Purdue in the Elite Eight

Posted on April 2, 2019 by casifarm

John and I traveled to Louisville on Saturday to watch our Purdue Boilermakers take on Virginia in the South Regional final of the NCAA March Madness tournament.  A long-awaited berth in the Final Four was at hand!   It was as if Boilermaker fans took over the KFC-Yum! Center, and we really did make it LOUD in there.   It was a tremendous experience… all but the final score.

Before the big game, we met Ben and Kierstin for bite to eat. It was also pleasant to be in out of the pouring rain.

We had pretty good seats, about 25 rows back of the Purdue bench.

We were all smiles… before and during the game.  Even without the preferred result, it was a great experience!

I don’t know why we bought seats — we hardly used them — we spent most of the game standing and cheering as loud as possible for our Boilers.  If you were a generic fan of basketball, not having  a stake in the outcome, it would have been a fantastic game to experience.   John and I and about 20,000 other boisterous Purdue fans were feeling pretty good down the stretch, and in that final minute of play, I found some tears beginning to well up in my eyes, as I dared to think that we could actually WIN this thing!  Those emotions were bruised as the Cavaliers hit a last-second shot to force overtime.  The OT kept our hopes alive, as the lead bounced back-and-forth.  The reality of the impending loss didn’t emerge until about 20 seconds to go in OT.   We had traveled to LOO-uh-vull in hope of a celebration, but the final buzzer gave the shining moment to the UVA fans.

We now wax philosophically about how amazingly this Boilermaker team surpassed pre-season expectations.   Picked in November as 11th-best in the Big Ten Conference, they ended as B1G Champions, and made it to the Elite Eight.  Almost no one in December saw these happy results coming.   There is much of which to be proud– B1G and National COTY Matt Painter, and All-American Carsen Edwards.  Two special seniors who became solid contributors– one, Grady Eifert, went from freshman walk-on to senior starter.   Center Matt Haarms has unlimited enthusiasm and energy.  Team members express their sincere esteem for one another– how that touches the heart.  Most of all, for me, I applaud the many players who express their faith in God, which will serve them well through every success and adversity.

We have some special memories of Purdue basketball from this season.  Saturday certainly added to those sweet memories.  Those are just some of things that will keep us proud to be part of the Purdue family.

And as for next weekend, best wishes to the Virginia Cavaliers as they approach the Final Four in Minneapolis.

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April starts, chilly and wet

Posted on April 2, 2019 by casifarm

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

We had some rain and later some snow last Saturday.  Little patches of the white stuff stuck around until today.  Now, looking at the forecast, we are awaiting the 70s predicted for next weekend!  Sounds good right now, as it has been 28F for the last two mornings.

Because of the rain that came last weekend, thoughts of getting some field work done will have to wait a few days…again.  Now that April has arrived, it adds some impetus for wanting to get going in the field.  Our first operations will include applying anhydrous ammonia–our nitrogen source for our corn.  Also, the wheat crop will need an application of Harmony herbicide.  Speaking of wheat, it looks pretty good right now, greening up nicely from the early-March application of urea+ESN.  Burndown spraying will precede the planters.  It could begin to feel urgent by next week.  We must remember that in 2018, we had snow on April 16th, and the result was still okay.   April planting of soybeans and corn is a desirable thing, if the conditions permit.

We have the CIH 2150 corn planter ready to use.  The JD 1910 air cart and 1890 drill are prepared.  The corn and soybean seed is on-site and ready to go.  The tractors are serviced.  They sit in the  shed, hooked to the NH3 equipment.  The JD 4730 sprayer is prepared to make its first applications.  Everything is ready, except for the fields.

Therefore, we say, “Come, warm and dry weather!”  Patience is needed and is a special asset these days.

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Set up continues

Posted on March 26, 2019 by casifarm

Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Sunny today.  Will get a little above 50ºF today.

Brad is  here from JL Farm Equipment, Poseyville, IN to install updated software in the MX290 tractor.  This update was necessary in order for the tractor’s controller to communicate with the new CIH 2150 planter.   After that update, we must load in farm-specific data so that the tractor’s control system has the appropriate information to recognize our farms, fields, operators, and hybrids.  To prepare that setup info, we also performed an update to our Ag Leader SMS desktop software, and then created a Spring 2019 setup file that was loaded by USB to the Pro 700 monitor in the tractor.  It feels good to have the programming completed and ready.  We are also experimenting with a planting prescription, written in Fieldview.  It took a couple trials to discover the format of the shapefile that the Pro700 prefers.  Brad has been very helpful in getting the information that has been created in the office loaded into the tractor’s monitor.

