Corn Chaff Headers/Farming Simulator 17
A Corn Chaff Header is a type of Forage Header in Farming Simulator 17. When installed on a Forage Harvester, it can be used to cut down Corn fields and produce Chaff.
Chaff cannot be sold as-is. Instead, it must be dumped into a Silage Bunker, compressed by a large vehicle, and then fermented for several hours - at which point it becomes Silage. Silage itself is highly profitable when sold, and is also important for feeding Cows.
Although it is possible to make Chaff and Silage from other source materials, Corn is the best source of Chaff in the game. A hectare of Corn yields far more Chaff than a hectare of any other Crop.
The most important difference between models of Corn Chaff Headers is Width and Price - the wider the better, but more expensive. Corn Chaff Headers are generally wider than other types of Forage Headers, but they have a low Maximum Work Speed. Nonetheless, the process of turning Corn into Silage is still very profitable relative to the time and effort spent on it.
The base game offers 4 different models of Corn Chaff Headers, but the two largest models are identical to one another in every way except color. Additionally, a fifth model is available that attaches directly to Tractors, effectively turning the Tractor into a Forage Harvester that can only cut Corn for Chaff.
List of Corn Chaff Headers
Below is a list of the four Corn Chaff Models found in the "Forage Harvester Headers" category at the store. Note that effectively these are two pairs of nearly-identical models, with mostly cosmetic differences between them.
| Name | Price | Maint. cost per day |
Working Width (m) |
Max Work Speed (km/h) |
Power Consumption (hp) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rostselmash 600R | 27,000 | 20 | 5.7 | 10 | 135 |
| Krone EasyCollect 600-2 | 28,000 | 20 | 6.1 | 10 | 135 |
| Kemper 390 Plus | 38,000 | 20 | 9.0 | 10 | 135 |
| New Holland 900SFI | 38,000 | 20 | 9.0 | 10 | 203 |
Additionally, the game offers a unique model of Corn Chaff Header that works very differently from the others: It can only be installed on a Tractor, turning that tractor into a Forage Harvester:
| Name | Price | Maint. cost per day |
Working Width (m) |
Max Work Speed (km/h) |
Power Consumption (hp) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pöttinger MEX 5 | 38,000 | 20 | 2.2 | 10 | 88 |
Chaffing Corn
The process of turning Corn into Chaff is the same as any other use of a Forage Harvester.
Choosing which Corn Chaff Header to buy is mostly a matter of deciding how much money you want to spend. Essentially, you want the widest Corn Chaff Header you can afford. Note that in the base game, the two largest (and most expensive) Corn Chaff Headers are nearly identical to one another - but one has a higher power consumption than the other. This may or may not matter, depending on how powerful your Forage Harvester is. Consult the individual articles for each model to determine which one is best for you.
You can use any type of container (a Tipper or Loading Wagon) to hold the Chaff you produce from the field. The larger the container you choose, the fewer times you will need to replace it as the work proceeds. The Corn Chaff harvest will generate a very large yield of material (see below). Even a large container will become full very quickly. Therefore, consider buying a very large or even massive container if you intend to Chaff your Corn.
Corn Chaffing can take place on any Corn field that has reached or passed the 4th stage of growth. There is no need to wait until the Corn is ripe - you do not get any benefit from waiting. If a field is already "withered", you cannot harvest it at all. Plowing and Fertilization does increase the Chaff yield, like it does for normal harvests. If you do both, you get twice as much Chaff than if you don't.
Yield
Corn is the best source for Chaff in the game. Chaffing an unfertilized field will produce approximately 71,760 Liters of Chaff per hectare of land. This is twice as high as the yield from Wheat or Barley (see Universal Cutter). If the field is Plowed and Fertilized, the yield will grow proportionally, up to 100% extra Chaff when both are performed.
Chaff itself is worthless - it cannot be sold. However, once it's processed into Silage, it sells for an average price of around $400 per Liter. While this is considerably lower than the average price of Corn itself, you will get a much greater quantity of Chaff from a hectare of Corn than you would actual Corn. There is a lot of extra work involved in processing Chaff into Silage and then selling the Silage, but the profit is considerably higher.
Therefore, if you have the machinery and are willing to put in the effort, it is a smart idea to use most (if not all) of your Corn fields to produce Chaff rather than actual Corn. However, it is best to harvest at least some corn to feed your Pigs, or sell it when it is in High Demand. Also, whenever the price of Silage drops very low, consider harvesting Corn normally instead of Chaffing it.