Cotton pickers

[acem]

 

 

[jworley]

Around south and central Georgia, up until 1989 CaseIh and JD were about 50/50 in the cotton picker market. JD may have had a slight edge because they came out with the 9940 four row machine in 1981 and the 9950 in 85. CaseIh didn’t have a four row machine until 87(the 1844 and later the 2044).Prior to that they were all two row going back to the days of one row pickers mounted on backwards running tractors in the 40s/50s. The heads on all those machines were fairly similar in operation.

In 1989 John Deere introduced the in-line head and telescoping basket on the 9960(later on they were the 9965 then 9970).The heads had both picking drums on one side of the row making the heads more narrow and opening up the possibility of 30 in row cotton. While the 30 in rows didn’t work out here, the narrower heads made service much easier and the telescoping basket could hold more, then be lowered for easier transport and storage. The in-line heads also made it possible to run front dual wheels for more floatation and stability. They sold them as fast as they could build them.

Around 1993 Caseih changed the way the heads mounted on the machine and a few changes to the configuration of the heads so that mounting front duals was possible(the 2155 and later the 2555 could also be had as a 5 row 30 inch with hydraulic head spacing or moving them apart for service) Sales seemed to catch up with Deere for a few years after that.  
     Around 1997-98 Deere introduced the six row picker, the 9976. They took over the market then. I don’t recall exactly when but Caseih introduced new 4 and six row machines around 2000. The 420 and 620. There were a good many 620s around here but only a few 420s. Around 2007 they introduced the one board module building picker based on the 620 chassis. It made half length modules on the go but had to stop to unload and tarps had to be put on the modules by hand. It took about two minutes to unload and they were either dropped in the field when the modules where complete or the picker had to drive to the end of the field to unload.

In 2008 Deere introduced the round module building picker based on a new heavier chassis(the 7760 and later the CP690 and 790)It has an accumulator that the cotton goes in prior to the baling chamber (the baler doesn’t run constantly), when the accumulator is full the cotton is then transferred to the baling chamber which allows non stop picking. The modules are automatically wrapped in plastic and kicked out of the bale chamber onto forks on the back of the machine and can be dropped wherever desired. Since those machines were introduced you can hardly give away a CaseIh module picker. 
 CaseIh still has 4 and 6 row pickers on their website but I haven’t seen a new four row for probably close to 20 years. A neighbor bought two 630 6 row machines around 2018, that was the last new ones I recall seeing around here. 
 Deere stopped production on the 9970 4 row around 2005 if I recall correctly. 

Here’s a pic of a Chinese copy of the John Deere. And a video 

 

 

[acem]

Cotton is not as big a crop in Arkansas as it was years ago.

This and the increasing size of pickers are substantially reducing picker sales.

 

[jworley]

It’ll take three thousand bales of cotton to pay for it. A farmer has to go over a lot of acres to pay for one. It would probably take 2500 acres a year to justify the cost, it would take ten years for payout.

Fewer farmers working more acres is also reducing picker numbers. I don’t see another American company making the investment it would take to produce a competitive machine. Evidently smaller machines (4 row) weren’t selling enough to keep producing them even though there are still a lot of smaller farmers who could justify the expense of a smaller machine, even some that could use a new two row 1822 or 9930.

My uncle and his brother had a cotton gin up until the late 70s, in a good year they would gin 8-9000 bales. The gin next door to my employer can do that in a week during good conditions(dry).

[Dirt_Floor_Poor]

24 minutes ago, jworley said:

It’ll take three thousand bales of cotton to pay for it. A farmer has to go over a lot of acres to pay for one. It would probably take 2500 acres a year to justify the cost, it would take ten years for payout.

Fewer farmers working more acres is also reducing picker numbers. I don’t see another American company making the investment it would take to produce a competitive machine. Evidently smaller machines (4 row) weren’t selling enough to keep producing them even though there are still a lot of smaller farmers who could justify the expense of a smaller machine, even some that could use a new two row 1822 or 9930.

My uncle and his brother had a cotton gin up until the late 70s, in a good year they would gin 8-9000 bales. The gin next door to my employer can do that in a week during good conditions(dry).

2,500 acres with a six row machine sounds like a lot of running. What row width are we talking here? It’s been a long time since we ran a six row corn head, but we never put anywhere near 2,500 acres through that. 

