Know How / Combines This is your go-to area for everything related to combine harvesters. We offer tips for keeping old combines running well, how to select a new machine and all the specs and prices for the UK market. Latest combine articles COMBINESEight months with two custom combine crewsEach summer, an army of intrepid youngsters pack their bags, fly to the US and spend the following eight months piloting combine harvesters, grain carts and trucks throughout the Midwestern… COMBINESUltimate guide to buying a combine 2025Some major updates are included in this year’s combine buyer’s guide, not least New Holland’s all-new CR top-end machines. Existing CR Evolution and CX combines have also gained some improvements… COMBINESPlusher cabs and more tech for John Deere combinesHaving splashed out on the development of its acre-gobbling twin-rotor X9 combine, John Deere has been making the most of the investment by filtering much of the technology down to… MACHINERYHow New Holland’s IntelliSense system solves harvest pressureHarvest has always been an extremely pressured time of the year - time is precious, manpower is precious and everyone and everything must pull together to bring the harvest home.… COMBINESCropscan Ag 4000VT sensor analyses grain protein every 3secsCropscan Ag has launched a new combine-mounted grain sensor tuned to deliver more frequent analysis of crops. The 4000VT, which is initially available for the latest New Holland and Case… COMBINESHalf-a-million harvesters – which Claas combine was best?Hands up who hasn’t driven, or at least sat in, a Claas combine? Not many, surely, given the German company has now produced 500,000 machines, including 100,000 examples of its… COMBINESNew Holland CR11 combine takes fight to Deere and ClaasWhile New Holland’s flagship CR10.90 was busy setting a combining world record in a 2014 Lincolnshire wheat crop, its engineers were already working on a machine that could beat it.… Combine reviews and testsSee all Driver's view: Sampo Rosenlew 3065Vital stats Six straw-walkers| 210hp Sisu engine| 5.1m header| 6500-litre grain tank| Made in Finland A bit of background How has it performed? Farm facts Small fields and high rainfall… Combine buyers guide 2014Tweaks and upgrades rather than major new model introductions characterise combine developments for the 2014 harvest. Click on each manufacturer to see their specifications. Case IH Claas Deutz Fahr John… Driver's view: Massey Ferguson DeltaVital stats Twin-rotor hybrid threshing| 509hp Sisu 7-cylinder engine with AdBlue| 9.2m header| 9,500-litre grain tank| Made in Italy A bit of background How has it performed? Likes & gripes… COMBINESDriver's view: SB Farming’s Fendt Ideal 9TThe Ideal 9T is the flagship model of Agco’s new Ideal combine range that’s offered in both Massey Ferguson and Fendt guises. One of the first farming businesses to take… Driver's view: Deutz Fahr 6090Vital stats Six straw-walkers| 310hp Deutz engine| 7m Biso VX header| 8,500-litre grain tank| Made in Croatia A bit of background How has it performed? Likes & gripes Farm facts… COMBINESDriver's view: Peter Booth's Claas Tucano 320We get the details on Angus arable farmer Peter Booth’s Claas Tucano 320 that replaced a near-identical model in 2017. See also: Combine add-ons can help slash spread of weed seeds… COMBINESDriver's view: Nick Brown’s John Deere S790i combineThe biggest combine in John Deere’s line-up is the S790i, featuring a 617hp, six-cylinder engine, single rotor threshing mechanism and various header options up to 12.2m wide. It replaced a… COMBINESDriver's view: Massey Ferguson Cerea 7278 combineTrading in the farm’s 15-year-old combine for one that’s both newer and larger capacity was a must for Fyfield Farm. Until last year a Massey Ferguson 36RS had been responsible for… Driver's view: Claas Cemos Automatic The Claas Cemos Automatic combine setting controller is due to be available next season. Andy Collings spoke to a grower who has trialled one this year. John Hawthorne Original… COMBINESRetrofit yield monitor offers crop data on old combinesCanadian outfit Farm TRX has developed a relatively cheap retrofit yield monitor that is able to generate downloadable crop performance maps via apps that run on a standard smartphone or… COMBINESDriver's view: Clive Wreathall’s New Holland CR10.90 combineThe CR10.90 is still the biggest combine New Holland produces, but this machine has since been replaced by the Revelation model. Despite being located in an area that is a… Driver's view: Claas Tucano 440A bit of background How has it performed? Vital stats Farm facts Until 2000, MF red had been the colour-scheme of choice at the Cousins’ family farm in Essex. But… Combine buying advice Ultimate guide to buying a combine 2023 Buying alternative combine headers - the options Guide to buying a used hill-sider combine Tips for buying a quality used combine on a £40,000 budget How Kent farmers saved £33,000 on buying a new combine What to look for when buying a used combine What costs to consider when increasing combine capacity Driver's view: Greenshields Agri's 13.7m MacDon FD2 header Combine guidesSee all COMBINESVideo: Claas launches biggest-ever Lexion combineClaas has just won the most recent hand of combine manufacturer Top Trumps after it launched its most powerful Lexion machines yet. The headline-grabbing flagship 8900 is the biggest in the… COMBINESCombine buyers guide 2018Combine makers around the globe have been rebuilding and updating their ranges ahead of next year’s harvest. With that in mind, our Combine buyers guide 2018 (PDF) contains the specs and… HARVESTMake the most of your combine’s yield data this harvestWhat to do with your harvest data? Despite many growers being awash with historical data from combine generated yield maps, only a small minority are using this data to its… MACHINERYCombine buyers guide 2017Having the right harvester can prove vital for any arable operation. If you are thinking of updating your combine, our tables break down the UK options so you can directly… MACHINERYTop tips to keep your combine running in the wetAugust invariably delivers a spell of bad weather, so we’ve put together 20 top tips from the experts on how to ease the flow of damp crops through the combine.