It may seem like quite a while from now, but the summer is flying by, and for me, it goes really fast from here until harvest. First of all, we will have our annual, Pre Harvest Training sessions next week - One in Harlan, and one in Ames. These are free to attend, but we do want you to register. You can register by clicking HERE.
Let's not forget about the Iowa State Fair, which is always a good time!
After that, there is the farm shows - Farm Progress Show and Husker Harvest Days. HTS will have a booth at both, so if you plan to attend stop by and see us!
My guess is that combines will be rolling by the time we finish Husker Harvest Days this year......
If you have any service work that needs done before harvest, give us a call. If you would just like to have a tech come look over your system before you go to the field this fall, we can handle that also!
Still don't have a yield monitor? You may have some of the parts already! With any Ag Leader display, you can easily move it to the combine. There is still plenty of time to get this done for 2010. HTS has several combine systems in stock and ready for install.
Any questions - contact me. We have lots of resources available to make your fall harvest successful!
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
New Software Platform Announced from Ag Leader
Ag Leader announced today that their SMS Mobile software will now run on a PC. Many have asked me if they could get SMS Mobile with a bigger screen, and this is how that is now possible. This new software release, called SMS Mobile PC, will run on laptops, tablets, and netbooks running Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7.
This will allow for higher screen resolution, larger buttons, faster processing, and more memory than the PDA version could. All of the same modes - Boundary, Soil Sampling, Crop Scouting, Coverage Logging, and General Logging will be available in SMS Mobile PC.
Shipment of this new product release is expected to begin in the fall of 2010.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Ag Leader announces New Features
Today Ag Leader released new firmware updates to both the Edge and Integra displays, offering some nice enhancements as well as a few new features. I will highlight a few of them for you.
First up, is the much anticipated SmartPath guidance pattern. This is a new "drive and guide" pattern, that finally allows us a good option for guidance in odd shaped fields, contours, and terraced fields. I have plenty of all of them, so I spent some time this spring helping to test this awesome new pattern. I have planted for four years with autosteer now, and I can finally say with a great amount of confidence that I could plant everything without needing markers on the planter. Here is the official language from Ag Leader about their new pattern.
“No setup is required; drive the first pass and SmartPath will guide you from there. SmartPath combines straight AB guidance lines with curves, allowing users to simply drive their guidance pattern,” says Product Manager, Matt Leinen. “This is particularly beneficial in odd-shaped or terraced fields as well as fields without established guidance lines. Users will genuinely appreciate the ease-of-use this feature adds to Ag Leader guidance and steering products.”
I couldn't agree more! Nice job on this one. For those of you that have used a pattern similar to this with other systems, you probably understand the frustration of having the system incorrectly select the pass you wish to be on. Ag Leader is handling this very well, and only in extremely rare or difficult situations did I even have to press a button to get the right pass selected.
This new pattern is available in both the Edge and Integra, by simply updating to the latest firmware.
The next big feature announced in my opinion is the Integra now has the ability to load variety maps for harvest. This means that you can take as planted data from multiple monitors, or multiple types of monitors, and read it into SMS, then output an as planted map that can be loaded into one or several Integra displays.
This will really help out those with a mixed bag of precision ag equipment, as well as provide a way to mesh data from two or more planters into one display for harvest.
The last item wasn't really an announcement today, but rather a personal favorite of mine. The Integra display got a facelift in how switch mapping is handled. All of it is handled by a new graphically intuitive Switch Assignment screen. BIG time saver to those who set up these systems! It also finally becomes easy to understand what is assigned and where.
This is probably my favorite feature enhancement that made it in the Integra!
First up, is the much anticipated SmartPath guidance pattern. This is a new "drive and guide" pattern, that finally allows us a good option for guidance in odd shaped fields, contours, and terraced fields. I have plenty of all of them, so I spent some time this spring helping to test this awesome new pattern. I have planted for four years with autosteer now, and I can finally say with a great amount of confidence that I could plant everything without needing markers on the planter. Here is the official language from Ag Leader about their new pattern.
“No setup is required; drive the first pass and SmartPath will guide you from there. SmartPath combines straight AB guidance lines with curves, allowing users to simply drive their guidance pattern,” says Product Manager, Matt Leinen. “This is particularly beneficial in odd-shaped or terraced fields as well as fields without established guidance lines. Users will genuinely appreciate the ease-of-use this feature adds to Ag Leader guidance and steering products.”
