Due to the nature of grass seed, harvesting this lightweight crop has historically been challenging. Rotary combines with standard concaves struggled to separate and clean the seed, alongside common issues with hairpinning and plugging. Many growers have settled on using old, conventional combines for their grass seed and rotary combines for other crops… until now! KX7 concaves deliver the solution needed to achieve superior separation and grain quality, along with the flexibility needed to effectively harvest all other crops.
Seth Smith with Smith Brothers Farms turned to Kondex for a solution to his seventh-generation family farm's grass harvesting. Producing several million pounds of grass seed annually, he wanted concaves for his John Deere S-Series combine that would increase throughput, lower losses, improve overall quality, and be adaptive to his other crops. Kondex KX7 concaves delivered on all marks!
KX7’s system approach allowed Seth to customize the configuration for each crop, ensuring maximum results and profits for all crops without compromise. In his grass seed, his KX7 configuration included (from front to rear) one half-width row of MaxThresh concaves, another half-width row of MaxGrate concaves, and four rows of MaxFlow concaves. When harvesting white clover, he switches to a modified version of the MaxClosed concaves.
Only KX7 offers the unique customization to meet the needs of specialty crops, alongside more traditional crops like corn, soybeans, and wheat. Seth is thrilled that Kondex enabled him to achieve the quality and performance he was used to with his conventional combine, while enjoying the modern conveniences of a rotary combine.
“We started using Kondex KX7 concaves in our grass seed production, and we’ve seen a very substantial increase in grain quality and throughput with our combines," Seth stated. "Cleanouts are exceptionally low and the easability of changing… you can’t go back to the other way!”
Dial in your best harvest with KX7 for all your crops and conditions!