Chopping Corn Silage with a Hesston Field Queen

[@jamesbarbour8400]

Old machine, but still gets the job done. Doubtless paid for a long time ago too, unlike machines of today, whose price will keep you bankrupt your whole life ! Great aerial and ground shots, and just a basic, no nonsense commentary. Could watch this kind of thing all day. Thanks for another great video, Mike.

[@randymessinger6061]

Bought 1 new in 78. Didn't have any more power than my trade in with 3208 Cat. Had a private Detroit guru come check it out. Had 30 psi fuel pressure- book called for 77. Found a restricting valve in return line put in by Hesston ( come to find out later to protect cutter assembly because it was designed years earlier for a pull type and rated at 100 H.P, ) Ran like it had 2 engines behind you but if pushed hard would break top feed roll. Ran it by rep at meeting that winter. Said '' YOU FOUND THAT? Don't tell anyone here please.'' Side dumps didn't have it in fuel line. That 6V-71 was a big horse in the day.

[@jti2007]

Field Queen started in Maize, KS as cutters for a dehydrated alfalfa plant there. They made alfalfa pellets for cattle and horse feed. As the cost of fuel to dry the alfalfa increased the cost of production was too high to be competitive so they branched out into row crop choppers. Hesston wanted to expand their line of forage harvesters to include a SP model so they bought out Field Queen and transitioned to the Hesston logo and colors. Hesston ended up going thru a financial crisis and they were forced to sell off or eliminate a number of product lines, one of which was their forage harvesters. A group of former Field Queen and Hesston employees bought the manufacturing rights and equipment and started Maize Corp in Maize, KS to support and build parts for the Hesston/Field Queen choppers.

[@hankelrod7315]

I still use a 7655 side dump every year. It’s the best 1 man silage system ever built. I leave wagon at blower or Bagger & run chopper back & forth. I have filled a 14x60 by myself in 1 day.

[@farmhandmike]

Sounds like we need to talk about a future video. Where are you from. You can email me if you want at [e-mail]

[@YouT-DJ]

I was always mesmerized as a kid at how much material those old blowers could move up the tube!

[@richardweinhold6719]

These are the videos I really love, somewhat rare equipment still out there getting the job done! The shots from the ground as it drove bye were really appreciated. Thanks again Mike for another great video!

[@oe542]

What a nice looking farm. Very clean and neat. I can smell that silage right now.

[@paulpochan9631]

Never saw one before....I like it...with a 2-stroke "Screamin' Jimmy".....!!!!

[@scruffy6151]

Sweet looking old self-propelled chopper still making feed. Congratulation on 100,000 Mike.

[@johnstoltzfus8772]

Nice equipment that paid for its self many times!

[@bobsmith1814]

I always enjoy watching forage harvesting video. That Speed Queen forage harvester was really cool piece of machinery

[@Snowtruckdriver]

This was an excellent video on the old Hesston Chopper. My Dad did custom Chopping in the '70's out in Washington. He had a three row John Deere self propelled and two #38 John Deeres pulled by a 4020 and a 4520 John Deere. He used to put up over 200,000 tons of silage per year.

[@rogereide]

Fun to watch this old equipment working the fields. So unusual to see silage going into upright silos too.

[@farmhandmike]

Yes not many farmers filling upright silos these days

[@ScottPykare]

3 rows at a time but she gets its done. Wonder how many thousands of acres it's harvested? Cool video Mike.

[@stevebinns9421]

nice video, like to see the older equipment still being used

[@integritytransport8762]

I attended ag school in the Netherlands in the mid 70s. A coop was running a few of the Field Queens with dump boxes then. They chopping grass, drying it and cubing it. I thought thatt those machines were awesome.

[@johnfurnival4133]

Very advanced machine back in the day

[@jeffrosen8237]

Have you ever filmed any fox choppers? I used to work for a dealer in Shawano Wisconsin. We sold fox choppers. I have even hauled some out of the plant in Appleton.. i enjoy seeing old iron still working in the fields!

[@stevee4627]

Loved the video and your channel. Thanks Mike for what you share.

[@edzimdahl1158]

My Dad worked at Gehl in west bend wis, so when we needed/desired a piece of equipment it was Gehl, great part was employees with farms could sign out equipment from testing dept, where they would try new designs, redesign, new models, and tell employees,,,push it to the limit, prefer weak point break in testing rather than after in production and in the field

[@benhall2146]

Thank you for all your variety of equipment and your narration!!!!!! Keep up the great work!!!

[@gregjames666]

love seeing the old forage wagons.

[@sampsonsfarm6636]

Awsome video love the vintage use of farm equipment

[@kevingrahl7254]

Great video Mike. I remember watching these at farm progress show when I attended as a teen in the 70"s. Still a few around here in wisconsin.

[@redroot2923]

I remember them from the farm progress show…maybe in the 70’s. They were impressive at the time. Rebuilt one in the 90’s with a dump box ( a Field Queen) and used it to fill a bunker for a few years in N IL.

