Thursday, February 25, 2016
Last Monday, Jon from Huston’s came to install a PIP (Product Improvement Program) on our John Deere S680 combine. John Deere provides these kinds of changes whenever they discover that an improvement will help their warranty experience. Not only does it save Deere some $ in the long run, it also improves our customer experience. JD provided one such PIP late last summer before harvest, (see post for July 10, 2015). This time, Jon replaced the tie rods with much heavier ones. Jon said that some farmers had experienced tie rods breaking, and this was JD’s answer to that problem. We’ve not had a problem with tie rods, but the new ones sure look stronger.
Here, in mid-process, Jon has the RH tie rod disconnected, and is almost ready to install the new one.
Today in our shop, John is installing a radio system into our Gator. That little machine is quite busy many days a year. I spend lots of time on it during the summer spraying along fields, ditches, and roadsides. This addition will bring a little entertainment along for the ride!
On the tailgate is the replacement panel that will house the radio and speakers.
John has installed the antenna, and now works on the other wiring need for the installation. All these wires will be hidden inside the new overhead radio panel.
Also starting today is the writing of planting prescriptions. We received the specs on the seeds/pound for the Pioneer soybean variety we chose, 35T58. This will allow us to get a jump-start on this tedious process. Prescription-writing is not difficult, just takes a while for each one. A prescription must be written for each variety for each field of 2016 soybeans. Putting in the work now makes it easy to choose a prescription from the menu once the tractor and planter arrive in the field! To learn more about how this is done, see the post for March 2, 2015. This is a very necessary step for #Plant16. We will be ready when the calendar and the fields tell us.
We use John Deere’s Apex software to write planting prescriptions. On the screen now is a soil map–the foundation for the prescription. Location? Farm name: Pond— Field name: Across the Ditch
This is a good office task for a chilly February day. Brandon is out in the truck, but he has corn running from one of the storage bins up into the truck load-out bin. I listen for the buzzer that lets me know the OH bin is full. Then I can go out to shut down the flow of corn in elevator. No spills! Maybe this is my way to multi-task….
We had snow yesterday, but it was not heavy enough or cold enough for it to accumulate. They are predicting 60º+ on Sunday. Weather in SWIN… a feast of variety!
