Moveable Tobacco Curing Frames

Moveable (or portable) curing frames offer the tobacco grower another option for successfully reducing labor and costs for pro-ducing air-cured tobacco. Reducing labor and costs is essential to continuing profitable tobacco production. Two designs that use the cantilever-beam concept for sup-porting two rails of stick tobacco on a central beam are shown and explained in this publication. Further details of construction and covering are shown in the following drawings. Advantages Low-cost, low-labor, sturdy, and moveable tobacco curing frames have been studied extensively by agricultural engineers at the University of Kentucky for many years. As a result of these studies, moveable curing frames have been shown to: • provide a means of reducing the curing structure and labor costs, • cure tobacco equivalent to normal barn curing, and • offer a means of being located close to the field. Being able to locate the curing frames close to the field reduces transport time during the busy harvest period. Filling directly from the stick row reduces conventional loading and unloading time and expense. Working at ground level elimi-nates the dangers of climbing and working on tier rails in the tall barns. Precautions Moveable curing frames have some additional weather risks that can be minimized by diligent application and management of the plastic and by anchoring the frames against high winds. These frames must be anchored or protected against the strong winds of fall weather