[@philipalanparish65]

Hi Mike , My father worked for Heston in the early 70’s in Indiana. He’s 81 and can tell some stories. He was there when they had field queen and helped start the round balers and stack hands we are located 10 miles west of New Castle Indians. About halfway between Indianapolis and Ohio

[@farmhandmike]

Ask your dad if he knows Frank Gall? He's retired now but is relation to my wife and was a Hesston rep back in the day in Ohio and Pennsylvania and maybe other states as well.

[@WSmith2024]

Congratulations Mr. Mike, great video, thanks for posting.

[@markreetz1001]

Congrats on 100K! Very cool Mike!! I like seeing old machinery still gettin it done!!

[@robertclark4929]

I remember as a kid in the 70s a local farm had an old Fox chopper. No cab. Primitive.

[@dksonie]

I have work at one that had a hesston field queen 7650. Fun machines to maintain and i have work at one that had hesston field queen 7650. Fun machines to maintain. had a V6 engine from Detroit

[@shawnfox8002]

Nice to see those gehl silage wagon my neighbor used them and used a versatile 875 with gehl chopper for corn and hay.

[@farmhandmike]

Now that would be an awesome KZbin video. Does he still use all of that lineup?

[@shawnfox8002]

No he passed away from brain cancer some yrs ago and the dairy operation was sold his son still farms the ground the a.o. Smith harvestors was taken down the parlor taken down I think its missed I know I miss it .

[@42lookc]

A thing of beauty!

[@donevens4357]

Always enjoy your videos Mike! I subscribed a long time ago, and still enjoy them. I got to run a yellow field queen in the late 70's. It had the Cat and a 3 row and we chopped on the go around the clock in 3 shifts. All was put in 2 large pits. At the time it was 1 of the largest cattle operations in Ashton IL. Contract's on the 100,000! I love the old iron @ 63 years old.

[@OpunktSchmidt1301]

Oldie but goodie! Thanks a lot for the video! 😊👍🏻

[@mfreund15448]

That chopper was a speed demon for it day. It still eats very quickly!

[@billbaas1402]

Great video and man what a clean looking farm..

[@SimonKL11]

The field queen is a nice machine👍😉 Congrats on hitting 100k subscribers, you really deserved it👍👍 looking forward to see many more great videos from you😁👍

[@404nitro]

Pretty cool old machine. Great to see it in action.Congrats on hitting the 100K sub mark Mike!

[@tomharmon5198]

We had a field queen up until about 2012

[@codyludwig2811]

Ive never seen ior heard of these choppers, Ive only seen John Deere ,New Holland, Claas, Krone, and Fendt choppers but this one I like since its half the length of the monster sized chopper around now

[@keenankelley187]

Bert and Wetta Corp outta Maize Kansas built these. Still in business today just in the hay pellet business in Abilene Kansas. I’m from Maize still a few around here.

[@charleshagenbuch6078]

You can hear the ol' Detroit scream in side shots.👍

[@ollie-lk5dx]

Awesome I never saw one of them before.

[@markfleck7981]

When I was growing up on the farm my dad worked on the farm to have one he’s choppers and he got to run one but it was a 7600 and it had the 310 horse cat motor in it

[@Snowtruckdriver]

First of all congrats on 100K. I saw one of these back in the mid 70's out in Washington State. Dad ran a custom outfit with two JD 38 pull types and had just bought a used John Deere mid 70's three row self propelled. It was equivalent to the Field Queen. This video brought back great memories. Keep up the good work my friend. Happy Thanksgiving and upcoming holiday season.

[@ethanthopy1996]

Does this farm still milk cows? If so this is one of the nicest small dairies I've seen in a long time!

[@farmhandmike]

I think they are just feeding beef cattle now but yes it’s a nice place

[@ethanthopy1996]

@@farmhandmike either way still a nice setup!

[@JDrostAgricultureVideoNL]

Nice video, greetings Johan

[@marcelocunico6119]

Great vídeo Mike.

[@Ghis1964s]

My guess is that FieldQueen were using a Hesston silage-unit (cut-off pull type). Funny thing about how manufacturing companies "bed-deal". We had a 7020 Hesston and switched to an IH-720 (made by New-Idea, which also made the same for Ford) back in 1981 because it was way less demanding on the tractor, and it enabled us to upgrade to a 2 row header. Later that decade, IH switched their New-Idea models of pull-type silage harvesters to the Hesston makes. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ edit; Have a look at this FieldQueen in France (video just went out as I speak). Its header still have the old cutter-bar instead of the rolling-scissor disk kzbin.info/www/bejne/gKDXmouphNKrnrM

[@munemrabadi809]

I almost bought the exact selfpropeled chopper and ended up getting a pull behind.

[@johnkolbjr8375]

Congratulations on 100,000, Mike

[@andywintz959]

There was a company in Lake Park, Iowa called ARCO Dehydrating that had a couple of Field Queens with the boxes on the back. They had pick up heads for picking up alfalfa that they made into pellets.

