I thought I'd post something this week that many of you have never seen or maybe didn't even know existed. These are scans of 3 different single-sheet brochures I have for the Vermeer Tractor-Mounted Corn Harvester. They made a 4-row wide and a 6-row narrow version. From what I understand, you could either mount it so the tractor was facing forward like normal or you could purchase a kit from Vermeer that would reverse the controls in the cab and you could see better, almost like a combine. There was a sheller unit and a 24-roll husking bed available for it. I don't think very many of these made it out into the "real world" but if anyone has more info about these pickers, please share it with the rest of us!
I always forget the print numbers - the first brochure has a print date of 8-80, the next one is 5-78 and the last one is 11-80.
-- Edited by jdtom on Monday 11th of January 2010 09:32:00 PM
Now, you got my attention with this brochure. Any one know of one in the barn? That picker had to be built what in the mid to late 70's? from the looks of the tractors they are mounting it on.
A few years ago I talked to a guy who worked for Vermeer in Pella, Ia. He said that the company kept a few of these harvesters. I don't know how many or if they have some sort of museum down there or not.
Would like to see how they reversed everything in the cabs?
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Randy Freshour Member: White County Antique Power Association, Indiana Allis Chalmers Partners Own: 1955 Wd45, 1953 AC 66 All Crop "Small Bin" Combine, #53 3-16 plow, various other implements
jdtom, you beat me to the chase on this one! I was going to ask if anybody had seen one of these before. My Dad talks about seeing them at shows when they came out. I had never seen one but wanted to at least see pictures! Hopefully someone has one out there and we can learn more about it or see more pictures!
I recently ran across that yellow brochure , but your is much better condition, thanks for posting this. Here are phots from the 1977 Farm Progress at Washington, Iowa and 1981 , in Illinios.
This is a 6 row sheller 1981
-- Edited by Agco Heritage on Tuesday 12th of January 2010 12:53:33 AM
Up in Wisconsin the four rows were used for harvesting sweet corn for a few years.
I did see a 6 row at the Farm Progress Show in Indiana in 1979 I think it was. It was reversed on a tractor like those in the brochure. Quite the beast.
What does the brochure say the weight of the four and six row versions are? Don't think I'll be putting one on the M.
-- Edited by baart38 on Saturday 16th of January 2010 06:22:45 PM
The earlier version was 4000 lbs for the 4-row corn head, 5600 for the 6-row corn head, 3000 lbs for the sheller unit and 5000 lbs for the husker unit. Later they had lightened up the 4-row to 3000 lbs, the 6-row to 4400 lbs and the husker unit to 3200 lbs. The sheller stayed the same weight as before. By comparison, the New Idea 319 gathering unit (with mounting frame) weighs in at 2519 lbs, the 322 12-roll husking bed weighs 1468 lbs and the 315 sheller unit weighs 1167 lbs. The IH 234 Picker weighs 935 lbs for the mounting frame, 2300 lbs for the snapping unit, 1520 lbs for the husking bed and 1260 lbs for the sheller. So yeah, it wouldn't work on an "M" Farmall!
I bet if they would take the time to figure out how to make the thing a pull type, and get away from all that mounting apparatus and backward running, they could have a marketable machine. I don't see how you could see what you were doing running forward, and backward may not have been any better. If they would rig it up on a swing frame like big swathers, that could be a real winner for smaller operations. I still say there's a market for even a two row for the cattle feeding market.
Vermeer did attempt a pull-type after this, but by the time they got it all together (around 1990), there just wasn't enough interest in pickers anymore to market it. Large cattle feeders, if they want to use the cob, tend to go with high-moisture corn-cob mix in a bunker silo or in bags. I don't think there's enough smaller guys left to have a viable market . . . if there was the Chinese would be aggressively importing their 2-row machines. I'd love to see a new 2-row pull-picker that marries the New Idea 12-roller husker design to a Drago-style stalk-chopping corn head myself.
-- Edited by Tim in NJ on Monday 18th of January 2010 01:16:00 AM
There is a Vermeer picker brochure on ebay right now if anyone is interested. I do not have the item number. Just type in Vermeer picker and it should come up.
