Today at noon, we traveled to Princeton, Indiana to enjoy the customer appreciation day at JL Farm Equipment.  JL is a very progressive dealer with two locations, this one at Princeton, and the other at Poseyville, Indiana.  It was a popular destination today, as hundreds of farmers from the region were in attendance.  One particular attraction for us today besides the great meal was that our new tractor and planter was being featured on display.  We have traded Ross’ MX 275 for a new MX 290 tractor and a new 24-row model 1250 planter.  Both have some neat new features.  The tractor has a cleaner-burning Tier-IV engine, with 15 more horsepower.  To utilize the greater power, the tractor is a bit heavier with bigger tires.  Also, in the cab, the seat-side controls are more sophisticated, and convenient.  The Pro 700 monitor is mounted on the RH armrest rather than on a bar across the right side window, improving visibility.  For the corn planter, this new one sports a pneumatic system that adjusts the down pressure on each row, controlled from the Pro 700 monitor.  Also, each row unit has an air-operated clutch system that allows the GPS system to turn pairs of rows on or off, eliminating double-planting when the row units run across a place that is already planted.  This overlapping of rows generally occurs in every field, but is more pronounced in irregularly shaped fields.  When we are planting any corn field, two passes of the planter are made around the field’s border–we call these the “end rows”.  Then as the remaining body of the field is planted, the GPS system shuts off each row unit at the point where that row overlaps the end rows.  There are obvious agronomic and economic benefits when overlapping planting is minimized.

Our new CaseIH MX 290, on display today at JL Farm Equipment, Princeton, Indiana

John shows the sign indicating the tractor is already sold.

Here's a back view of the 24-row corn planter

Here is an air-operated clutch that controls the operation of this row of the planter. This clutch will be triggered by the GPS system, and disengage to eliminate overlapped planting.

We certainly enjoyed our pork chops, potato salad, baked beans, cookies, and soft drinks.  Gelato or ice cream bars were offered for dessert.  We appreciate the hospitality of JL’s owners, Dave and Jane Reising, and their many fine employees — Dennis