Report 4: (03/17/2009)
The Role of the CaneThumper® when harvesting with large harvesters:
There has been a large increase in the usage of large chopper harvesters for harvesting sugarcane. This is especially prevalent in Brasil where there were approximately 1050 new chopper harvesters bought in 2008 alone. The main reason for this is the decrease of available labour and the world trend of green cane harvesting.
There are, however, lots of limitations and costs that come with using these large machines. They include good land preparation required, minimal slope, long lines and area’s to be able to turn or headlands.
This is where the CaneThumper® has become a help. Our partners in Brasil, brn, have done work on using the CaneThumper® to be the large chopper harvesters helper. They have done this in 2 main ways:
Cutting the entry point for the tractors and trailers and turning areas for the choppers so that they do not ride over the cane.
Decrease the short number of short lines by as much as 69%.
The following pictures outlines these jobs and usages and are made available by the exclusive dealer for Southern and Central America,
Opening for the harvesters and trailers by the CaneThumper®
Position of the trailer (row opened by CaneThumper®)
Download the complete report (PDF)about the Role of the CaneThumper® when harvesting with large harvesters
Report 3: (03/10/2009)
Alternative Crops cut and usages of the CaneThumper®:
Introduction
The sugarcane season normally does not run for the entire year. Depending on your area it ranges from 180 days to 230 days. This means that if using a CaneThumper® to cut your sugarcane then for 4 to 6 months the CaneThumper® is not utilised and the owner does not get a return on his investment. There has thus been a trend to determine other usages for the CaneThumper®. This has proved so successful that some people are buying the CaneThumper® only for other usages.
These usages include the following:
Grass cutting,
eragrostis hay cutting,
road edge maintenance,
soya harvesting,
essential oils harvesting
sweet sorghum to name a few.
To make the CaneThumper® as effective as possible there is some adjustments required to ensure that the job performs satisfactorily. This includes different cutting bars with longer lengths (shown below) to be more efficient and to ensure there is adequate crop flow in grass materials a shaking hood is attached as seen below:
Grass Cutting
This has been the most used alternative usage for cleaning up farm roads, keeping the weeds down between crops, around sensitive areas like orchads and for the edge of roads on highways and roads where conventional brushcutters are normally used.
The cutting speed is usually done in top gear which is 2km/hr. The following table shows the area cut per hr using the different length grass heads and the operating costs per hour in US dollars:
Grass Road Cutting
This is usually done with the 1.7m bar since the grass is generally not as thick or tough and is done regularly. The 1.7m bar is not advised for very dense material or where a high manouvarability is required. The following figures shows the 1.7m grass bar cutting an extraction road.
Road Maintenance on the Verge
The cleaning up on the side of the roads is traditionally done with a gyro-mower behind a tractor, by brushcutters similar to the STIHL or manually using a slasher. These all have limitations that include a high horse power requirement, dangerous due to high speeds and throwing stones into traffic, and is a manual intensive job if doing it by hand.
The CaneThumper® fitted with the 1.35m grass bar is perfectly suited for this. It is resistant to bottles, rocks or other foreign matter, is safe and uses only 0.5 litres of diesel an hour. The following figure shows the CaneThumper® cutting the verge of a gravel dirt road without throwing stones into cars and being safe for other workers in the immediate surroundings...
Video: Soyabean Cutting with CaneThumper®
Video: Orchad Cleaning with CaneThumper®
Download the complete report (PDF)about alternative crops cut and usages of the CaneThumper®
Report 2: (02/23/2009)
Management and payment schemes for a successfull CaneThumper® operation:
Management is a necessity in a successful CaneThumper® operation. One of the most important aspects is management of the labourers’ in the CaneThumper® team. The correct management requires the team or labourers’ to know the following:
Need to know what’s expected and know the consequences,
Need to have goals that are achievable, and
Finally and the most important... Know what the PAY is!
A common way to reach all these things is by having a tasking method with an incentive to work harder. But before a decision is made on the system to be implemented one needs to know the currvent labour laws of the country. Knowing what the labourers’ rights are is crucial for the long term success of the CaneThumper®. An understanding of the surrounding situation in an area is also very important, the background information of the labourers in the team will give the management a better understanding to deal fairly and know what external factors there are that might hinder the performance.
Using a GPS to determinate the task and amount of work done at th end of the day...
Expectations from the employer and the employee
Before the team starts working they need to know what is expected of them and what the consequences will be. What is expected is the following:
Be ready and on time for work,
Wear the supplied safety equipment at all times,
Know the amount of work expected to be completed,
Know the time frames including rest breaks, and
Know who the responsible person or leader is in the team.
The consequences vary between countries and places. Some areas hold back wages but this method is not an accepted method. There needs to be an order of events that is followed. The following is an example of this:
offense gets counselled on where they went wrong,
offence gets a verbal warning,
offence gets 1st written warning,
offence gets final written warning,
offence is fired.
By having a recognised system protects both the employer and the employee. It is vital to keep all the documentation and have a system in pla ce that will allow for an appeal by the employee if the punishment is thought to be unreasonable. Responsibility also needs to be clearly defined and given to certain workers. Usually the driver is in charge of the team and is answerable to the manager an d is in charge of the maintenance. It is also important to have a responsible person (normally driver) in charge of bringing forward problems of the team and to solve any small mechanical problems or labour problems. It is advised that when implementing a team that there is a “grace” period of approximately 2 weeks to allow for the team members to get used to the working conditions and to get fit before warnings are issued.
Report 1: (02/10/2009)
The Brazilian pole and Indian rope cutting methods for the
With the increase in labour costs globally there has been a push to use less labour while operating the CaneThumper®. This has caused ESM’s Brazilian partners BRN and the Indian par tner s Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. to start thinking about new ideas and came up with separate options.
BRAZILIAN POLE METHOD
This method uses 3 labour units for the cutting and a further one or two to organise the windrows. There is one driver and two labourers operating the pole. The pole is approximately 2m long and is held diagonally across the front of the CaneThumper® with the one labourer walking in the row and the other walking over the cut windrow as shown on the picture below.
Although this system asks for a kind of double handling since the cane has to be moved into a windrow by 2 or 3 more people the speed of the cutting is increased significantly. The condition of the cane has to be very straight with no lodging. Some outputs were as high as 18 tons per person per day using this method in perfect conditions.
Video of the Brazilian method in operation:
INDIAN ROPE METHOD
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. had a similar idea but used a rope instead. The one labourer runs down the interrow ahead of the CaneThumper®. The second labourer pulls the rope and puts a sight pressure onto the cane about to be cut.
As the cane is cut it falls into a windrow, the cane is then immediately detrashed and topped by the detrashing team following the CaneThumper®.
Video of the Indian method in operation:
We need to ensure to use every available method to maximise our efficiency and hence profitability. This means that we often need to adjust our harvesting techniques to suit the specific field conditions. One thing is certain in harvesting sugarcane.
There are no two areas and conditions the same so we must be ready to adapt with these changes.
