Beet harvesting

Usually, farmers grow two types of beet. A sugar beet used in sugar production and fodder beet used to feed the cattle. The beet is pulled out of the ground and collected by a harvester before it is put on the ground at the end of the field to be collected by tractor or truck with a wagon. When it is loaded to the cart it is normal to use a loader that also cleans the beet. If there is not a lot of dirt on the beet, it is sometimes possible to directly loaded the beet from the harvester to the wagon. Afterward, the beet is either transported to the farm to be stored for later cattle consumption or to the factory to recover the sugar from the beet. The green top of the beet can either be left on the ground or collected to be used as animal food for cattle.

Types of harvesters

There are two types of harvesters, trailed and self-propelled. There are pros and cons using one or another, the trailed harvester does fewer acres a day but is lighter and does less damage to the soil. The self propelled collects more rows at once and does a better cleaning job before the beet leaves the trunk. However, these machines are huge and can do a lot of damage to the soil if wet - new models are trying to prevent this by using belted wheels.

Beet harvesting rate

The rate for beet harvesting can vary depending on how the supplier is charging (hour vs. hectare). Be aware that an hour price can be good and bad depending on the weather.