Grain-loss measurement company BranValt has introduced the Dual Narrow Pan, a collection pan designed to stay stable when it drops from a combine into tall, dense or uneven stubble, so that farmers collect a representative sample of the grain being left in the field.

The add-on puts two narrow pans side by side on a reinforced frame. It is meant for corn, sunflower, rapeseed and tall canola, and for crops harvested with a stripper header, where the company's standard wide pan can tip or shift as it lands. It fits BranValt's 40-inch SmartPan system, using the existing carrier and remote release, and works with most combine configurations.

The point is calibration: combine loss sensors must be checked against a measured field sample to show accurately how much grain is leaving the machine. "Remote drop pans collect real data, not estimates," said Marcel Kringe, BranValt's founder and chief executive, adding that operators can measure losses within minutes and adjust the combine.

Kringe said most uncalibrated combines leave two to five bushels an acre in the field. The Dual Narrow Pan and the SmartPan system are sold through BranValt's dealer network. The report was written by Curt Bennink.

Photo: Nyttend / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

Source: Successful Farming