Whether you’re new to harvesting small grains or looking to fine tune your system, join us for two new videos as we find out how Damon scouts for Fusarium head blight during the season and how Chuck prepares the combine for small grain harvest.
In Fusarium Head Blight Management and Harvesting in Organic Wheat, Professor Damon Smith, Extension Field Crops Pathologist at UW–Madison, shows us how to scout for Fusarium head blight during grain fill and how to optimize harvest in high disease pressure areas. Fusarium head blight is the disease responsible for causing DON or vomitoxin, which can make humans and animals sick. Combine settings are a good initial cleaning method to reduce mycotoxin levels in harvested grain. While scouting can provide an idea of where this disease may be an issue, it’s still important to have grain tested after harvest. If testing shows elevate levels, post-harvest grain cleaning may be used to further reduce these toxins.
In Optimizing Wheat Harvest, Charles Breneman, Equipment Operator at UW Arlington Research Station, shares how he prepares the combine for small grain harvest and how he dials in his settings based on what he’s seeing in the field. Each combine is unique, so check your user manual for your machine’s recommended crop settings. This provides a good starting point, but field conditions, grains, and goals vary so it is important to evaluate and adjust as you harvest.