[@jaybernieschoep3491]

versatile should build a self propelled chopper using the same engine they use in their biggest versatile tractor with a variety of heads.

[@craigsimon2070]

For its time it was the class act.

[@farmboy5622]

Congratulations Mike on 100K subscribers!!! Had to use higher math on the 3 and 4 rows,.....Had to count higher than 2!!!

[@patrickpat8878]

It remember me when I was 8 years old in 1976 , I was working for a farmer and he as only old machinery and large land , it was taking days ……. But I was paid by hours …

[@chrissyfrancis8952]

I LOVE that barn with the domed roof. I wonder how old it is.

[@codyoslin6594]

We got a yellow 7600.

[@shealy265]

Congrats on 100K subs.

[@fanaticfarmer7094]

Congratulations on 100k 🎉

[@CristianAlexisFuentesBenito]

Que bien le venía el maíz a mis vacas y ovejas!!saludos

[@anthonyl950]

Was just back home at mom and dad's this past week in Canfield, and still a lot of corn and soybeans in the fields. Have you talked with your dad about when harvest will be back home?

[@sevans1178]

Congrats on 100,000!!!!!

[@jeffreyshier9021]

Cool.

[@chrisgossman6512]

Congratulations on 100,000 Subscribers. I know I have been one of the early subscribers and always click "Like". I like Mike. I have so many questions on this video. 3 row, storage, old equipment, yields. If newer corn seeds get higher yields for a farm like this year over year and they have limited storage's. Do they plant fewer acres or sell off surplus crop or find other means? I saw two silos.

[@farmhandmike]

I'm pretty sure these guys grain farm as well so yes any corn not chopped for silage or not used for feed would most likely be marketed elsewhere.

[@jameskelley8839]

would this likely have been prior to any kernel processor or hammer mil? all those kernels going THROUGH your cattle?

[@farmhandmike]

Yes these were definitely before the processor days.

[@farmshoffman8475]

Great awesome video mike, love the old Hesston self propelled harvester Does he have a pickup head for haylage too ?

[@samellis4054]

Now this is cool

[@leonkoehler1979]

Never seen silage stored in silos before only in pits/bunkers or on pads is it common in areas or is it a rare practice these days

[@farmhandmike]

Back in the day pretty much everyone filled upright silos but they have pretty much became a thing of the past.

[@randymonninger9913]

All depends were you looking

[@frank64409]

To me, it looks like there is much less silage waste than I've seen in your other KZbin post.

[@farmhandmike]

No doubt there is less waste doing it this way but the time it takes to hook & unhook and unload wagons plus filling upright silos takes too long in the bigger operations today.

[@cidertom5140]

Nothing sounds like a Detroit at full wack.

[@unidentifiable6152]

100000 great job

[@staudtj1]

Does silage put into a silo compress well for storage?

[@gavinwill4291]

Hi Mike. Great video loved all the video angles. Does this machine have any sort of kernel processor in it?. Gavin.

[@farmhandmike]

No on the processor. These were built way before that was a thing.

[@gavinwill4291]

@@farmhandmike Thanks mike

[@adamwiblom6880]

100 000 Nice work mike

[@chrissyfrancis8952]

I didn’t know silage could be stored in a silo bc I’ve only seen them put it in piles & pack it down. Does it ferment the same way?

[@farmhandmike]

Yes back in the day everyone used upright silos but they have pretty much became a thing of the past. Yes it ferments the same way.

[@chrissyfrancis8952]

@@farmhandmike I live in PA, the Amish farms still use the block/mortar silos for grain storage. I assume feed grain doesn’t need to have the circulating air & temperature control. Right? It makes sense that silage in a silo would compress itself from its own weight to ferment. I picture the silage fermentation process like pickling fermentation. Thanks Mike. I LOVE learning about Ag. I always knew our farmers worked incredibly hard & that the government has made their lives miserable for decades, but never knew just how diverse their skills are, plus everything they endure to feed & fuel our country until I started watching farmtubers. I seriously think kids should have to take a class & learn about how their food gets to their table. Maybe they’d be more appreciative.

[@franciscosandiego3026]

I like Mike less videos on KZbin, from the imperial co California.

[@mickoostingh5777]

what is a snapper head?

[@farmhandmike]

It’s a corn head like on a combine. I guess the reason they say snapper head when used on a forage harvester is your snapping off the ear for silage which is often referred to as snaplage or earlage.

[@dannaumann9758]

Wonder if it has “auto-steer”.?

[@edreisinger5757]

I think it has Armstrong Auto steer.

[@Anonymous..VQ3.5Lg35]

Never seen one of these choppers, this looks weird lol

[@MCMLXXXIV1984]

Let's go Brandon!

[@user-vr7pi9jh4c]

Кск, ты ли это??

[@marianhoban9086]

not! CookT!

[@marianhoban9086]

copT!