rolling soybeans with big roller?

[wehav]

Read an article in Wallaces Farmer about using a roller on ground that was planted to soybeans.  The concept is that you make a flat bed that allows you to combine closer and pushes rocks and other debri down so you don't get it in the header.  It further states that beans are cleaner and you can enter the field quicker after a rain.

So is anybody doing this and where in Iowa can you rent one of these rollers?

[doc-wcia]

You can rent them all over.  My FIL has three for rent/sale.  Neese in Grand Junction has one for rent.  They are all over. They say they pay for themselves by getttin that extra bushel or two of beans when you combine.  I've never tried one myself. 

[idalivered · Accepted solution]

ncia is covered up with these things. Almost everyone I talk to loves them. many farmers buy them with neighbors and rent them to other pwople. There is a place in humboldt iowa that has 30-50 for rent.  they kind of smash down the stalks and corn butts. down side is if you get a big wind after or during rolling alot of stalks blow off and end uip in fence rows. I have a young neighbor that has done several (4)side by side strip trials and he can find no yield increase.It is supposed to make harvesting much easier. have heard that a 45footer is $30-40,000 and a 60 footer is$50-60,000.i've never used one myself, but i still apply treflan and work my stalks twice. that seems to knock down alot of the debris.

[Cornsilks]

Is anyone using them no-till at all?  Or does it just make sense after tillage.  I hadn't seen them outside of a sod farm until traveling up I-35 this spring.

[idalivered]

I don't notill, but looks to be a good thing for notil beans , especially after a drill. My cousin and one neighbor  notills and used one last year. It's really amazing how many of these have been sold.

[kraft-t]

Yes, my tenant has been rolling my beans and the bean yield was extrordinary last year. This year he rolled my corn on corn ground prior to planting to firm up the seed bed. We will see how that will work.

I think that Custom made products in Humboldt sells and rents them. Boone valley implement in Renwick sells them as well.

[scootertemp]

They work extremely well on plowed fields - push down all the small rocks and root balls - you'll never run any dirt through the combine, and will rarely have to replace another sickle blade due to anything other than normal wear. At the elevator they say they can tell by how much dust comes out when unloading whether or not the beans were harvested off a field that was rolled or not.  I rent a 45-foot roller from a neighbor (in SC Minnesota) for $4/acre.

[wehav]

Is there a rental in Eastern Iowa, near Cedar Rapids, Dubuque or Davenport?

[luckyfarmer]

We have used them in no-till and are extremely happy with the results.  Flaten the cornstalks, knocks down the gopher mounds, and pushes any rocks you might have broken loose back in.  Just wish they weren't so spendy so we could own one instead of trying to rent one all the time.

[jonno634]

In our area (Eastern WA) we do not raise soy-beans, but many farmers raise Peas and Lentils.  Many of which are rolled with rollers (unsure if they are they same type of roller you are talking about) but they help smooth out the rougher ground and do help reduce the amount of dirt the combine could eat.

Most people here, would own there own (but we aren't using them anymore).

Jon