The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1925-09-30
Thre8himg Headed GRAIN
Aided by Derrick Tables

4" HE reduction Of harvesting and
threshing expenses on the dry
land farms of the northwest has
for years held the attention Of lead
ing farmers. Ingenious individuals
have developed plans for the lower
ing OF threshing costs, so that thresh-
ing help would be little more than
harvesting or heading help. One Of
the common harvesting methods
found in western dry land districts
is the derrick table ~threshing Of
headed grain stacks.
The stacks are made long and mar
row to facilitate the drying and cur
ing Of grain. Some difficulty is
found at threshing time because it is
hard to get the grain Of these long
stacks to the thresher without extra
work. The object Of the derrick
table is to substitute horse for man
power in feeding the grain, thus cut
ting down much Of the difficulty Of
the long stacks.
The outfit consists Of a table,
mounted on wagon gears, and a der
rick on top of the table. A pulley
cable on the derrick passes from the
team to the Jackson hay forks. One
fork is set on each side of the derrick
table in order that one may be carry
ing a load while the other fork is
being dragged back to position. The
load of headed grain is dragged the
length Of the stack and lifted to the
derrick table, where men with hoe
down forms start it into the self
feeder of the separator. When a load
has been dumped on the derrick table
the fork man pulls his fork back to
the end Of the stack while the other
= fOrkload is coming in from the OppO-
site side.
Hoe-down forks used to pull grain
= down into the self feeder are
= equipped with leather straps fasten-
= ing the tines to the handle so that
t tines cannot by accident get loose and
( go into the separator. "Kickers'
l on the self feeder keep the headed
grain moving in a steady stream into
the separator.
The derrick table threshing meth.
I cd is not so much a cutting down o.
: drudgeTy in thresh stacks of headed
grain. Where grain loading is com.
d mon in the northwest, the derrick
! table method of threshing is found OF
many farms. One of the biggest vir
l. tues of this system is the even feed
e ing of grain into the separator, in
surfing work at full capacity through
the day.
In stacking headed grain for thii
method of threshing the header boz
G wagons are used as described in
) previous article.
Some wheat farmers thresh direc
from the derrick table in the field
l. the headed grain being dumped from
the header box wagons to the derricl
/. table and from there feed into tn
|, separator. This does away witt
stacking and is becoming common
= practice in many localities where ev
en- ripening of grain may be expect
= ed, reports show.
= Bulletin No. II of the Montan
State college extension service, "Re
ducing the Cost Of Montana's DR.
Land Wheat Harvest" contains a de
tailed description of the derrick tabl
system of threshing, and gives photo
81 graphs showing the plan in opera
IS ton. The bulletin may be Obtaine
from county agents or from the e.
r. tension Service at BOzeman.
Small threshing outfits with cyliI
v ders 20 to &c inches and which az
operated by, say, a 1880 tractor, ar
growing in popularity in Montan;
By means Of such an outfit a fe'
n~eighbOrs can club together, el
ut change work and do their Ow
t. ~threshing. A good mechanic VIII
sr understands a thresher can ten
IN both the tractor and the sepel
er ator If they are kept in goo
ID running order The ordinary ere
m for such an outfit consists {
five basket rack bundle wagons eac
bundle hauler doing his wi loading
v one spike pitcher at the machine an
Oh one grain hauler, with a grain sho7
re eler at the bin. Such an outfit wi
IN thresh about 1000 bushels per da,
Many farmers in Montana believ
that the small outfits are more ecC
ID nOmical.