Although the unseasonably warm temperatures have been unexpected everywhere, planting season is still soon upon us and, for some - has already begun. We enter this new season ready for the breaths of fresh air a new spring brings and, hopefully, for our
hardworking farmers, as little stress as possible.
When preparing to plant, a farmer needs careful attention to two primary elements: their soil and their equipment. Neglecting to do so can cost even the most experienced growers valuable productivity hours, profits, and peace of mind.
Preparing Your Land
Whether your farm uses a zero-till farming method or benefits best from traditional tillage practices, a few vital steps are still necessary when readying your soil for planting. Approaching these stages with care to detail will provide you with the
best seed-to-soil contact. Better seed-soil contact = better growth and higher yields.
Test that your soil is dry enough.
Coming out of any winter, farmers everywhere have to take calculated risks in deciding when to lay the first seeds down. To the best of your abilities and ideally, through various testing samples appropriate to your farming needs, ensure the soil is dry
enough to support proper drainage and aeration during growth before making the first moves.
Clear your land.
A lot of matter can gather or grow throughout your land over the course of a year. Take special care to clear your land of debris, rocks, trees, and excess vegetation that can impede your crop growth, decrease your soil quality, or become an obstacle
as you begin to plant.
If possible, test your soil.
If you have the means to do so, testing your soil every few years, even if you haven't yet noticed any specific problems, can significantly benefit you in monitoring the health of your land. Doing so early will give you the time to adjust pH levels accordingly
and make necessary changes.
Fertilize appropriately.
However you choose to fertilize, do the research required to ensure you are applying the appropriate pre-plant and at-planting fertilizers that are best for your operation and the nutrient needs of your crops.
Maintaining Your Equipment
No matter what brand or model planter you have, you and your machines benefit from proactive maintenance. While we recognize that some farmers prefer to do the work themselves, evidence consistently shows that it pays to bring your planter in for
Uptime.
Common Issues We See Lately
This month, Avoca Equipment Technician Justin Schechinger walked us through one of the recent repairs our Service Team has seen come through the shops more frequently, ones that otherwise would have gone undetected without an Uptime Maintenance check.
"We’ve noticed a lot of pivot bushing in the 1200s and the 1240s that guys don’t know about. We find that they will cause a problem down the road or are causing issues already, and we’ve been able to help at least five guys out just recently."
"A lot of times, wing pivots have grease points on them; if they don’t have grease, the pins sieze, and we see those pins walk out sometimes. If it’s constantly breaking the bolt, that tells us this pin has siezed into the mainframe. Guys aren’t greasing them; we see that as the cause of these issues, and they're becoming more prevalent now with more age and acres."
Schechinger also notes that, understandably, many of these farmers didn’t know about this issue until their team discovered it in one customer's planter. Then,
"Another happened to be here and heard about it. We inspected his, and he said, ‘Get me on the list.’ Then the next, ‘Hey, get me on the list.’ Even a farmer who doesn’t usually bring his planters in for Uptimes heard about the pivot and said, ‘I want it looked over.’ He didn’t know it was something he needed to keep an eye on."
Why Uptime Maintenance
At the end of the day, it's no secret that anything you or our teams can catch pre-season reduces or eliminates downtime - whether for your planter or your combine.
"Planter wise, not too many do Uptime. But we seem to get a lot of planter calls within the first two weeks, ‘Hey, this isn’t working,’ or ‘I don’t know why this isn’t working.’ Then we get there, and it’s something we could’ve prevented. It could be anything from pivot points, an electrical with the wiring harness, or a lot of the times in season, its hoses needing replacement.
Since it's the middle of the season, we’re doing a lot of patching to get it by. Where in general, the whole harness may need to be replaced. Instead, we're putting band-aids during the season to keep them going."
When you have a team you can trust to look everything over, who consistently works on this equipment, or take in upwards of 20-30 planters throughout a season, there's a lower likelihood of anything getting missed. Your certified technicians will
know of the common issues other farmers are dealing with or can recognize a problem that's been recurring over the last five years, and they can use that knowledge to prevent the same issues from occurring in your equipment.
When to Schedule Uptime Maintenance
While many like to be through with thinking about planting or harvesting once the season is over, we encourage you to start thinking about it for the following year early on.
Proactive Uptime maintenance saves you your greatest resources: time and money. It saves you downtime in season - protecting your profits - and from a larger bill due down the road due to the accumulation of neglected issues.
"Before you park your combine away for harvest, we ask you to pull your planter out. Bring your planter in, and even your tractor, too. That gives us a chance to work on them all winter, and they’re prepped. So when you take them home, they’re ready to go for the spring, and you don’t have to worry about it."
"If you have the facility and you’d rather have us do the inspection on-site, we are always more than willing to come do it there. And often, when we do that, customers want to be there to learn. We can show you what we’re looking for and explain, ‘This is why we’re seeing this.’ If you live an hour away and don’t want to drive here, get your work done, and drive an hour back, we can come, work in your shop, and do it there."
Get Started Now
So what are you waiting for? Whether you're on the fence or it's just something you've been putting off, give us a call now.
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