Brad’s service truck. With this, he’s ready for just about anything.

Brad plugs in his computer to the tractor and performs the software update. Only then can the tractor communicate properly with the planter.

Now that the MX290 has updated software, it can unfold the planter to field position.  Ross and Brad can then check the planter for some preliminary operations.  There are many new features that must be learned.

Creating the “Spring 2019” setup files using the “Device Setup Utility” in Ag Leader SMS.

Also, we heard from our seed dealer, Jeff Jackson, and he has begun the seed treatment of our Asgrow soybean seed.    That work is accomplished at our nearby Nutrien plant.  We should be able to pick up our first batch of soybean seed, coated with that pink treatment,  sometime tomorrow.   We got the Vision truck out today, and thoroughly cleaned the trailer.  It is now ready to receive its first load of seed.  This is another important step towards #plant19.

Brandon fuels up the Vision truck after he has cleaned the trailer hoppers. They are ready for soybean seed.

The sunshine sure lifts our spirits today.

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Rainy day to welcome Spring

Posted on March 20, 2019 by casifarm

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

I read a quote today:  “The first day of Spring is not the same as the first Spring day”… I must agree with that one.

It’s raining again this afternoon.  Monday and Tuesday were quite nice, with lots of sun and calm winds.  The temps got to about 50ºF, and so it was pleasant to be outside.  Several little jobs got done on those two nice days.

The CIH 220 field cultivator was pulled out and given some maintenance.  It needed about a dozen new sweeps.  The tire pressures were corrected.  The folding and lift systems were lubricated, along with the rolling basket on the rear.

Along with other maintenance tasks, John and Brandon grease the zerks on the field cultivator.

 

In other news, we traded for a new (to us) JD 712FC corn head… one that folds for transport.  Now, to move from field to field, I’ll just touch a button, rather than detach the head and place on a wagon to pull end-wise.  It should simplify the process of getting from one field to the next.  Plus, it’s 9 years newer than the old 612C!   We would expect for this corn head to be around here for a long time.

Our JD 712FC corn head is now here.

Also, the new CIH 2150 corn planter arrived Monday evening.  It is the same size, 24-row, 30″ as our previous CIH 1250 planter, but about the only thing that seems the same is the red paint.  The  row planting units are completely different, with individual electric drive, and the Precision Planting Delta Force down-pressure system.  The row cleaners are a new style.  Even the gray seed boxes are different.  We don’t have all the bells and whistles from PP, but this down force system seemed like a very logical improvement.

New CIH 2150 24R30 corn planter arrived this week

This is a PP Delta Force unit that regulates how much down force is placed on a row unit

 

We met yesterday with our reps from Dekalb and Nutrien to discuss a specialized corn planting prescription service made possible through Climate.com.  After reviewing their proposal, we are putting this service into action in one large field with highly variable soil types.  This new Climate.com feature, called Advance Scripting, utilizes many factors to recommend a presciption–including previous yield histories, the traits of the particular variety being planted, and satellite field health imagery.  We will directly measure the results of variable-rate (VR) planting to a static (or single) planting rate.  Ross’s new planter will have the capability to plant half-width with the VR, and the other half with single-rate.  This will make the entire 170 acre field a test plot to see if the VR brings value.    We have been reluctant to use prescriptions for corn planting, because of our inability to quantify its effects.  But with this new planter and FieldView technology, we will be able to determine just how much value VR brings to our corn crop.

Our DeKalb consultant–Troy Clawson (background)– advised John, Brandon, and Ross on the creation of a specific corn planting prescription.

Brandon used the two good-weather days to repair tile holes.  These occur when the underlying drainage tile develops a defect or hole, then the soil erodes away to the surface, creating a ’tile hole’.  He uses the backhoe and a hand shovel to reveal the problem, then uses some plastic tile to repair the defect.  Then, the excavation is refilled, and voila!  no more hole.

In this case, Brandon uncovered a broken “Y” clay tile. He had to reconnect 8″ and 6″. Of course, he used plastic drainage tile and connectors to make the repair.

Because it’s raining outside, John and Brandon are working in our shop, fabricating a metering dispenser to add the talc and graphite seed treatment to the auger delivery system of our Easi-Load seed tender trailer.  Rather than dumping talc/graphite mixture into the top of the planter seed box, this will more uniformly distribute this seed treatment throughout the planter’s seed filling process.  The talc/graphite is a type of lubricant that improves the flow of the seed through the planter’s vacuum metering system.

