Switching from Deere to Capture More Corn
For Geoff Ruth, harvest season in central Nebraska is an exciting time –– especially since switching his corn head from a Deere to a Drago last year.
“This will be the second harvest with it, and I’m excited to get it back on the combine and go here in the next couple weeks,” he said.
Kernel losses add up
A self-proclaimed “Deere guy,” Geoff had always run a John Deere combine and corn head combination — until he started to notice costly issues with yield loss.
“We were noticing quite a bit of header loss; ears were bouncing out of the front side of the head, and stuff was getting run down through the stripper plates, so the knife rolls were grinding it up,” he says.
The issues were even more apparent from afar. “I have a hired man who’s in the grain cart most of the time, so he was the one noticing ears flying out of the sides. He’d say on the radio, ‘Hey man, you’re losing ears.’”
But he says, “Once we got the Drago, all of a sudden I wasn’t getting those calls over the radio anymore.”
And in today’s economy, preserving that yield is more important than ever. “Especially when corn has lost 20%-30% of its value, you don’t want to see it on the ground,” Geoff said.
Drago vs. Deere parts and technology
Geoff’s experience with yield loss isn’t uncommon, which is where Drago technology outperforms traditional corn heads.
“Once we switched to Drago, the ears gather a lot farther back into the head and the rollers move a lot slower, so we aren’t seeing those ears bounce out,” he said.
Greater yield capture makes sense when taking a closer look at Drago corn head features compared to a Deere. At 22.5 inches, Drago’s knife rollers are 20% longer than Deere’s and revolve at a slower RPM. The added length and slower speed increase processing time, reducing shelling without sacrificing ground speed.
Drago deck plates also self-adjust to the size of the stalk automatically, while hydraulic deck plates on Deere heads must be controlled from the cab, with an identical gap across all rows of the header.
“The other thing I really enjoy about the Drago is they have a hood over the center feeder house; with Deere we were constantly pulling ears off the top of the feeder house. We don’t have to do any of that anymore –– that deflecting shield point takes care of that,” he said. See a more in-depth comparison of Drago vs. Deere features here.
Excelling in down corn capture
His Deere corn head’s shortcomings with down corn capture were another motivator to switch. While storms in 2022 and 2023 resulted in a lot of down corn in his acres, the advantages of using a Drago corn head in 2023 were immediately clear.
“Where we had down corn, with the Deere head it seemed like we were constantly getting out and trying to unplug the snoots or get the dirt out,” Geoff said.
“We had a lot of down corn last year and never once had to get out and push it out of the head with Drago.”
Making the switch
How did Geoff know the timing was right to purchase a Drago for his operation?
“Initially I saw them at some farm shows and certainly liked what I saw, but sometimes at farm shows you don’t see real-world application of it,” he said.
Fellow grower reviews go a long way, and Geoff’s local Drago rep was able to put him in touch with a Drago owner on an operation similar to his own. “The dealer put me in touch with another guy who owned a 12-row folding corn head, and he put all my fears at ease,” he said.
Parts and maintenance
When it comes to maintenance, Geoff finds upkeep simpler with his Drago.
“It’s quite a bit easier; there are quite a few more grease zerks, but they’re easy to get to and with an electric grease gun you can do it all in 15 minutes,” he said.
“We’re pretty good about using whatever the manufacturer says for parts. Recently, Deere prices have gotten out of control, and we’ll cheapen some of those replacements, but not on Drago. We’ll certainly use all their parts and recommended grease,” Geoff said.
Drago is proud to help growers like Geoff capture more kernels, preserve ROI and cut downtime during the high stakes of harvest season.