Abstract
A guayule shrub harvesting system developed for commercial operation was evaluated during field trials. A total of 476 tonnes (527 tons) of shrub were harvested using both large [1.5 m wide (5 ft)] and small [1.2 m wide (4 ft)] round balers. Effective field capacities for the balers averaged 0.33 and 0.14 ha/h (0.83 and 0.34 acre/h), respectively. Digging of the shrub prior to baling was accomplished using modified potato diggers. Mean effective capacity of these implements was found to be 0.30 ha/h (0.74 acre/h). Handling of either size bale was easily accomplished using front-end loaders or forklifts. For transport on public roadways, the small bales proved superior since bales could be stacked two high and placed end to end across a trailer without exceeding legal transport widths. For short transport distances, large bales are preferable since they can be more efficiently loaded and unloaded.
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