The first MacDon header Duane Green ever sold was a 40-foot FD70 back in 2008. At that time, Green says it was the high praise from other local farmers that drew him to the product; they would brag about the machines and offer favourable reviews, and it wasn't long until he found himself doing the same.

This was the beginning of a beautiful friendship (and working relationship) between Green and MacDon. For more than 10 years, he sold MacDon products out of a John Deere dealership before opening up his own spot, G&J AG in Oak Ridge, Missouri, in 2019. MacDon is the heart – and most fun part – of his business, he says, and even as times and technology have changed the ag and farming business in big ways, MacDon maintains the family-run feel it started out with more than 75 years ago.

"MacDon is by far the easiest company to get along with. Marketing is great, the products are superior, when there are issues they stand behind it. It's just a great, great non-corporate feel being with MacDon," says Green.

But Green isn't just a sales guy, he's a farmer himself, with around 1,100 acres in the Randolph County area of southern Illinois which he runs with his father, Richard Green, and his three sons, Lucas, Jordan and Garrett Green.

"We own some land and we also rent some land, but we consider it a small family farm," says Duane.

Richard Green started farming in the 1980s, and Duane planted his first crop in 1991; now Duane's three sons are active in the multi-generational operation so they have "plenty of help." Primarily, they plant corn, soybeans and, wheat quite successfully, despite the fact Duane describes the soil as "not the strongest dirt."

"Down here in southern Illinois, we raised double-crop soybeans after the wheat is harvested in June. We can plant soybeans down here up until the end of June and still expect to get a decent yield out of it," says Duane.

On a sunny October day in 2024, Duane is cutting some towering corn he planted late in the season, on June 12 of that year – "when you plant late corn, it gets tall," he says matter-of-factly from the cab of his combine mid-cut – using an FC3012C FlexCorn header he was demoing that fall.

The 12-row header glides through the field as Duane describes the 17 drainage basins in that particular 100-acre patch, all the while the MacDon's FluidMotion™ Hydraulic Flex Control contours to the ever-changing ground elevations. The ride is smooth, the cut is clean and Duane is happy.

"It really is what you need in these situations here," says Duane. "As we go across these drainage basins built back in the day for a six-row corn head, a 30-foot rigid head just doesn't work in this type of situation. So this FlexCorn head really comes in and saves the day."

"You know, if we had a rigid head on those drainage basins on the lower end, I'm going to have the head on the ground where you want it. But on the other end, the head could be four to five feet off the ground with a 30-foot. So, I never did dream that I'd be able to run a 12-row head on this type of terrain with these drainage basins. And it does work."

MacDon's first corn headers were on the market in 2019, but the FlexCorn header — named an AE50 award-winner for 2025 — put a whole new spin on the product when it was released in December 2023. Featuring MacDon's FluidMotion™ Hydraulic Flex Control, the FlexCorn was designed with folks exactly like Duane in mind. The FlexCorn serves farmers who have land in places such as the midwestern states known for hilly terrain, land with harsh slopes to help with water erosion or farmers who simply want to be able to use a larger header to increase efficiency.

The FlexCorn header comes in the 12-row version Duane was running, but is also available as a 16-row. The FlexCorn wings on both headers have more than 15 degrees of range; for additional context, this means the 16-row header with 30-inch spacing provides 61 inches of total flex range on each end.

While there are numerous other features one could highlight — from the snout design to combine compatibility — Duane appreciates that the MacDon FlexCorn header requires less horsepower to run. He explains the combination of the OctiRolls and the fact the gearboxes are just geared low enough for the stock-chopping, resulting in the header requiring less horsepower using less fuel, which is always a bonus.

"As a dealer, I demoed this head to a Deere customer here two weeks ago and they took their eight-roll stock-chopping John Deere head off and put this on and they felt like the combine had more power taking four extra rows than they did when they were shelling eight-row corn," Duane explains.

"I'm running this 12-row MacDon corn head on a John Deere 9670, which most people would tell me is not a big enough combine for this 12-row corn head. With this MacDon corn head requiring less horsepower than the competitors, I'm consistently running 3.7, 3.9 mile-an-hour here and 200 bushel corn. I am very happy with that type of ground speed and the combine is hanging in there well."

In addition to exceptional performance, Duane says maintenance has also been a breeze so far. This is one of the selling points for MacDon corn headers. Each front-supported OctiRoll uses two sealed double-row ball bearings, and the grease in the cavity forms a barrier to prevent dirt and debris from contacting the bearing seal and causing issues.

"This unit so far has been very trouble-free for us. MacDon service reps come out and help get us going and everything, and we had no issues throughout the fall," says Duane.

"The daily maintenance is very acceptable. (It has) spring-loaded chains so you don't have to tighten the chains daily or weekly. The other day I had a piece of wood get caught in the chain and it took it off the sprocket and that was the first time I did it myself. I took the little tool back here in the toolbox and pushed that old sprocket forward and slipped it back on probably within less than 45 seconds once I had the tool in my hand. Very easy to put the chains on and off on this."

The OctiRoll technology also uses four point-to-point knives and four serrated edges which alternate to cut and crimp the stalk every three inches; this speeds up the microbial breakdown process, helping it decompose quicker than a typical corn header. In addition, the four extra serrated blades on each OctiRoll helps to pull stalks through while consistently chopping residue into 2 to 3-inch (5 to 7.5 cm) pieces at harvesting speeds up to 7.5 mph (12 km/h)

"Today we got the knives engaged and we're chopping, but the other day we were in the creek bottom and that day I wanted to leave the residue as much possible so it won't float away when the creek bottom comes up," explains Duane. "It was very impressive how aggressive the corn head still is. The OctiRolls do a great job of sizing up the residue."

The OctiRolls aren't the only patented pieces on this machine. The FlexCorn header also utilizes MacDon's FluidMotion Hydraulic Flex, designed to provide smooth ground-following flex which responds instantly to ground fluctuation, allowing the header to float over uneven terrain — as evidenced by Duane's harvest through those drainage basins — and maintain a consistent cut height through the self-adjusting skid shoes.

"This is a 70 series Deere combine and I think it was under speculation that it would have trouble running this, but the hydraulics on this I feel like is capped out on the 70 series combine, but it is still very responsive," Duane says.

"I've got no issues with the header control up and down or the flexing when we get on these drainage basins. It's very impressive the amount of flex you get when we get on these drainage basins and how quickly it does flex up and down."

Operators also have the ability to adjust the FluidMotion system to support up to 98 percent of the header's weight on the go from inside the cab.

All of these features add up to create a pretty impressive machine, one that Duane has no hesitation recommending to those who ask him about it, even in comparison to some of the units he's been familiar with for decades as a farmer and a dealer.

"Get with your dealer, make sure you get a demo. This head does not take a backseat to any other head out there," Duane says.

"I used to sell John Deere heads and thought (the) John Deere head was the best in the business. This head does not take a backseat to it, with the lower horsepower and flexing, I think it is a superior head."

C for yourself! Set up a demo with a MacDon C or FC Series Corn Header today. Click here.

To learn more about MacDon's C Series Corn Header, click here or for FC Series Corn Header, click here. Visit your local MacDon Dealer for more detail.
 
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G&J AG LLC.
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Duane Green
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