Farm Equipment
Day 4 of Construction
This is the progress on the new shop, Day 4. Beautiful 60+ deg weather for February 1st makes things go fast…………
Happening now on the farm.
Busy under-describes the amount of activity going on right now.
Finished up hauling my January contracted corn this week. Glad to have that done……..it seems like it took for ever and I guess it did with all the meetings I have had and time away from the place.
Pioneer came and got their seed beans so we spent part of two days loading semis. The big plus is we got it done before the rains set in!
Progress on the new building has come to a halt with the rain and winds so no new updates or pictures of progress on that front.
Waiting on the last of the planter parts to get here so we can start the rebuild on it.
Waiting on the last of the NH3 parts so we can start the rebuild on the anhydrous tool bar.
We did get the planter monitors back from AgExpress………… that’s good news!
The next few days will be spend trying to catch up on all the paperwork that has piled up between meetings and hauling grain.
All in all, I would rather shovel grain than push papers………..
KARTA Meeting Review
Last week, as you know by now if you read this blog or follow me on Twitter, I attended the KARTA meeting. KARTA (Link Here) stands for Kansas Ag Research Technology Association.
KARTA (originally KARA) was organized in May 2000 by a group of innovative Kansas producers, university researchers, and industry members who shared a common desire to learn more about production agriculture and continue to be a part of the leading technological and informational changes taking place on today’s farms
This year was the fifteenth annual conference. It was an applied workshop consolidating information about new and old technologies with a focus on supporting scientifically valid on-farm research efforts and increasing overall farm business profitability.
Topics included precision ag, social media, economics of travel logistics between fields and farms, on farm research, and crop nutrition as well as various presentations by industries on their new, current or trending technologies.
The Thursday night after dinner topic covered land rents and land values. This particular discussion was led by Dr. Terry Kastens & Dr. Kevin Dhuyvetter. I would call it the “Bear Pit” of KARTA. It was a fantastic discussion involving any and all attendees of the meeting. The topic was batted back and forth and ripped apart…and that was just the three hours or so that I stayed for it! Very good discussion…….
While the evening session or Bear Pit was my favorite part of the meeting, I must say that I give the entire meeting a “10″ as far as meetings go. It was very well organized, very well attended by producers and industry. It was an open exchange of information. Information was CURRENT, RELEVANT, FORWARD LOOKING and it was HONEST. It was everything that an agriculture producer meeting should be.
I think so highly of the meeting that I believe we need something like it here in Southern Illinois!
If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know how much I hate the usual “rubber chicken and roast beef” agriculture meeting circuit here in Illinois. Well, this wasn’t a rubber chicken meeting by a long shot………in my opinion it very closely resembled, for the production and precision side, what Farm Futures Management Summit is for the economic and business side.
I left there with that good feeling, that positive feeling of knowing that I had been rubbing shoulders with the progressive life long learners of agriculture. When that happens you know you have been to a good meeting……….yes their world is different than mine here in southern Illinois, but that doesn’t matter. It’s the mindset I look for. The mindset of being proactive vs reactive.
KARTA is a great proactive meeting………I highly suggest you attend the 16th meeting if at all possible.
What I found when I got home from KARTA
Paul Miller Construction had started on our new shop/office/warehouse.
Lots to do today, will have a write up on KARTA for tomorrow……..
A Little Surgery on Big John
We had to perform a little surgery on ole Big John. The oil leak turned out to be a blown pan gasket………..
Not nearly as bad as I had envisioned the problem………and thankful it wasn’t the problem I had feared it was.
The worst part was getting the parts………which no one had in stock.
Plowing on Jan 9. Had to go try it!
Darn it, the ground worked good……..too good. I have never done tillage in January….until 2012. But an oil leak will keep me out of the field for a few more days
The tile line has all but quit running. We are dry.
Plowing in January
Who would have ever thought that on January 4th farmers would be plowing ground in Illinois?
Well, in the southeast part of the state, tractors are running and there is even talk of some spraying starting.
More updates as I get more information.
New Year: Updates and Changes Coming
Well, it’s 2012, or something like, that and January is going to start off with a bang so to speak. A very busy month ahead for Robertson Farms. First up is the Farm Futures Management Summit followed by the KARTA meeting shortly there- after. Throw in a IEMA meeting, K9SIL meeting and some other training meetings and the bigger part of the month is gone.
In between those meetings I hope we see the start of the new machine shed as well as getting the new (to us) NH3 bar home so we can put the VRT controller on it. There is a planter to rebuild as well as the backhoe and dozer to work on. So we need to hit the ground running and not look back.
Plus if the weather allows we need to pull a few soil samples, grain to haul and some scraping to do.
Fun and busy!