I couldn't agree more! Nice job on this one. For those of you that have used a pattern similar to this with other systems, you probably understand the frustration of having the system incorrectly select the pass you wish to be on. Ag Leader is handling this very well, and only in extremely rare or difficult situations did I even have to press a button to get the right pass selected.
This new pattern is available in both the Edge and Integra, by simply updating to the latest firmware.
The next big feature announced in my opinion is the Integra now has the ability to load variety maps for harvest. This means that you can take as planted data from multiple monitors, or multiple types of monitors, and read it into SMS, then output an as planted map that can be loaded into one or several Integra displays.
This will really help out those with a mixed bag of precision ag equipment, as well as provide a way to mesh data from two or more planters into one display for harvest.
The last item wasn't really an announcement today, but rather a personal favorite of mine. The Integra display got a facelift in how switch mapping is handled. All of it is handled by a new graphically intuitive Switch Assignment screen. BIG time saver to those who set up these systems! It also finally becomes easy to understand what is assigned and where.
This is probably my favorite feature enhancement that made it in the Integra!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
ASABE names Jacob Bolson as Newcomer Engineer of the Year
News Release
The Iowa Section of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers has named its 2010 award winners. The awards were presented April 1 during the Section’s 2010 Spring Meeting, held at the Kinze Product Center in Williamsburg, Iowa.
Each year ASABE’s Iowa Section recognizes members that have made significant contributions to society and the profession. The three awards given are Newcomer Engineer of the Year, Young Engineer of the Year, and Engineer of the Year.
Jacob M. Bolson - Newcomer Engineer of the Year
Jacob M. Bolson is an application engineer for Hagie Manufacturing in Clarion, Iowa. An ASABE member since 2003, he was honored for his service to ASABE at both the national and section levels. Bolson has demonstrated his service to ASABE through participation and leadership on several national ASABE committees. He is currently the chair of the 2010 Agricultural Machinery Conference, taking place May 2-5, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Bolson has been actively involved in supporting preprofessional ASABE members by freely giving his time to advise and mentor capstone design students through the Iowa State Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Department. Through his industry contacts, Bolson has facilitated significant equipment donations back to the Iowa State Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering department which have been used to enhance the overall education quality for current students.
The Iowa Section of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers has named its 2010 award winners. The awards were presented April 1 during the Section’s 2010 Spring Meeting, held at the Kinze Product Center in Williamsburg, Iowa.
Each year ASABE’s Iowa Section recognizes members that have made significant contributions to society and the profession. The three awards given are Newcomer Engineer of the Year, Young Engineer of the Year, and Engineer of the Year.
Jacob M. Bolson - Newcomer Engineer of the Year
Jacob M. Bolson is an application engineer for Hagie Manufacturing in Clarion, Iowa. An ASABE member since 2003, he was honored for his service to ASABE at both the national and section levels. Bolson has demonstrated his service to ASABE through participation and leadership on several national ASABE committees. He is currently the chair of the 2010 Agricultural Machinery Conference, taking place May 2-5, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Bolson has been actively involved in supporting preprofessional ASABE members by freely giving his time to advise and mentor capstone design students through the Iowa State Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Department. Through his industry contacts, Bolson has facilitated significant equipment donations back to the Iowa State Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering department which have been used to enhance the overall education quality for current students.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
WAAS Satellite to drift off orbit
The Federal Aviation Administration says one of the two Wide Area Augmentation System geosynchronous satellites will drift out of usable orbit within the next few weeks. Intelsat told the FAA earlier that it had lost control of the Galaxy 15 satellite (PRN 135), which hosts the WAAS SBAS transponder.
FAA officials say they are watching the satellite and predict its imminent failure. Once that happens, WAAS will be disrupted for users in northwest Alaska. The rest of the WAAS service area — the U.S., Canada and Mexico — will operate normally, but will be reduced to a single WAAS broadcasting satellite (PRN 138).
FAA officials say they are watching the satellite and predict its imminent failure. Once that happens, WAAS will be disrupted for users in northwest Alaska. The rest of the WAAS service area — the U.S., Canada and Mexico — will operate normally, but will be reduced to a single WAAS broadcasting satellite (PRN 138).