[jworley]

It’s mostly in 36 inch rows here and you gotta be humping to get over 2500 acres. Generally speaking, cotton picking around here is late September to December depending on weather, 

 And, this is just generalizing on acres/costs, it changes from one farmer to another and in different areas. A farmer can easily be tied up  for 40 days or more picking cotton.

[acem]

The cotton farmers I know in the delta cover alot more ground than 2500 acres. Most over twice that.

Years ago many cotton farmers in the delta didn't even own a combine. They just grew cotton. Most have diversified into corn and beans. They adjust the average based on price.

Thx-Ace 

[jworley]

They have way bigger fields in the delta than what we have here. There’s some here who cover more than 2500 here and some do less. I’m just talking generalities because I don’t know everybody’s situation. The Mississippi delta is a whole different ballgame from Georgia. From what I understand, most around here pick somewhere between 70-110 acres a day, depending on how long the rows are, field shape and how much they have to move. We have a customer that farms about 2200 acres and the biggest field he has is about 40-50 acres and he’s probably scattered 25 miles from end to end. We have another that’s probably 6000 acres and scattered 35 miles from end to end but it’s several big farms with big fields close together with the larger ones being 150+.

We have another that has maybe 750 acres of his own cotton that has a Deere module picker and does custom picking. He starts in early September and goes until late December, there’s no telling how many acres he goes over every year with that picker.

What I used for payout is, $.90 cotton, but it’s not $.90 all the time, it could be $.55 or $1.25, that makes a significant time difference for a payoff.

At $.55 it’ll take 4600 bales of cotton to pay for it. Of course if he’s selling much cotton at $.55 he won’t have to worry about it for long.

[Dirt_Floor_Poor]

70-110 acres a day here would be getting along awfully good with an 18’ swath. But, the non stop harvesting would make a huge difference. There was a guy that was trying to raise cotton in Carrollton, Missouri a few years ago. That is southeast of me, but not that far away. 50 miles or so. They claimed it was the northern most cotton raised in the country. I have no idea if he is still doing it or if it was ever profitable. My family’s experience with cotton ended when my mom’s dad stopped picking it by hand in southern Oklahoma many years ago. That was a fact about his life I never knew until just before he passed away. 

[jworley]

You can start in the morning as soon as the seed will crack and sometimes can go late into the night depending on the weather. Somebody that can keep his backside in the seat can cover a lot of ground with one, the only time they have to stop is if they run out of wrap during the day. The module riding on the forks can be dropped wherever desired without stopping. 
The first time I saw one run, my son and I were sitting in the truck watching him for about 45 minutes or an hour, I told him “that thing has picked more acres since we’ve been sitting here than what we used to do all day with a 9930”. 
Cotton picking never reached the level of mechanization of grain harvest until John Deere released the 7760.

My mother’s parents were share croppers, she grew up picking by hand in Dooly County Georgia. 
 Grandma said they all about starved to death when the boll weevil came to Dooly County.

[acem]

"Cotton on the roadside Cotton in the ditch 

We all picked the cotton but we never got rich"

 

[acem]

There is a picture of 20 new IH cotton pickers leaving Dumas Arkansas south down US65.  All heading to one farm!

Wish I had a copy of that pic...

Wish I had the commission from selling 20 new cotton pickers!!!

Thx-Ace 

 

[jworley]

I saw an old newspaper clipping about the first IH cotton picker sold in Georgia, from a dealership in Fulton County (Atlanta) to a farm “just down the road”. It’s a pretty good drive from Atlanta to a cotton field now.

[twostepn2001]

10 hours ago, acem said:

There is a picture of 20 new IH cotton pickers leaving Dumas Arkansas south down US65.  All heading to one farm!

ls this the pic you're talking about? lf l remember right, the story is a big producer bought all these new machine from the IH plant in Memphis but he didn't want to pay shipping costs so he hired a bunch of drivers to drive them to Arkansas.

[acem]

Could be.

I've never seen the picture, just heard about it. Supposedly was hanging at the dealership in Dumas Arkansas for years. A tornado destroyed the building and probably scattered it to the wind.

A friend has seen the pic. I'll show it was him to see if it's the same.

I'd still like the commission off that sale!

There are some old farms in the area with over 10,000 acres. Pickens Plantation, Tiller and Company, etc.

Thx-Ace 

[acem]

The older style cotton picker. It's a good read!

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1957/08/cotton-picker/642369/

[acem]

Cotton picker development.