If that wasn’t enough……..there’s more! First thing in the spare time is a revamp of the website. I have been wanting to a major revamp but have not had the time with all the other stuff going on this fall. The revamp will coincide with two new business ventures we are going to be entering into here on the farm. Can’t say much about them right now but I think some folks will be surprised at what we have planned. These will bring new opportunities for us in agriculture as well as begin to pave the way for the next generation of Robertson’s to enter the the operation.
Hopefully we will be making some announcements in the next 30 days or so……………..
Don’t be alarmed if I miss a day posting this month with all that’s happening.
It looks to be an exciting and busy winter!!!
krfarm year in review
Instead of the “Year in Review” recap that is typical this time of year, how about something different…….
My Top 5 Blogs of 2011
#1 ICCA Board works to kill off CPAg Certification
#2 Combines, Grain Bins, Grain Trucks and Bush Hogs
#3 Harvested Nitrogen Plot Today
#4 Corn Harvest Begins for Some
My Top 5 Categories Viewed in 2011
#2 Soil Testing
#4 Ham Radio
#5 Guns
2011 was a record year for krfarm.net
Almost 27,000 unique visitors who made 77,000 visits this year with 835,000 page hits while they visited. December, November, September and May were the biggest months for visitors and page content viewed.
Thanks for visiting! Thanks for commenting! Thanks for telling your friends about us!
We are going to try and ramp it up a notch for 2012…….stay tuned!
My .02 on Nitrogen in 2011
Seems like everyone has a blog, newsletter or magazine article on nitrogen and corn yields for the 2011 crop. Well I guess I will chime in with my .02 worth on the topic this Friday.
A pound of N is a pound of N. (Yea, we all know that I hope by now.) It is where, how and when you place that N that matters most. In 2011 where, how and when made all the difference in the world. Yet there are still fertilizer dealers and farmers who are flat out in denial.
I have been told that some calculations have already been done here locally by a few farmers that their sidedressed corn had a $200/ac advantage to their preplant corn. I believe that is the case and think is higher in some instances. A lot higher in some instances. Based on the available N testing that I did this spring, testing for both Nitrate and Ammonia N, there were many instances of preplant N loss, (urea, solution and anhydrous) of 50% with some fields I tested losing 75% by the time the corn was V2 – V3. Some of those fields didn’t have corn growing in them by the 20th of April either…………
Fields with preplant N, where the farmer either tested and believed the results or assumed a N loss based on crop color and looks by V5-V6, and then sidedressed supplemental N at between 50 and 75 lbs/ac, and reported to me a 50-70 bu/ac yield increase over doing nothing.
So 50 bu/ac @ $6/bu = $300/ac Gross minus 75 lbs N/ac @ .50/lb = $37.50/ac Cost equals $262.50 NET/ac (no labor or machine cost subtracted).
So on 100 ac that’s another $26,250 of profit…………..Sidedressed N, applied with a knife, in the ground, between the corn rows.
Will that hold true every year……….. probably not. But if a pound of N is a pound of N and placement and timing are everything, then how much are you willing to give up for convenience? $262/ac? $200/ac?? $50/ac??
In that range of numbers above is a lot of the cash rent that is paid in this area……….Where, how and when could have easly paid your cash rent………plus a great return on your time an machiney investment.
Where, how and when was everything this year……..
Inventory and Receipts…..
Between things that have to get done I have been trying to get some things done here in the office and in the house that I have neglected or that got pushed to the back burner because of everything else that has gone on this year.
One of those projects that I got started over the weekend and am hoping to finish up today is installing the new kitchen counter and sink that has been laying in the family room for the better part of 10 months. So at an hour here and a hour there I am down to installing the sink and plumbing it up.
Which means a parts run this morning…………
So off to two (2) local businesses to get the stuff I need. Why not one (1)? Because no one in this economy will stock any inventory. Its not just hardware stores its farm equipment stores and tire shops and everyone with inventory. They are all happy to order, at an additional cost, but no one has any inventory. So it takes two stops to get what a fellow needs to do an odd job.
But I am wandering off topic………
I could get started on this inventory and parts thing esp. with equipment dealers who charge a premium for ordering stuff but I won’t. I have learned to save gas on the farm side and just go online and order it that way. Its here in 24 hrs delivered to the door by the Brown Truck of Joy (UPS) and I don’t have to leave the place, drive anywhere and find out they don’t have it…….plus its always flat rate shipping that is cheaper than the gas to drive to the parts store anyway……….
But again I wander off topic……..a blog for another time.
I got home from my parts run and put the receipts down on my desk so that I could record them in the checkbook. You know a receipt, that strip of while thermal paper that comes running out of the cash register or computer printer once you complete your transaction and pay for your items. A receipt. A receipt is an evidence of purchase. A receipt is an acknowledgement that a transaction has taken place.
