Harvesting a Field

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It is best to harvest a field next to a road or a previously cut field. This allows the harvester to open a field without the wagon rolling over more cane than necessary. When a field must be harvested, the tractor and wagon will have to run over the third row of cane from the harvester. This method will inevitably damage some cane. The rows should be cut in the same direction in which they were knocked down. Narrow fields may require one opening in the center. The width of a field is important, since in wide fields more than one harvesting is required to reduce dead travel between row cutting. To maximize harvesting time the ideal number of rows, with the minimum of dead travel between row cutting, is approx. 40. Cutting can be from the outside in, or if harvesting practices indicate, perform the field harvesting and row cutting from the center out.

For example, a field that is 120 rows wide may require two openings, 18-22 rows inward from both sides. These will be cut from the inside working outward.

The 40 rows in the center will be cut from the outside working inward, as the figure shows.