Thursday, February 11, 2010
HTS honored Silver Circle Award from Trimble
At the recent Trimble Annual Reseller's meeting, HTS received the Silver Circle Award for "Outstanding Sales and Invaluable Customer Service" in 2009.
We are seeing a tremendous growth in the Autopilot steering systems, and I wanted to take a minute to break down the technology and its value.
Autosteer in the midwest has been somewhat slow to adapt compared to other areas of the country, and I believe much of this has been because of the value of the crops. We were comparing our $2/bushel corn and $6/bushel beans to the high dollar vegetable crops of the west coast. The ROI just isn't there, or so we thought. The thing is, everyone forgot that we are no longer working with those prices. With $3-$4 corn, and $9-$10 beans, there is a significant return on investment with an autosteer system.
We are also working with bigger machines now. This means that the cost per hour to run the machine has went up, because it is burning more fuel, and the depreciation on the machine adds up quickly with every hour on the tach.
There is also a third leg to this that I haven't mentioned yet. Operator fatigue has become a bigger and bigger deal. This is tough to put a dollar figure on, but there is definitely significant value to getting home at night and not being completely wore out from running the tractor across the field all day long. This comes into play in the years like what we have had recently, with shorter windows of opportunities to get the crops in and out of the field.
What does this all mean? You can easily pay for autosteer technology on your farm. Contact HTS to find out how this can pay back for you.
We are seeing a tremendous growth in the Autopilot steering systems, and I wanted to take a minute to break down the technology and its value.
Autosteer in the midwest has been somewhat slow to adapt compared to other areas of the country, and I believe much of this has been because of the value of the crops. We were comparing our $2/bushel corn and $6/bushel beans to the high dollar vegetable crops of the west coast. The ROI just isn't there, or so we thought. The thing is, everyone forgot that we are no longer working with those prices. With $3-$4 corn, and $9-$10 beans, there is a significant return on investment with an autosteer system.
We are also working with bigger machines now. This means that the cost per hour to run the machine has went up, because it is burning more fuel, and the depreciation on the machine adds up quickly with every hour on the tach.
There is also a third leg to this that I haven't mentioned yet. Operator fatigue has become a bigger and bigger deal. This is tough to put a dollar figure on, but there is definitely significant value to getting home at night and not being completely wore out from running the tractor across the field all day long. This comes into play in the years like what we have had recently, with shorter windows of opportunities to get the crops in and out of the field.
What does this all mean? You can easily pay for autosteer technology on your farm. Contact HTS to find out how this can pay back for you.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Greetings from the Iowa Power Farming Show
A great crowd this year and a lot of interest in SureVacs and grain bin management. Stop by booth number 502 and say hi!
Monday, February 1, 2010
Ag Leader announces new planter shutoffs
For those of you that have been waiting for a solution on your pro shaft drive planters, Ag Leader now has you covered. Their innovative new style shutoff makes installation very simple, and provides reliable and repeatable results in the field.
My experience with these in the field has been very good. They have been tested with several different types of seed discs, and all have worked well.
The SureVac row shutoffs will be on display this week at the Iowa Power Farming show, or feel free to contact me with any questions you may have about them
Thursday, January 28, 2010
What's New???
What is new in the precision ag world? Well, it has been quite a while since my last post, as it seems like the distraction list from posting some useful information continues to grow. I will say that my lack of recent posts does not mean that there hasn't been anything happening in the precision ag world. I will say though, that there has been nearly an overload of new products and information as of late. The good news is, that myself and the rest of the HTS Precision Ag team has been busy learning all of the new products in several weeks of training from our vendors. We have had people in training for the last three weeks straight! I just finished a round of training and certification from Ag Leader, and there is no end in sight to the learning for all of us!
I will wrap up this post with one final comment - the new announcements aren't over for the season!!! For those of you close to the Iowa Power Farming show, I would encourage you to take a stroll through and look up HTS. We will have some new information to share with you at that time!
I will wrap up this post with one final comment - the new announcements aren't over for the season!!! For those of you close to the Iowa Power Farming show, I would encourage you to take a stroll through and look up HTS. We will have some new information to share with you at that time!
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