Well, I guess we are so stupid as a nation anymore that this morning when I put the receipt down on the desk, I noticed on top of the of the white thermal paper, in bold face type the following: THIS IS YOUR RECEIPT.
What? I mean what have people been thinking the paper they get was? THIS IS YOUR RECEIPT. KEEP THIS FOR YOUR RECORDS.
Is being able to identify what a receipt is at this particular business so difficult that they have to print THIS IS YOUR RECEIPT on the tickets? Is this some legal junk to keep them from being liable for returns or has there been a problem legally where they have to state to the customer that they have got their receipt?
If any of this is the case I don’t want to shop there anymore. Why? Because that much stupid could rub off. Both in the business that has to tell its customers what a receipt is and in the customers that shop there.
Its no wonder our country and economy is in so much trouble……………
Persistence
Persistence: To continue steadfastly or firmly in some state, purpose, course of action or the like, especially in spite of opposition remonstrance, etc..
I am trying to persist.
Its not easy it seems anymore.
Took the weekend off and went to Evansville to the Appleseed shoot at Red Brush range and had a very enjoyable time despite the 40 mph winds that played havoc with our targets both days. 20+ Americans persisted over the weekend on the line to improve our shooting skills and learn our heritage. It wasn’t easy or fun a time or two when the wind kept messing us up, but we persisted and shooters improved and learned and never quit. And we had fun despite the wind.
On the way over in the New Haven bottoms we saw lots of combines, auger wagons and trucks trying to get the harvest out in that area. They were persisting. It didn’t look like it was fun in places with the soil conditions but they were making a dent in it before it rained. Having said that, the crops looked good from the road. That however doesn’t mean much this year as a lot of fields that looked good from the road haven’t been good at all.
I got started with fall tillage yesterday but got rained out. I will persist at getting it done when the ground dries out again.
I have been trying to get back in the swing some how to keep this blog more updated and relevant but I cant seem to get it done. That being said I will persist at getting back on track………..
Headed down to see what I can do to help with the radio problems at the Region HQ for the Earthquake Exercise today. A lot of people have persisted in getting this program set up for RACES/ARES to help and we continue to persist at making sure it will work if and when we need it to work.
The “to do list” gets longer every day but we persist at working on what we can when we can and getting it done.
So in honor of persistence, this blog will be labeled as “to be continued“……..
Missed it, too busy here
I was going to start the week off and get back to daily blogging but when I saw the forecast for next week I went back to work. Rain most of next week the way things look right now, so I worked some ground and spread P and K and had Browns spray some fields that I knew I most likely would not get to before it rained.
I had planned on doing some blogs on some shooting videos but that will wait until next week.
Oh, next week……is the SLE 2011 or State Level Exercise for IEMA and I have to play radio man. I am not ready, and dont look to have a lot of time to get ready this weekend either…..
So for a video on shooting how about this one…….
Or this one……
Corn done….on to beans
Matthew stayed home on Friday from school and ran the combine for me while I hauled to the bins so that we could get done shelling corn for 2011. I say done, as I am done with my part of corn harvest. U of I Dixon Springs still has 3 acres of corn to harvest as part of their fertility research that they have ongoing on my farm. So other than the little small patch all the corn is off the Robertson Farm.
I haven’t totaled up the bushels yet but we are below average in yields for the year. The corn-on-corn really hurt us yield wise but that field was also the field that had the majority of replanting, so it’s hard to say what should have been done there. Maybe replanted the whole thing? I don’t know. Something to think about later.
So today I will switch everything over to soybeans and begin bean harvest. That means that I will have to “decontaminate” the combine or clean it out thoroughly so I can cut seed production beans first before cutting my other commercial beans. The reason for the clean out is to avoid any other crop or bean variety from contaminating the desired seed production. Its not that hard but it is time consuming. The combine has to be cleaned out which means all the those corners and places where grain hangs up inside the guts and in the grain tank. The truck has to be cleaned and so does the auger used to load the bin.
I hope by dark that I have at least cut a truck load of beans and am well on my way to getting the big end behind me on Tuesday. But I have been constantly told that I plan too far ahead sometimes………
Farm Equipment…Yield us the Right of Way!
This is about 2 years old, but it makes a point I want to get across. Farm Equipment is a lot bigger than your car, its a lot heavier than your car and its not going to move when you hit it. ITS BIGGER THAN YOU. SLOW DOWN and stay alive.
I hate to say this but I see way too many potential accidents waiting to happen every day. Most are young women or girls who are driving WAY TOO FAST and are either on the phone or are texting (the texting is illegal, but it doesn’t seem to matter) with the music loud enough that I can hear it over the roar of the motor of the tractor or combine. (or at leas the base)
If you come up behind us and you cant see our mirrors, we cant see you. If you try to pass us, make sure to do so where the road is wide and allow plenty of time. If you meet us head on GET OVER!