This seed tender trailer holds 3 50-unit boxes of seed corn. The guys are adding that talc/graphite metering gizmo to the vertical auger up front.

A little more paint, and some wiring, and this accessory will be ready to roll!

Looking at the calendar, it’s telling us it would be nice to begin some field work.  But, as always, we will use the days that we are given.   There is rain in the forecast off and on through next week.  Any field work in March is like a bonus, but once April arrives, we like to get going.  Just remember in 2018, we had snow in mid-April… and we were able to get the crops planted in a reasonable time anyway.  So, we will see what comes.    The One who knows what weather is coming is not telling… He just wants us to trust Him.

I think we are pretty much ‘ready’ for spring field work.

 

 

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Creating planting prescriptions

Posted on March 15, 2019 by casifarm

Friday, March 15, 2019

Yesterday, I spent several hours building planting prescriptions for the soybean planter.  A planting prescription is a map of a field that shows the areas of different planting populations.   We use a soil survey map as the underlying basis for the prescriptions.  An appropriate population of soybeans (expressed in seeds/acre) is assigned to each soil type.  Typical population rates can run from 140,000 to 200,000 seeds per acre.  The population of seeds/acre is converted to pounds/acre, for the JD 1910 air cart does not count each seed, but the meters are calibrated by pounds.  Therefore, the number you see on the monitor/control screen as you are planting reads in pounds, not actual population.

All the documents needed for building planting prescriptions: Field List, Soil types in each field, Seed sizes for each variety, and populations converted to pounds.  The maps are shown on the computer in JD Operations Center.

John Deere  Operations Center is used in the computer for creating prescriptions.  It ‘links’ to Agrian software in which they are actually written, then saved to OC.  We can send each individual prescription to the tractor wirelessly, or use a USB drive to deliver the prescriptions en masse. 

This is a finished prescription for soybean planting. You can see it has 3 different rates, expressed in pounds per acre.  This is the map that will be utilized for planting the soybean variety Asgrow AG34X9.  

 When the planter is operating in the field, the GPS system recognizes where you are on the map, and then the JD 1910 air cart’s metering system is adjusted automatically to plant the population as assigned.  It is interesting to watch the population numbers adjust as you travel through the field, moving from one population area the the next.  You can see this change in one of our YouTube videos, check it out–beginning at the 1:27 mark in the video.

So, check another task off the list of pre-planting preparations!

It certainly is much cooler today, 41ºF compared to 72ºF yesterday.  The wind is at 12 mph right now, much calmer than yesterday when we saw gusts of 40+!

 

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Maintenance

Posted on March 13, 2019 by casifarm

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Work continued on the JD 1890 soybean air drill today.  The guys did the difficult task of greasing the zerks on all 60 rows, plus the wheels, frame-folding hinges, and the bearings on the 1910 air cart.  That’s a lot of greasing.  It’ll take about 3 more of those sessions through the planting season to properly care for this machine.

The drill is unfolded here in front of the big shop door. There is not enough room to unfold the drill inside the shop, so today’s relatively warm day made it okay to work on it outdoors.

Another task was checking and correcting the pressure in the drill’s tires.  It has 20 tires, plus  a spare.  Each one needed some air pumped to bring the pressure up to spec — 70 psi in most and 60 psi on the eight big tires on the main frame.  Took a while to get that task done!

John makes certain each tire has the correct pressure…this one needs 60 psi.  Do you notice that John is not wearing a coat?  It is 66ºF here today!

I spent the morning gathering information to send to our banker for our L/C renewal this summer.  I try to get this task done in plenty of time.  It’s more convenient to do this in March than May or June!   It takes some effort to collect and assemble all the documentation they require, but it has a side effect of keeping me more adequately ‘tuned in’ to the financial health of our farm business.  It’s also a good thing that we view our relationship with our banker as a partner, not an adversary.  Transparency is a key attribute.  We often long for the simple days back in the 1960s and 70s when it was much less complex, but those days are history.  It takes some focused concentration to get the needed information arranged in the proper format.  The computer sure makes (most of) that easier!

Tomorrow, it is supposed to be rainy and quite windy.  The temperature is supposedly going to get near 70º.  But the rain and wind will make for a good day to work in the farm office.  I think I can knock out the soybean planting prescriptions tomorrow, if I am diligent about it.  We have been experimenting with lower soybean planting populations over the past several years.    With a rate of 140,000 seeds per acre on the best soils, we may nearly have found an optimum minimum number — for our 10-inch rows.   After reviewing past performance, we may up that just a little.   The germination of the 2019 seed is lower, so that will also require a marginal increase in planting population to maintain our target.  Planting populations for soybeans are created counter-intuitively; in other words, the better the soil, the thinner you plant the beans.

