Geringhoff Develops New Corn Head for Combine

This is a picture of a new chopping corn head I took out at Farmfest last August. It is a prototype still in development by Geringhoff. Geringhoff is a German company that I believe came out with the first chopping corn head. It picks the corn and also chops the corn stalks at the same time. These type of corn heads have gotten quite popular. You don't need to own another tractor, stalk chopper or a person to operate it.

The chopping corn head for combines have been around for a number of years. The new idea behind this prototype is that it can harvest and chop any row spacing, too. In the past corn heads were made for specific row widths. When I was growing up most corn was planted in 40-inch rows. Today the most common is 30 inches, but some farmers have gone to 20- or 22-inch row spacing. That meant you had to get a different corn head for your combine. This Geringhoff can handle any row spacing. When they get the kinks worked out it probably will become quite popular, especially for custom harvesters. Instead of having to own two or three heads for their combine, they will only need one.