Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Strippers are predominantly used in western Texas, where plants are shorter and
the cotton bolls tighter because of the dry and windy conditions, making removal
of the entire boll more efficient. Strippers indiscriminately remove material from
the cotton stalk including open and unopened bolls, burs, sticks, and leaves. Recent-
model strippers are usually equipped with a field cleaner that removes 55-60%
of the non-lint material before the cotton is pneumatically conveyed into a basket
(Brashears, 2005). Strippers come in two types: the brush stripper and the finger
stripper. Finger strippers use iron fingers to comb the bolls from the plant. The finger
stripper can be used when plants are planted by broadcast or in very narrowly spaced
rows, whereas the brush stripper is used when plants are in wider, evenly spaced
rows. Brush strippers feed the stalk between a rotating brush-and-paddle configura-
tion, removing virtually all material from the outside of the stalk. The vast majority
of strippers in the United States are of the brush type (Wanjura et al., 2011). John
Deere is the major manufacturer of stripper-type cotton harvesters in the world. Its
model 7460 cotton stripper harvester is able to harvest eight rows in one pass.
The two newest picker harvesters on the market are the Case IH Module Express
625 cotton harvester and the John Deere 7760 Cotton Harvester. Both systems har-
vest six rows of cotton and simultaneously build a small cotton module on board.
The Case IH picker can harvest 2.8 ha/h and builds a rectangular module of 2.4
×
2.4 × 4.7 m with a density of 144 kg/m
3
. The John Deere picker can harvest up to
3.1 ha/h and builds a 2.3 m diameter × 2.4 m long round module with a density of
240 kg/m
3
. It is also capable of wrapping and ejecting the module while picking.
Either system can harvest 32 to 40 ha/day, which is equivalent to about 480-500
hand pickers (Willcutt, 2011).
6.3.2 C
OTTON
M
ODULE
B
UILDERS
Although pickers with onboard packaging capability are now commercially avail-
able, they are very expensive, so most cotton in the United States is still harvested
with a conventional harvesting system including a four- or six-row picker, boll buggy,
and module builder (Figure 6.2). A boll buggy is essentially a basket on a trailer,
pulled by a tractor, and used to transport cotton from a harvester to a module builder.
When its basket is full, the harvester dumps the cotton in its basket into the boll
FIGURE 6.2
A cotton module builder, cotton module, and boll buggy in field.
