Harvest the Whole Hill: Why a Fourth-Generation Farm Chose a Hillco X9 + What a Combine Leveling System Changes

A conversation with Seth Millhorn of Millhorn Farms about hillside harvest efficiency, grain loss, uptime, and the move to a Hillco-equipped John Deere X9.

On steep ground, the shortest line across a field is not always the line a combine can take efficiently. Operators may contour around slopes, change travel direction, slow down, or watch grain loss closely enough that the terrain starts dictating the harvest plan. For Millhorn Farms, that is exactly why a combine leveling system is not treated as a comfort feature. It is part of how the operation protects grain and uses people, machines, and harvest hours.

Seth Millhorn is part of a fourth-generation family farm in the northeastern Palouse region. The family began clearing ground around 1907. Today, the operation raises a mix of grain and forage crops across roughly 30,000 continuously cropped acres, most of them dependent on what the season brings for rainfall. On the grain side, Millhorn says nearly everything requires a hillside combine.

“Every aspect we look at is efficiency based.”

–Seth Millhorn, Millhorn Farms

The Business Case Starts With Capacity and People

Like many farms, Millhorn Farms faces a hard limit that cannot be solved by adding another line to a specification sheet: available people. Seth describes labor as agriculture’s “number one limiting factor.” That made production capacity central to the farm’s decision to move into a John Deere X9.

The farm had been waiting for Hillco to take on the engineering work required to pair a leveling system with the X-Series platform. Millhorn Farms ran the prototype during the 2025 harvest and then chose the X9 on a production basis. In Seth’s account, the prototype gave the operation the capacity it was looking for compared with the combines it had been running.

A Level Combine Enables the Cleaning System To Do Its Job on Slopes

Why does leveling matter beyond the cab? When a combine operates across a slope, gravity can move crop material toward the downhill side of the cleaning system. Uneven loading can make it harder to use the full cleaning area effectively. A Hillco Leveling System is designed to sense chassis position and automatically pivot the combine to maintain level within the system’s compensation range.

Hillco’s variable-speed hydraulic leveling responds faster when the chassis is farther out of level, then slows as the machine approaches level. Hillco systems also incorporate automatic header height and lateral tilt control when properly equipped. The goal is straightforward: keep the combine working more like it does on level ground, even when the field is not level.

For the operator, the practical benefits can include reduced hillside grain loss, more usable hillside capacity, improved sample quality, and a more comfortable operating position. Actual results depend on crop, slope, yield, machine settings, ground speed, and field conditions. The right comparison is the one built from your own acres and harvest records.

Field Layout Becomes an Efficiency Decision Again

One of Seth’s points is less specific, and more of a concept. It is a change in how the farm can approach the field.

Without leveling, operators may lay out passes around where they expect grain loss or cleaning-system performance to become limiting. On the Palouse, that often means contouring, avoiding certain up-and-down routes, or making small horseshoe-shaped passes that are difficult to manage with multiple combines and fleet guidance.

With a properly configured automatic combine leveling system, Seth says his team instead plans routes for field efficiency. If the next pass involves going downhill, uphill, or across the side of the slope, it does not matter. The terrain does not dictate their pattern. As Millhorn says, that matters when four combines and the supporting fleet need predictable lines, fewer awkward turns, and a clean path through the field.

“You no longer have to lay out your fields based on monitoring grain loss. You get to lay out your fields for efficiency.”

–Seth Millhorn, Millhorn Farms

Grain Loss and Throughput Belong in the Same Conversation

A farm should not have to choose between slowing an expensive combine and accepting grain out the back. That tradeoff becomes especially difficult when margins are tight and weather compresses the harvest window.

Millhorn’s view: if grain loss on hillsides is a recurring discussion, the operation should evaluate whether leveling belongs in the solution. On his farm, he estimates only a small portion of the ground could be harvested without a leveler, while much of the remaining acreage either benefits from one or requires one. He also believes the grain retained on the farm’s flattest ground can justify the investment quickly. That is Millhorn Farms’ experience, not a universal payback promise, but it shows why operators should calculate the effect across the entire acre base rather than looking only at the steepest field.

Uptime Is Part of the Value

Efficiency gains only mean much if an added system becomes a harvest bottleneck. Millhorn Farms switched to Hillco systems in 2006. Before the interview, Seth’s team reviewed their history with Hillco machines and identified three leveling-system related breakdowns across what he estimated at roughly 20,000 combined operating hours. He described those events as straightforward electrical or hydraulic-control issues, such as a solenoid or sensor, and said the farm had not experienced a hard-part failure.

That customer experience belongs to Millhorn’s operation with its own variables: machines, maintenance, conditions, and operators. Seth also points to the value of direct support. When his operation has had a question, he says Hillco and his local dealer have been available to help diagnose and resolve it.

Do the Math With Your Farm’s Numbers

A combine leveling system is a significant capital investment, and the most useful evaluation starts with your operation’s own numbers. Hillco developed its ROI Calculator using years of research to help owners and operators estimate potential grain savings and better understand how a leveling system may affect their operation.

Seth’s View: A Leveler Can Hold Its Value

“They’re expensive. But they hold their value.”

–Seth Millhorn, Millhorn Farms

When Seth does his calculations, he also considers what happens to the value of the equipment over time. In his experience, the combine is the faster-depreciating asset, while the leveling system tends to retain more of its value because it is not subject to the same kind of wear. He says that value can still be visible when a used combine equipped with a leveler is compared with a similar machine without one. That is Millhorn Farms’ market observation, not a guaranteed resale result, but it is a useful factor to discuss with your dealer when comparing total ownership cost.

Hillco’s online ROI Calculator provides a practical place to organize those numbers. The calculator lets you enter your crop acres, slope distribution, harvest speed, estimated machine-harvested-yield reduction, fuel use, separator-hour cost, financing assumptions, and leveling-system value. Its results are estimates, so the strongest inputs will come from your own loss checks, field maps, speed records, equipment values, and current dealer information.

Those questions respect the way generational farms make durable equipment decisions: with field records, operator experience, service access, and a clear view of cash flow. A leveler may be the right answer, or it may identify where more information is needed. Either way, the decision should be grounded in the cost of the current constraint.

For Millhorn Farms, Leveling Is Part of the Harvest System

Millhorn Farms did not choose a Hillco-equipped X9 because the ground became easier. The farm chose it because people are limited, capacity matters, and the hills are not going away. Keeping the combine level helps the team protect grain while choosing more efficient lines through the field and putting the machine’s capacity to work.

That is the larger lesson in Seth’s story. On rolling or steep ground, leveling is not an isolated attachment decision. It affects how the combine cleans, how the operator drives, how the fleet moves, and how the farm measures the value of each harvest hour.

To learn whether a Hillco Hillside or Sidehill Leveling System fits your combine and field conditions, talk with your authorized dealer or contact Hillco Technologies. Bring your combine model, header configuration, tire setup, slope distribution, and harvest records so the conversation can start with your operation’s facts.

Frequently Asked Questions