As I write this from the newest BangShift Mid-West location, I’m watching the owners of the field behind my property line harvest the acres of corn. It’s the first absolute sign of fall and the final proof I need that I need to bush-hog my property line. As the massive combine mowed down the stalks of corn like I normally mow a lawn, I couldn’t help but to take a moment and watch. I’ve spent quite a few years living in areas that grow tall stalks of the other form of gold currency, but I really hadn’t paid attention to how it all happened. Corn was planted, corn grew, corn got mowed down and corn stalks became Halloween decorations. Done and done, right? Right up until I saw the combine slow down for the hopper to pull aside, so it could turn over a ton of corn kernels.
Let’s think about that for a moment: gigantic tractor thing mows down six-foot tall plant, shoots out plant stalks and individual corn kernels. It’s kind of cool, but if you aren’t Farmer John (which I’ve never claimed to be), the process of how this half-a-million-dollar farm implement takes an overgrown lawn and converts it into ready-to-bag feed is kind of impressive. This video, from HowStuffWorks, takes us through the actions of how it all happens. If you’ve never seen it done up close, it’s something to see at least once.
Cool! The combine they give specs(120 HP) about is OLD, like 30 years old.
Modern combines are 500 plus HP
Here’s a cool video with what modern combines can do
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5I04EObZNo
In my hometown they used to have combine demolition derbies during the county fair!
The farmer who mentions 120 hp, has an older John Deere combine that probably is rated at 120hp. His appears to be a 4420 or 6620 model and can be bought now for around $10,000. All the other combines shown in the video are the high dollar machines that the large farmers use now. They all use the same principles, just new ones have more whistles and bells. They also have much larger capacities to handle the larger acreage.