We’ve been watching the reports of the storm out west.  Have mercy!  Strong winds and heavy rains and in some places heavy snow are creating hazardous travel conditions.  Many cattle operations are calving in this treacherous weather.   Also think of the law enforcement, the linemen, the highway crews, and the emergency workers who must brave the conditions to perform their necessary work.  Pray for them.

Have great rest of your week.

 

 

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Is winter over?

Posted on March 11, 2019 by casifarm

Monday, March 11, 2019

There is sunshine today.  It is 50ºF — certainly more pleasant out there.

We received today the seed sizes (number of seeds per pound) for the soybean seed, making the next step possible– creating the planting prescriptions.  The germination rating for some of  the seed is a mere 85%, so that will cause a need to up the planting rate.  Normally we count on the germ being 90+, but last fall’s conditions decreased the seed quality.

Brandon and John have both the NH3 application toolbars ready for the field.  The soybean air drill will get the ‘once over’ later this week when we are supposed to have some near-70 degree days.  The new corn planter will arrive this week.  Signs are pointing to springtime and planting season.

The biggest sign that winter is over came during the weekend.   Ross returned to the farm from his place in Florida.  It is good to have the whole team assembled.

#plant19 is not long off…

 

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Nicer day

Posted on March 6, 2019 by casifarm

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Sunny and 33ºF.  The wind is calm, so it is a pretty nice day out there this afternoon.  The sunshine is bringing some melting to the snow, and a bit of a thaw…unless there is some shade.

We traveled to the Huey farm late this morning in order to retrieve the soybean drill and the ammonia toolbar from their storage location there in the quonset building.  It’s the only place we have that we can place the those machines under roof.  It has been okay as a storage site there for several years now, and although the building is quite old, it serves its purpose for keeping those two implements out of the sun and rain.  It is sort of a rite of passage when we travel the 7 miles there at the end of winter.  Once those get brought home, the annual maintenance can occur.  It was very nice to get them brought back here to the main farm while the ground was still frozen and the county roads were clean and dry.

The air drill is backed into the quonset. When we place that machine in this building, it is a tight fit. Maybe a shoe horn would help.

John makes all the hose and wiring connections (and there are a lot of them)

The 1910 air cart and the 1890 no till drill see the full sun for the first time since July of last year.

The JD 2510H toolbar is stored behind the air drill in the same old building.

The toolbar is now in the shop, and it is due for a replacement of the scrapers or “boots” on each row unit.  Last time we did that was in 2017, and 2014 before that.  To understand what we are now doing, check this website post that describes this work.

The 2510H is now in the shop, and the replacement of scrapers is about to commence.

This is a row unit, viewed from the bottom, upside down.  The red arrow shows the wear on the leading edge of the scraper, and the yellow arrow shows the wear on the most critical area, where the ammonia enters the soil.

We had some single-digit temps for a couple nights this week, but the weekend forecast is for temps in the 50s, and rain.  The soil will thaw out thoroughly, and the little bit of snow we received will be gone.  During this cold snap, we had the opportunity to apply the nitrogen “top-dress” fertilizer to our wheat crop.  The guys from  the local Nutrien plant were out on those very cold days of Monday and Tuesday to make that application of a 50/50 blend of urea and ESN.  The thaw that is coming will ‘grab’ the granules of N, and pull them into the soil.  Our preferred timing for this application would be February 15, but we have only just this week had the proper window of conditions to allow this operation to be done.  We have applied top-dress anytime from New Year’s day to early March, as conditions permit.  If this were delayed into late March or early April, we would need to use another, more expensive form of N.  To see this spreading in action, check out this 2.5 minute video on our YouTube site.

John visits with Bruce while the Airmax2 spreading system on this Terra Gator is loaded with urea and ESN.

Early this week, we spent some time performing software updates in the 9520R tractor.  John Deere sent an update directly to the tractor, and then we loaded our spring operating profile and nitrogen prescriptions.    Today, there was another update, released just this month, for the tractor, satellite receiver, and GS2 rate controller on the 2510H, and those took about a half hour to download and install. The only remaining information to build and install are the planting prescriptions for soybeans, which are yet to be created.  Once those are loaded, the system should be ‘good to go’ for spring 2019.

This was the introduction screen to the update sent directly to the tractor from John Deere.

