Put an older-style corn head or grain head on the newest state-of-the-art combine on the market, and you still may have a machine that frustrates you. It may lose more grain at the head through shelling or shattering than you bargained for. High-tech machines deserve high-tech heads.

Companies are responding with improved corn heads that do a great job even in down corn caused by lodging. They’re also providing ways to save more soybeans and small grains, like wheat.

Related: Check out latest combines, grain carts

Short-line companies are chipping in and offering products to make harvest go more smoothly as well. Here’s a closer look.

MacDon beefed up its C Series corn heads, making them more versatile and durable. The company is also offering a new size: an eight-row, 38-inch-row-width head to broaden its lineup of options.

John Deere introduced both a corn head and a draper head. For the first time, you can get a 16-row folding corn head from John Deere, or an 18-row folding head in a narrower row configuration. The new draper head features a rigid cutterbar that offers maximum flex across varying terrain to get more crop into the header and into the machine. It can even be equipped with wheels running behind the head as an option, primarily designed for small grain situations.

Duo Lift offers a new line of trailers designed exclusively to carry combine heads. The lineup includes the industry’s only six-wheel steerable grain head trailer.