Helianthus headers for Sunflowers

[JPSGT40]

A comparison of a special Helianthus sunflower-specific header vs. traditional corn+sunflower header.

Test Equipment:
New Holland CR10.90 (harvester)
Capello Quasar HS16 (corn + sunflower 12 meter header)
Capello Helianthus 12000 (sunflower-only 12 meter header)

All equipment at 100% health at start of each run.
Identical conditions (same save loaded) for each run.

Test Field:
Ravenport Field 3, approx. 5.04 acres
Sunflowers
100% Fertilized
No Weeds (weeds disabled)
Limed and Plowed

Corn+Sunflower Header Results:
Quasar HS16 yield = 21056 liters
Header repair after job = $36
Time to complete harvest = 17 minutes

Helianthus Header Results:
Helianthus 12000 yield = 21056 liters
Header repair after job = $12
Time to complete harvest = 13 minutes


Advantages of Helianthus header:
1. 50% faster operating speed than corn headers (9 MPH vs. 6 MPH).
2. 1/3 the operating/maintenance cost vs. corn header ($12 vs. $36).


Disadvantages of Helianthus header:
1. Extra expense of buying a special-purpose header that can only be used for 1 type of crop. I say it's an "extra expense" because you would almost certainly already have a traditional corn header that can also do sunflowers.
2. Extra expense of needing a header trailer -- none of the Helianthus headers are available with wheels and there are no folding models like the Quasar HS16.



Some things you may be be wondering:

1. "But I read that Helianthus headers give more yield than corn headers!"
Yeah, we've all read that "out there on the Internet," but it doesn't hold true in FS19. Mods can do it, but that would be up to the individual gamer's choice.


2. "If Helianthus headers are 50% faster why don't your harvest times reflect that?"
Because on small fields (like the field I test on) the harvester spends as much time turning around at the end of each row as it does actually harvesting the row. The time the AI wastes doing its turn-around "dance" seems to be just as bad regardless of which header you use. On large fields with fewer turn-arounds required you would realize more of the 50% speed advantage in your total field harvest time. Your mileage may vary.


3. "Which header trailer works best for the Helianthus 12000?"
I had been using the Leguan 40 trailer but several times I found the header to be "magnetized" to the trailer and had a real hard time getting it detached, and other times it would simply fall off that trailer for no apparent reason. I recently switched to the Elmer's Cutter Trailer (available in the Giants mod hub) and so far haven't had any such problems. Again, your mileage may vary.

[Usedfireball]

Things are obviously different in the real world, but so far in game have not found a need to ever own one of those specialty sunflower headers, only reason for one would be extra large fields on an extra large map, and then it only comes down to time savings.

In a real world situation those sunflower headers have pans that collect seeds that fall out before the heads fully enter the header, where as a corn head style one does not... So the corn head style headers should have a yield penalty in sunflowers but they do not in game.

Also any corn heads used for sunflowers would have a place to cut the stems, be it a rotary cutter or fixed blade that the gathering chain shears the stem off with, but either way it takes some time to switch them from one crop to another. Corn uses two stalk rollers to pull the corn stalk down and strip the ear off on the deck plates, doing this with sunflowers would lose a lot of seeds and have some heads get pulled through entirely. To use the head for sunflowers those rollers would be removed and a cutter of some kind installed instead, can harvest corn with it that way but would be taking in the top half of the plant so a lot of extra material going through the combine that doesn't need to.

Also some heads exist that look like a corn head but they are not one, most commonly known as an "All crop header". JD made one years ago that had a cutter down where the crop entered the narrow part between the snouts, could harvest soybeans (in wider rows obviously), sunflowers, sorghum/milo, or corn, but would take in the part of the plant above the ear. Similar style headers are still made but we don't use them here.