Something new to rc

[Acadieman]

Thanks for the explanation Lil Giants. I'm always impressed by the techniques and new technology used.

tough break on the weather! Hope it clears up soon. Temps are hovering between -3 to +10 here which is typical Maritime climate. Newfoundland got 50cm or snow last week, they can have it.

[Lil Giants]

Originally Posted by ihbuilder

Concrete will setup under water . It's a chemical reaction with water added to the cement .

True, but is the chemical makeup altered per applicable use? How long does the wet batch sit on his trk before he HAS to dump it out? Why stop paving when it's raining when the cement will eventually setup anyway?

[Lil Giants]

YEP! Still cold, cloudy & drizzling here, about 1,5 inch moisture accumulation during the last 4 days... a deep slow soaker... snow is all gone... I can't get down the grid road now without my chevy in 4wd... it's freaking wet!!!

Gonna go have a look here right now to see how far advanced last week's seeded lentils & peas are...

[doodlebug]

Originally Posted by Lil Giants

So as long as it keeps raining the cement won't set up in the box? Is the hardener added by the paver machine?

It's mixed up dry, compared to what comes out of a transit mixer, for general use. I don't know why they kept batching trucks? Can't second guess what they are thinking !
Cheers!

[Lil Giants]

Crop checking Wed & Thurs, cooler single digit temps & the soil cool damp, the lentil seed had a root jetting down an inch and another coiled around the seed. Today with warm sunshine, that upper root is starting to go skyward, just a few mm below the soil. Blasted off one tank of spray just before dark & the 2nd one early tomorrow morning. With a magnifying glass, I might be able to see the lentil poke through the ground Sunday afternoon The ground tonite was wet enough that I wasn't making much dust @22mph, but not throwing any mud either... sweeeeet!

Probably Sunday I do 3 tanks of burnoff for the peas, they were seeded a little deeper, grow a little slower.

Normally cleaning out the seed cart, I would auger back into the trk, but metal screw augers are not too friendly to yellow peas, there's always a small percentage of crack every time it goes through metal screw... so I eliminated one unload by dumping directly into bin with the aid of a short hyd belt conveyer.





Then reloaded trk with a different blend of granular fertilizer & the pup with durum... cart is turnkey tomorrow.



Hammer down for the next week... everything goes well, should plant +300ac daily, plus spray 400ac per day... be done durum by next Friday. Then it's a section of brown mustard & 75ac green feed....

[Lil Giants]

Started seeding April 19th... I think it was April 22 my a/c in seed tractor was blowing warm air & by very good luck I caught the roaming mechanic go by house & had it recharged within the hr ... then the next week it snows, about 5days off... fire up again & go 10 long days straight, sure thankful I got my a/c charged when I did b/c mid week temps were 30's for highs... now this morning is wet wet wet & 9:20 it starts to snow



Getting worse at 12pm





Out looking at my pea crop yesterday, looking real good at 2" growth... next couple nights forecasted low's -2

Some pics from last week's activities









Neighbor across the fence on Friday afternoon with his 600hp JD track & 70' Seedmaster air drill.



I'm down to 180ac of brown mustard to seed yet, and another half section that was still a swamp yesterday... don't know when I'm going to get in to do anything with that... if I don't get it seeded to durum before June 1st, then it'll be planted sometime this summer when it does dry out with a tri-blend of grass seed... get 5 hay crops from it, then maybe a few yrs of cattle grazing it too should do wonders to rejuvenate the land to near its original glory again for growing grain crops.

[TRUCKMAKER]

Neat stuff Joe, thanks for posting. How far are you from the fires?

[Lil Giants]

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Fort...d49.723298!3e0

[TRUCKMAKER]

Thanks for the link, it's a ways away. Never realized how far north it was.

[RCTech9]

Awesome pictures Joe, it seems you are quite the snow magnet. How many acres do you have left to plant?

[Lil Giants]

I'm certainly a magnet for unusually cold weather during spring/summer/fall since 2007... 2012 is the only yr I didn't get a late May - early June frost to screw up my hay crop, close to 3t/ac vs .5 to .8t/ac 5yrs prior to & since, last yr was zero - didn't make a bale!...2010 was early Sept frost... 2011 was mid Sept... big price losses in cereal grains... 2013 there was a 3rd week of August frost that decimated my brown mustard crop a few weeks before harvest, one field on higher level ground does 28bu/ac & a different one in lower ground & triple in size does 8bu/ac... last yr was 4 hail storms from mid June to mid July, it's been from one extreme to the next the last decade with 2012 being the only bright spot with high quality - big bushels - high prices simultaneously.

Left to seed - 180ac brown mustard that I'll get to when the sun shines again, maybe on the wkend, 75ac slough that's self draining & should be able do right away that'll be sowed to oats for green feed again, and 270ac durum that's crazy wet atm...

This latest system that came through, my rain gauge is 6/10's of an inch plus whatever snow the gauge doesn't catch... 20 miles to west ppl talking 2 to 4 inches & same to the east, I'm thankful I didn't get bombed with that much moisture in a couple day period.