… COMBINESUltimate Guide to buying a combine 2024There are few machine and model updates for this year’s Ultimate Guide to combine harvesters – but there are some subtle changes to the tables themselves to make some of… MACHINERY2019 Ultimate guide to buying a combineIncreased automation to help both experienced and inexperienced combine operators is the highlight of upgrades to the latest crop of machines destined for harvest 2019. New sensor technology can now… MACHINERY MAINTENANCELatest technology for putting out harvest machinery firesIt’s hard to imagine given the sogginess of the past 12 months, but there’s always a chance we could be in for a tinder-dry harvest, à la 2022. That year,… COMBINESUltimate guide to buying a combine 2023New and improved models at the top and bottom end of the performance spectrum characterise the changes in this year’s Ultimate Guide to combines – along with the arrival of… COMBINESUltimate guide to buying a combine 2022After something of a stop-start harvest that for numerous growers involved cutting crops new to their rotation, manufacturers and dealers are looking to sign up customers for combines delivering additional… Combine buyers guide 2014Tweaks and upgrades rather than major new model introductions characterise combine developments for the 2014 harvest. Click on each manufacturer to see their specifications. Case IH Claas Deutz Fahr John… COMBINESOn test: Combine reversing cameras – which is best?Clobbering the back of your combine harvester against an oak tree or backing over the boss’s pickup is no fun whatsoever. So the addition of a rear-view camera to keep… VideoSee all MACHINERYMonster John Deere combine in action[fwi_vidyard code="dyrxMsd6xM87NQU70t8Yxw"] Boasting the largest grain tank on the market, the most powerful engine and new rubber track units, John Deere’s monster S690i rotary combine is out to impress. The… COMBINESVideo: Claas launches Trion combine range as Tucanos scrappedBuyers will no longer have to order a model from Claas’ biggest Lexion range to spec all the popular bells and whistles after the German maker launched its new ultra-flexible… COMBINESVideo: Claas launches biggest-ever Lexion combineClaas has just won the most recent hand of combine manufacturer Top Trumps after it launched its most powerful Lexion machines yet. The headline-grabbing flagship 8900 is the biggest in the… MACHINERYClass Lexion 770 user's view[fwi_vidyard code="L-sGxm5SjRhWSED0nBHmvQ"] John and Tom Hawthorne are one of the first in the country to run the new Lexion flagship 770, equipped with a 40ft Vario header. Emily Padfield went to see how… Combine insights and practical adviceSee all MACHINERYTop tips to boost combine outputOptimising combine harvester output is a difficult task that can often involve a degree of guesswork. Ever wondered how manufacturers’ product experts can identify problems so accurately? It’s all down… COMBINESCombine innovations that will help next year's harvestThe introduction of a new grain tank discharge auger and modified cutting table for Claas combines has improved their compatibility with wide-spaced controlled traffic farming systems. Controlled traffic farming substantially… COMBINESNew Holland CR11 combine takes fight to Deere and ClaasWhile New Holland’s flagship CR10.90 was busy setting a combining world record in a 2014 Lincolnshire wheat crop, its engineers were already working on a machine that could beat it.… COMBINESCombine buyers guide 2018Combine makers around the globe have been rebuilding and updating their ranges ahead of next year’s harvest. With that in mind, our Combine buyers guide 2018 (PDF) contains the specs and… HARVESTMake the most of your combine’s yield data this harvestWhat to do with your harvest data? Despite many growers being awash with historical data from combine generated yield maps, only a small minority are using this data to its… MACHINERYCombine buyers guide 2017Having the right harvester can prove vital for any arable operation. If you are thinking of updating your combine, our tables break down the UK options so you can directly… MACHINERYTop tips to keep your combine running in the wetAugust invariably delivers a spell of bad weather, so we’ve put together 20 top tips from the experts on how to ease the flow of damp crops through the combine.… HEADERSBuying alternative combine headers - the optionsBuying a new combine rarely involved much discussion about header options when there was no choice other than to decide what width to hook on the front. But that has… COMBINESUltimate Guide to buying a combine 2024There are few machine and model updates for this year’s Ultimate Guide to combine harvesters – but there are some subtle changes to the tables themselves to make some of… MACHINERY2019 Ultimate guide to buying a combineIncreased automation to help both experienced and inexperienced combine operators is the highlight of upgrades to the latest crop of machines destined for harvest 2019. New sensor technology can now… MACHINERY MAINTENANCELatest technology for putting out harvest machinery firesIt’s hard to imagine given the sogginess of the past 12 months, but there’s always a chance we could be in for a tinder-dry harvest, à la 2022. That year,… COMBINESRetrofit fire suppresion kit could save combinesIsolated in an air-conditioned capsule at the front of the machine, combine operators are usually completely unaware when there’s an inferno slowly building behind them. By the time they do…