Keep Your Cotton Picker in Good Condition This Picking Season

Cotton pickers rejoice—cotton picking season is almost upon us! It’s time to do some hard work and reap the rewards. We wish everyone a safe and bountiful cotton picking season, and we know that having properly maintained, effective equipment is a major factor in a successful cotton harvest.

Keeping your cotton harvester and cotton harvester parts in good shape doesn’t have to be very difficult. In fact, once you get used to the different safety precautions and maintenance procedures, they will soon become second nature.

With that in mind, here is an overview of how you can keep your cotton harvester in good condition, and avoid needing emergency cotton harvester replacement parts this cotton picking season.

Keep it safe

Above all else, you need to make the safety of yourself and your crew a priority this picking season, and at all times. That means avoiding dry, windy picking conditions, and avoiding other common hazards, such as scrap metal, rocks and bricks blocking your path, trash and lint accumulation on your equipment and inexperienced or careless machine operators.

Fires are a major concern for any cotton picker, and for good reason: they can wipe out your entire crop, not to mention put you and your crew and loved ones in danger. Take some time to really study fire safety before this picking season begins, and consult an expert if necessary.

Maintenance and cleaning

Another major factor in having a successful cotton picking season is ensuring that your cotton picker is properly cleaned and maintained.

You can find a lot of cotton picker maintenance and cleaning tips in the other posts on this blog. Whether you use high water pressure, low water pressure or high air pressure to clean your cotton picker, make sure you follow proper safety protocol. And remember: having a well-maintained cotton picker means you have a good chance of making it through picking season without needing any emergency repairs or part replacements.

Moisture considerations

Whether you are a seasoned cotton farmer or this is your very first cotton season, knowing exactly when to begin picking can be tough. This decision depends largely on moisture conditions—if it’s too dry outside, then a fire can easily start, but too much moisture can damage your product and result in a lot of lint buildup on your machine.

Here’s a good general rule of thumb: assess the moisture content of your cotton each morning before picking, so you can closely track where it’s at.

Here to help

Now that you know the basics of how to keep your cotton harvester and cotton harvester parts in good shape during picking season, you are set up to have a bountiful and relatively stress-free season! That said, unexpected things can come up, and we are here for you when that does occur.

If you find yourself in need of maintenance or new Case IH cotton harvester parts this cotton picking season, please feel free to get in touch with Certi-Pik, USA. With years of experience and a helpful, highly knowledgeable staff, we can help get your picking season back on track in no time.