Combines are rolling!

Well, here we are at the end of September and the combines are just getting rolling. What a strange year for weather! Since we are finally getting to the field, I thought I would take a moment to remind everyone of some tips and calibration hints to get the best data possible out of your yield monitor.

1. Make sure you have the right grain type set for the field you are harvesting. Over and over again I see people harvesting soybeans and their monitor is set to corn. This data can't be saved.
2. Check to see the monitor is giving you "believeable" readings. Things as simple as incorrect ground speed or too many or too few acres counting are signs of a real problem that needs fixed.
3. Calibrate in this order: Temperature, Moisture, Weight.
4. When calibrating moisture, make a new load and calibrate from a small load. This will allow for less averaging and get you better results.
5. Weight calibrations should not be done with truck loads of grain. Follow these rules: All loads should be around 3000 lbs, each load should be a consistant speed for the whole load, but each load should be a different speed (or flow rate). Run one load at the slowest speed your machine will ever run, then run one at the fastest speed that your machine will run. Finally stagger two more loads between these two extremes, and you will have your 4 calibration loads to get great results.
6. Calibrations need to be done for each grain type.
7. Calibrations should be completed each year, even if the monitor was accurate last year.

Follow these guidelines, and you will have one of the best calibrations you have ever seen on your monitor, not to mention avoid frustrations of finding out a problem after it is too late to correct.

SeedCommand payback increasing???

I just got back from a seed technology day, and heard rumblings of seed corn costing $300+ per bag for 2009. They had a good explaination for this, as the technology is becoming better and better, keeping us from needing to spray for certain insects, etc., but it made me think right away about how much additional money the SeedCommand system on my planter is going to save me next year! HTS now has over 150 planters running with this technology, and I have heard over and over again, 7% savings on average. I have heard the range from 5% to 15%.
That being said, lets do some math: Assuming a 2000 acre farmer plants half his acres to corn, that would be over $100,000 in seed just for the corn. That means that by saving 7% you would save $7,000 per year just on corn seed. This doesn't even count the increase in yield we have seen by not overplanting the end rows. To me, this is a no brainer. This is technology we can't afford to farm without.

Iowa RTN Network

From the Iowa DOT website...

"The Iowa Department of Transportation is in the process of implementing a statewide, high-precision gobal positioning system (GPS) referencing network. The goal is to provide a system that will improve the efficiency and accuracy for all GPS users and meet or exceed the Iowa DOT’s requirements relating to accuracy, precision, reliability, and scalability. Any authorized user, whether from the private or public sector, using a late-model, survey-grade, single - or dual-frequency rover equipped with a cellular modem or data-capable cell phone will receive near-instantaneous GPS satellite corrections anywhere in Iowa. "

What does this mean to the rest of us? Well, this network is supposed to be operational by December 1st and we really won't know a whole lot more until then. I will be one of the first to do testing on this network working with Trimble, so I should be able to get some good hands on information. This network isn't going to be broadcasting anything from the actual location, but rather the correction information will be put on an IP address on the internet, so we can use cell modems to get the information from the internet to the GPS receiver on our equipment. One other option is called rebroadcasting, which entails hooking a radio to the internet with a high speed connection and broadcasting this correction information to another radio hooked to the GPS receiver.

This has been a pretty hot topic of conversation, so feel free to post questions here as there are several others that may have the same questions, and I will do my best to answer them. Below is a picture of the intended locations for the network.