds that the machine works at, there is the ability to vary the speed of the reels and the belts to move the crop as gently as possible.
Francis also runs a smaller swarter for cutting whole crop, this machine is a Forschrit and comes with a 14 foot head. With this machine he leaves the whole crop in rows for a harvester or baler to pick up.
This system is used to be gentler on the crop than mowing it and means that it can be picked up with a standard forage harvester header instead of a specialised whole crop header.
Francis also uses the Shelbourne machine to synchronise the seed of OSR crops. This involves cutting the male plant to ensure that they flower at the same time as the female ones. The male and female plants are sown in alternating rows with gaps between them, the swarther has the ability to drive between the rows and prune the male plants with a specially designed and home built header.
This header was converted from a 10 foot new Holland combine header and has worked very well for them so far.
Francis Furlong cutting organic peas for whole crop with his Forschritt 323 swarter.
The Furlongs are using these machines for differing uses for the last 21 years and have found a couple of niche markets to keep them busy. It shows with a bit of ingenuity and effort the rarest of machines can be put to many uses.
Swathing of oilseed used to be the only way to desiccate the crop. The theory is to cut the crop high and leave it to lie on top of its own stubble to ripen, this is done instead of using chemicals to kill off the crop pre-harvest.
The machine for this is a rare sight and is basically a combine header with two belts bringing the crop to the middle of the machine to leave it in a row for the combine to pick up and thresh.
Francis and Eunon Furlong from Wexford are the owners of this rare machine. It is a Shelbourne Reynolds Mentor with a 16ft head.
The Shelbourne Reynolds Mentor is a rare sight in Ireland.
The swather is powered by a Cummins engine producing 80hp. The steering system is very interesting, with the back wheels operating as casters giving the machine the ability to turn very tightly and return back down the field on the very next swathe and reduce the need to open shuts. This means that there is less driving on the headland crop while turning.
Francis Furlong at the wheel of the swarter in a crop of winter oil seed rape.
Travel
Eunon and Francis cover the majority of the southeast and midlands of the country from their base in Wexford. They have been known to travel as far as Tullamore to work for farmers. Francis says the main advantages of doing this instead of direct combining are that there is no requirement to alter the combine with either extendable reels or a side knife. Therefore the combine can come from another crop and with no change to cut the OSR. The reduction of chemical use is also another advantage of this system.
The crop is left lying on top of tall stubbles to help it dry.
Obviously this year is a good year for it as the weather for ripening the crop is very favourable. In a more broken year it may not be as useful. Due to this, Francis sees large swings from year to year in the acreage he covers.
When I asked him about the sort of output he was achieving, he said that it varied greatly depending on the crop and he couldn’t put a figure on it.
In the crop he was in, his forward speed seemed to be very good and a serious work rate could be achieved.
With the wide range of forward speeds that the machine works at, there is the ability to vary the speed of the reels and the belts to move the crop as gently as possible.
Francis also runs a smaller swarter for cutting whole crop, this machine is a Forschrit and comes with a 14 foot head. With this machine he leaves the whole crop in rows for a harvester or baler to pick up.
This system is used to be gentler on the crop than mowing it and means that it can be picked up with a standard forage harvester header instead of a specialised whole crop header.
Francis also uses the Shelbourne machine to synchronise the seed of OSR crops. This involves cutting the male plant to ensure that they flower at the same time as the female ones. The male and female plants are sown in alternating rows with gaps between them, the swarther has the ability to drive between the rows and prune the male plants with a specially designed and home built header.
This header was converted from a 10 foot new Holland combine header and has worked very well for them so far.
Francis Furlong cutting organic peas for whole crop with his Forschritt 323 swarter.
The Furlongs are using these machines for differing uses for the last 21 years and have found a couple of niche markets to keep them busy. It shows with a bit of ingenuity and effort the rarest of machines can be put to many uses.
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