Safety Specialist: Good Swathing Provides Start to Safer Harvest

Because combines must follow the path of the swather, safe combining of a swathed field is heavily influenced by how the swathing was done, notes a North Dakota State University agricultural safety specialist.

"The combine is a large machine with a high center of gravity," notes George Maher of the NDSU Extension Service. "Swather operators need to take combine operation into account when they’re laying down those swaths."

Drivers of combines with full or nearly full grain tanks should avoid sharp turns on hillsides. That means you should swath so that sharp turns on steep hillsides can be avoided when combining, Maher says. Starting and stopping combine movement on steep hillsides can also be difficult to do safely, so even swaths in those locations are important..

"The speed of the swather and combine in the field is directly affected by the density of the crop and the lay of the land," Maher says. "Much of the region is expecting a better than average crop this year. That heavy crop along with lodging and wet field conditions may require a slower operating speed, so allow more time for swathing heavier crops. Trying to swath with the same speed as in a light stand will result in more plugging and more stops, raising the opportunity for an accident." Those stops and plugs will create large bunches of crop material, or slugs, that will require the combine operator to stop and start frequently and may cause plugging in the combine.

"Swathing at the proper speed, according to crop conditions and the lay of the land, is safer and will take less time than swathing with frequent stops for unplugging," Maher says.

A grain drill puts less weight on the ground for the width covered, so it is easy to plant a crop too close to the edge of a bank, or drop-off for safe combining, Maher notes. "Try to lay the swath as far from the edge as possible since the weight of the combine can cause the soil to shear off. Swathing too close to the edge of a steep bank or drop-off can put the combine operator in real danger."

Because of its higher center of gravity, a combine does not have the same degree of stability as a swather, Maher notes. Consequently erosion gullies and ditches present a real harvest hazard for the combine operator. Be sure to swath carefully around and across those hazards.

Adding extensions to the grain tank will raise the combine's center of gravity significantly, Maher notes. When a combine wheel drops into a gully or ditch, the grain in the tank can shift causing the combine's center of gravity to change. This change in the center of gravity and the momentum of the machine can cause the combine to tip.

Maher says swather operators need to remember that self-propelled combines steer differently than most of the other equipment that farm-workers usually operate. Rear steering causes the back end of the combine to swing wide as the machine goes through a turn. "The attention of the combine operator is usually focused towards the front of the machine and he may not always be aware of where the rear of the combine is going," he says.

Always make a backward swath around obstructions such as power line and telephone poles, Maher says. This swath will be opposite in direction to the general flow of traffic around the obstruction. This reduces the chance of hitting the pole since the backward swath will cause the combine operator to drive around the pole with the grain auger on the outside of the turn. Such a procedure can also be useful in opening a field for safer and more convenient combining.

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Source: George Maher, (701) 231-8288, gmaher@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Tom Jirik, (701) 231-9629, tjirik@ndsuext.nodak.edu