Keep Your Harvesting Options Open!
As a farmer you deal with risk every day, so a little bit of control goes a long way. MacDon M2 Series Windrowers help widen your harvest window and give you more options to help manage that risk. MacDon has been perfecting the windrower concept for over 75 years, so we know that with swathing comes great harvesting benefits: quicker harvest times, fully organic harvesting, a shorter season, an alternative to natural drying or desiccation, and even crop ripening.

Here’s how MacDon Windrowers can help you reach the next level of harvesting performance.

Imagen

Multi Use Application
MacDon windrowers can be used in a variety of harvesting applications thanks to three cutting platforms; auger, rotary, and rigid drapers. MacDon D1 Series Draper Headers are interchangable between windrower and combine applications.

Imagen

Reduced Crop Loss Caused by Weather
In the final stages of crop maturity, damage from wind or hail can cause crop losses that are higher in the unsheltered, standing crop. By protecting the majority of the crop in a swath for the final days until maturity, losses can be minimized.

Imagen

Managing Harvest Timing
Swathing can begin much earlier than direct cutting, helping to spread out the harvest. The cutting of the crop is an instant action, resulting in a faster dry down compared to waiting for a pre-harvest glyphosate application to take effect.

Imagen

Minimize Pest Damage
For areas with pest issues, one of the best options for a successful harvest is to swath the crop before the pests damage the crop too much. This is done to control the infestation and damage the pests can do to the crops. By swathing before the crop suffers damage you can reduce your losses from the downed crop.

Imagen

Even Crop Ripening
When crop matures unevenly due to hilly terrain, climate, staggered seeding, or uneven germination, crop cut by the windrower will continue to ripen in the swath, evening out as it dries down to the correct moisture content. This helps improve grain quality and can even eliminate the requirement to dry grain after harvest. Swathing at the right time also reduces the amount of seed loss compared to leaving the crop standing until the lower seeds ripen.

Imagen

Eliminating Pre-Harvest Chemical Applications
By swathing crops to trigger the dry-down process, pre-harvest chemical applications are eliminated. With farmers facing increased consumer and regulatory pressure, particularly around the pre-harvest use of glyphosate, swathing provides a viable option to manage harvest timing without chemical use.

Imagen

Double Windrowing Ability
For low yield crop varieties, or in a low yielding year, the windrower can shift the drapers and place two swaths side by side. This effectively doubles the amount of crop going into the combine to keep the combine running at peak efficiency.

Imagen

Maximize Combine Harvester Productivity
When picking up a swath with a MacDon PW8 Pick-Up Header, the combine operator can focus on the combine, rather than straight cutting. Using a PW8 eliminates double cutting residual standing straw that most times is still green and wet, and can affect combining efficiency. Combine stoppage from minor issues like broken knife sections is eliminated. Picking up a swath also helps reduce combine rock ingestion compared to direct cutting on the ground.

Imagen

In Case of Ineffective Desiccation
Wet, cold, cloudy weather and poor canopy penetration of the chemical may cause desiccation to be ineffective. Desiccation works best in hot and dry weather.

Imagen

Weed Control
Weeds can often reach maturity and produce seeds at the same time that the crop is going into the final stages of maturity. Windrowing a crop before final maturity can cut weeds before they have a chance to produce seeds, helping reduce weed pressure for the subsequent season. Also, swathed weeds will dry out, reducing the amount of green weed material going through the combine. In pulse crops such as edible beans, weeds may smear or stain the seeds. By swathing them prior to picking them up with the combine you give the weeds a chance to dry out.

Learn more and see it in action!