2010-8-31
Farm Progress Show. Case has a new big tractor, Hagie has a new sprayer, and Firestone tires on a NH don't leave much clearance between the tire and the fender. Deere has electronic steering and a video game to show you how it works. Big bud is big, a header trailer can load and unload heads by itself. Gleaner has a black combine, and there are some new electronics released.
2010-8-29
Farmall 400 with a loader. Considerably better than a shovel, unless you have something like that Hitachi excavator in the background.
2010-8-26
The combines are getting checked over. We're probably 2-3 weeks away from starting harvest.
2010-8-23
The new Verizon cell tower is pretty much complete. The antennas on the tower connect to the building via some pretty massive coaxial cables.
2010-8-11
Cell phone towers go up faster than grain bins. They build sections on the ground, then bring in a big crane to assemble it. I'm glad I'm not the guy at the top wrenching on the bolts.
2010-8-10
Toured John Deere Harvester Works in East Moline, IL, then had lunch at JD World Headquarters. The combine factory is currently running around the clock and building about 50 machines per day. There were some 635FD and 640FD flex drapers out back that will be sent out for testing. Also, it sounds like they will be testing some twin row planters next spring. If you ever get the chance to tour the combine factory, do it. I was on a gold key tour, which included a stop at the world headquarters for lunch. It was all quite impressive.
2010-8-9
Annual combine clinic at the local Case IH dealer. A good review of the theory behind threshing and separation, some tips for setting the machine, and some info about the new tier 4 engines that go into production soon.
2010-8-6
Finished spraying bugs in the soybeans today, which should be the end of spraying this season.
2010-8-3
I just returned home from a road trip to Columbus, OH. The purpose of the trip was a birthday party, but the 20 hours of driving was effectively a whirlwind crop tour of the corn belt. We took different routes there and back, going through the cities of Davenport, Peoria, Indianapolis, Columbus, Toledo, South Bend, and Chicago. While there are regions with excellent looking crops, the majority of the crops don’t look perfect. Yellow-ish corn and soybeans, uneven height, and unplanted areas were a recurring theme everywhere. Even in a field that looks perfect from the road, there can be substantial yield variance. When you can visibly see the stress from the road, the top end yield on that field is significantly limited. While it is completely normal to see stress in areas, this year it seems to be everywhere. Translation: I think total US corn/soybean production this season will be lower than what is anticipated by the markets.