Here you see the progress bar keeping us informed about the speed of the update. It took about 6 minutes in all.

This is the screen showing the installation of the Spring 2019 profile– that tells the information system in the tractor the names of all the farms and fields and operators and products and guidance lines that are needed for initial the set-up.

These steps make it feel like #plant19 is not too far off!

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Prescription writing

Posted on March 1, 2019 by casifarm

Friday, March 1, 2019

It is a new month, and this makes us turn our attention toward planting time.  Seems like February went by pretty quick.  But what is different about that from any other fast month?  One Nebraska farmer I read on Twitter said he was glad that the 745 days of February were over, or at least that’s what it felt like to him!  They have really had a very cold and snowy month out there.

Today, John has done some repair to the red stripe Mack truck, replacing a hose between the radiator and the overflow tank.  I’ve been in the office composing nitrogen prescriptions for the 2019 corn fields.  These map documents will control the Capstan N-Ject system on the JD 2510H ammonia application toolbar.  Application rates typically run from 160 to 225 pounds per acre.

In the past, I’ve used JD Apex software to build these maps, but now we’ve moved on to Operations Center (OC).  I begin there, calling up each field location.  Then, OC connects to Agrian software, in which you actually create the prescription.  That gets saved to OC.  From there, each prescription is sent wirelessly to the JD 9520R tractor that will be operating the application.

You start by opening MyJohnDeere.com and then clicking on “Operations Center”

Next on the open Operations Center, you click on the map on the field with which you desire to work.  Then, you click to open Agrian

The introductory screen for Agrian

You observe that Agrian has identified the correct field, and then you tell it what you will use for the basis of your prescription. We use soil types.

Here is the soil map for this field, Burke Main.  Click ‘next’.

Here is where you assign a value of pounds per acre of nitrogen for each soil type.  When done, you click ‘save’ in LR corner

This is the final prescription map, to be wirelessly sent to the appropriate tractor.

Yeah, there are several steps, but it really helps place this valuable resource precisely where it will deliver the maximum benefit, and control the costs, too.

Soon, we will be creating the planting prescriptions for the soybean fields.  We hope to experiment in two corn fields with a new kind of prescription developed by Climate.com.  We are always looking for ways to improve profitability, by increasing yields and/or reducing costs.  We think prescriptions accomplish both these goals, by using these costly inputs in more precise ways.

All in all, this is a pretty valuable day’s work.  Plus, this gets done in the office, which is a pretty nice place on this chilly day!

 

 

 

 

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Another project

Posted on February 26, 2019 by casifarm

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

John is in the shop with the water trailer today.  This is the trailer we pull with red stripe Mack truck to supply water and chemicals to the JD 4730 sprayer.  He is working on replacing and upgrading the valves and lines from the tanks to the outlet.  The plumbing he is replacing was original to when we set up this trailer, 15+ years ago.

Back then, we bought an old 40 foot grain trailer, and installed 4-1500 gallon water tanks.  The length of the trailer allows for some area in the back for an induction mix tank, and totes of chemicals.  It has worked pretty well for us over the years.  These days, when we see a neighbor set up a similar system, they usually use an enclosed box trailer, and it keeps all the tanks inside with more security…since the back doors can be locked.

A ‘before’ shot.  The four individual tanks will have a valve, and will feed into the pump and the fill port.

Last summer, one of the water lines in this water supply trailer developed a tiny leak, so with this work, John will make it like new again.

Mid-way through the project. The four lines will be connected, one for each tank.

Almost done. A walkway will be installed to cover and protect the pipes on the floor.

Voila! It’s done!

Also today.  A new sofa for the office.  The old one was getting really shabby.

A pretty nice replacement.

It is a beautiful day in Southwest Indiana.  53ºF (12C) and sunny… and no wind!  Pleasant to be out and about.  We’re told the weekend will be very cold, in the teens at night, so we will enjoy this while it lasts.

Perhaps we can get the nitrogen top-dress on the wheat during the next cold spell.  To get that applied during February is highly desired.  We will likely miss the February application, but it should happen in the first few days of March.

Brandon has completed delivering the corn for February contracts.  He will take the monthly inventory, and inspect the corn in the bins.

It is HSBB tournament time in Indiana.  The sectional games begin tonight at 64 locations all over the state.  Our team, the South Knox Spartans, got a ‘bye’ and will play Friday evening.   In a way it is hard to believe the season is over, and it’s tourney time.  But, as we get older, the calendar pages flip pretty fast.

 

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