Maybe tomorrow I can get around on my quad & I take some pics of my crops as they're just in their infancy.

[TRUCKMAKER]

Joe, did you get everything planted? It seems they are just starting around here.

[Lil Giants]

I was unofficially done on May 16th with 3100ac planted, that last 270ac field never did have a chance to dry out as it's been raining a few tenths every other day since... there's quite a few farmers in my area not done yet. I got that last field sprayed with glyphosate on May 19th & very nearly sewer'd it a couple times... get it seeded to winter wheat this fall is my only option now.

Here's some pics of crop from a week ago...

Durum at 2 leaf, in the ground about 2 weeks





Red lentils





Yellow peas



Yellow peas again, pics I took yesterday





I'm quite pleased with the weed control I got with post seeding burn off on peas & lentils... looking at other guy's fields who burnt off before seeding, they've got quite mess with fields too wet to get into! But as of today, now I'm on the brink of getting behind too with so much wet weather lately, the crops need sunshine so I can get busy spraying in crop for weed control... the next week forecast looks to be dry, but could be windy

[RCTech9]

Nice pictures Joe!!!

[Lil Giants]

Thanx T-9

A couple of snaps while spraying my lentils Monday







Enjoying a nice light rain all day, not a huge amount but still a good soaker Probably too wet to spray tomorrow, but hopefully finish up durum on Monday & maybe all the brown mustard Tuesday, although the last 160ac was seeded a week later.

After enjoying an El Nino winter, weather predictions then were for drier than normal, but sometime early April the weather patterns switch back to La Nina & I've been getting some good moisture nearly weekly since the snow melted, not bombed - just nice light rains. Today's all day rain might add to half inch by morning. Perfect! Crops are looking fantastic!

[TRUCKMAKER]

Good deal Joe. Crops look good. I have yet to see anything coming up around here.

[Lil Giants]

Started cutting yellow peas Saturday afternoon (hiredhand took these pics today)

















Pea crop looks pretty good throughout





Yield monitor reading about 30% high, this is the highest spike I've seen (85bu/ac), monitor usually shows between 85 - 100 (55 - 70)



But, 3 nights in row had to shut down early b/c of DEF error codes appearing resulting in reduced power Mechanic comes out in the morning to do a software reset... I hope this doesn't turn into a daily routine for entire harvest Last yr didn't have not one hiccup, but then not much crop either getting less half the hrs. Year before when it was brand new DEF errors maybe half dozen times for the season.







Tonite I got this window & it really cut my power, engine slowed to 1800rpm, rotor dropped from 800rpm to 700rpm... after I shut off separator, then engine wouldn't rev above 1250 ...mechanic came out before dark & did a reset, by the time that was done it was already getting cool & tough and sun just went down... hopefully good to go in the morning... maybe tomorrow will be a full day.



These pollution systems on ag equipment is BULLSHYT!!!! Burn more fuel - get less power - f/ked up days with error codes that nobody can answer why

5yr warranty on the DEF, then I be forced to trade up newer or pay to play with old junk...

[Northern Farmer]

Always impressed watching you work Joe and the machinery you use. Real bummer about the tractor throwing codes, guessing you can't reset it yourself ?

[Lil Giants]

Yes, it does take a lot of specialized equipment to grain farm, and I really just have the basic without much perks.... my farm is getting too small ($$$$$$) to keep up with the latest greatest technology that caters to farms 3 - 5 times bigger than me.

The DEF software reset, the mechanic does it with his specialized laptop, and in some cases, like when he changed a DEF module Sunday afternoon, he needed a password to get into software download, and that came from some one in the southern USA... we sat there about an hour twiddling our thumbs waiting for that to happen, probably would've happened quicker if it were any day but Sunday

Managed to go all day yesterday without problem, but today @4pm I get a red window "STOP - clean grain elevator rpm too slow"... get to looking to see where lies the problem & realize an 8 foot x 2" shaft snapped in half... not really a big deal to change, but it's something unusual to break & the local dealership's quick search before closing revealed maybe the closest part either being in Nebraska or Indiana I hope they find something closer tomorrow morning & maybe get my combine back before 5pm...

If not, find out what it costs to rent one if it's gonna take a week to fix mine.

Peas are ready now... a week from now & peas get too ripe, they will start shelling in the field if it's windy & will shell really bad while trying to cut them. A week from now could add up to 10% loss, maybe more - 200ac x 70bu/ac avg yield x $9 = $12 500 in losses approx, not to mention all that might volunteer next yr & be considered a weed in my durum in 2017's crop yr.

So, maybe by 9am my dealership will know what's what & I can make a decision what to do next to get back in the field asap... no matter what it's gonna be a pricy hiccup.

[hvy 1ton]

Except for the first code, that's the same stuff i get when the def supply line gets plugged. There is an inline filter up top that can be checked. I had to put filters on the def tank vent lines to keep dust out. That was recommended to me by a Pro Harvest mechanic a couple years ago.