Rust Cotton Picker Co, Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co, Ben Pearson Manufacturing Co

Fearing that destruction of the sharecropping system would lead to social chaos, Memphis political boss E.H. Crump called for legislation to ban cotton-picking machines in Tennessee.

https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2009/jan/18/cotton-picking-idea-grew-arkansas-20090118/

 

[searcyfarms]

wow that is some very interesting and neat stuff - had no idea being a midwest flatlander no cotton here used to be some tobacco but most of that is long gone too

[acem]

There's still cotton grown in Missouri. Mostly in the bootheel but there is some around Joplin.

[Eason]

On 1/4/2023 at 3:19 PM, jworley said:

Around south and central Georgia, up until 1989 CaseIh and JD were about 50/50 in the cotton picker market. JD may have had a slight edge because they came out with the 9940 four row machine in 1981 and the 9950 in 85. CaseIh didn’t have a four row machine until 87(the 1844 and later the 2044).Prior to that they were all two row going back to the days of one row pickers mounted on backwards running tractors in the 40s/50s. The heads on all those machines were fairly similar in operation.

In 1989 John Deere introduced the in-line head and telescoping basket on the 9960(later on they were the 9965 then 9970).The heads had both picking drums on one side of the row making the heads more narrow and opening up the possibility of 30 in row cotton. While the 30 in rows didn’t work out here, the narrower heads made service much easier and the telescoping basket could hold more, then be lowered for easier transport and storage. The in-line heads also made it possible to run front dual wheels for more floatation and stability. They sold them as fast as they could build them.

Around 1993 Caseih changed the way the heads mounted on the machine and a few changes to the configuration of the heads so that mounting front duals was possible(the 2155 and later the 2555 could also be had as a 5 row 30 inch with hydraulic head spacing or moving them apart for service) Sales seemed to catch up with Deere for a few years after that.  
     Around 1997-98 Deere introduced the six row picker, the 9976. They took over the market then. I don’t recall exactly when but Caseih introduced new 4 and six row machines around 2000. The 420 and 620. There were a good many 620s around here but only a few 420s. Around 2007 they introduced the one board module building picker based on the 620 chassis. It made half length modules on the go but had to stop to unload and tarps had to be put on the modules by hand. It took about two minutes to unload and they were either dropped in the field when the modules where complete or the picker had to drive to the end of the field to unload.

In 2008 Deere introduced the round module building picker based on a new heavier chassis(the 7760 and later the CP690 and 790)It has an accumulator that the cotton goes in prior to the baling chamber (the baler doesn’t run constantly), when the accumulator is full the cotton is then transferred to the baling chamber which allows non stop picking. The modules are automatically wrapped in plastic and kicked out of the bale chamber onto forks on the back of the machine and can be dropped wherever desired. Since those machines were introduced you can hardly give away a CaseIh module picker. 
 CaseIh still has 4 and 6 row pickers on their website but I haven’t seen a new four row for probably close to 20 years. A neighbor bought two 630 6 row machines around 2018, that was the last new ones I recall seeing around here. 
 Deere stopped production on the 9970 4 row around 2005 if I recall correctly. 

Here’s a pic of a Chinese copy of the John Deere. And a video 

 

 

 

[Eason]

IH came out with the 1844 in limited quantities in 1984. All of the early literature was airbrushed IH literature with CaseIH added.

[jworley]

I was going off memory and not a historical timeline and had 1987 stuck in my head. 
After a quick search all I could find for production years for 1844s, they started in 1989.

 

After some more looking, I found a National Cotton Council  article that says they were announced in 85.

[acem]

1844 cotton pickers have the HD square axle from the 5488 tractors.

[IHHarvester886]

Here in South Carolina Basket/Module picking has pretty much went to the wayside it’s become uncommon to see modules sitting around the edge of the fields at harvest time. Riding through the country side it’s not uncommon for cotton farmers to have 2 or 3 baler pickers under the shed. Basket pickers are dirt cheap then module builders and bowl buggy’s sell for scrap prices or less. Majority of the bales are hauled on step decks with kbh racks but a lot of them are still hauled in the old module trucks put 4 in a row and back up to em they’ll go in just lie the old modules. 

[tommyw-5088]

All baler pickers here , takes a big tractor or wheel loader to load them .

I dont think i have ever seen a red picker here .

 

Most people dont know there is alot of diffrence in a stripper and a picker ,a picker probally has at least 50% more parts .

 

We had oliver cotton strippers when i was a kid .