COTSIM cotton harvester simulation model was used to project costs for different harvesting systems used at Hood Brothers Farm in 1999. Solid planted 38inch row, 30inch row and skip row versions were considered for spindle harvesting. Brush and finger strippers were considered for 30inch row and 10inch drill production. Seed cotton handling equipment was considered a part of each system to project an overall system cost for 750, 1,000 and 1,250 acres. A six-row harvester operating at 4.2 mph (9 ac/hr) in a solid 38 inch planting pattern with only one boll buggy and one module builder achieved the lowest harvesting costs of the spindle harvesters for solid plantings at $96.53, $80.67 and $71.60 per acre. Net returns of $516.73, $539.58 and $539.46 per acre for 750, 1000 and 1250 acres resulted with the six-row picker. Skip-row harvesting further lowered harvesting system costs and thus improved net returns with the “Jimmy Hargett” 30 inch-60 inch skip (25 ft per pass). It resulted in the lowest cost per acre and highest returns per acre of all the spindle harvesters, even though operating speed was held to 3.5 mph (9 ac/hr) because of the extra wide header. Returns peaked nearly $60.00 per acre above the two four-row harvester system at 1,000 to 1,250 acres for this system.

Runs were made using $0.57 per lb of lint for brush and finger strippers and $0.62 per lb of lint for spindle-harvested cotton. Harvesting costs were lower for the finger stripper system than the brush system. Both systems had less than half the harvesting costs of the solid planted spindle systems when a 5 mph operating speed was used. In most cases, returns for the stripper harvesters decreased with more acreage, indicating less than optimum harvesting capacity. Returns were generally greater than the returns for the solid planted, spindle harvested even at the lower lint price. Returns for 5, 6 and 8 row brush machines on 30inch rows approximately equaled the six-row solid and the “Jimmy Hargett” six-row skip-row systems.