|
Wyoming | Actually, I'd have to say that the midwestern mentality completely dominates not only the books on haymaking, but also equipment design, economic assumptions, marketing, etc, etc. The assumption by all manufactures and suppliers but Hesston is that:
a) hay is a very small niche, sideline or rotation crop in a farming operation.
b) that it is done on square fields and somehow, I'm to be concerned with how tightly I can turn a tractor around at the end of a row.
c) that irrigation is optional and occasional.
d) that hay yields are low -- no more than 2 to 4 tons per year.
e) that everyone has a steady supply of cheap labor with which to run a hay operation -- a bunch of high school kids, etc.
f) that hay is some crappy little crop you feed to cattle, and who cares what the cattle think?
g) as a logical progression from (f), they assume that no one cares what the hay looks like, as a bale, in a bale, etc.
And my favorite assumption of all:
h) that breakdowns, disruptions and delays in hay making are nooooooo problem. Why, just call your local friendly dealer for support, and he'll be there in a jiffy to hold your hand and make everything A-OK.
All of the assumptions I see in books, marketing literature, equipment design, fertilizer studies, seed breeding and selection, pest control studies, pesticides and herbicides -- oh, and let's not forget the High Church of No Till Farming... they all have their minds made up that the earth ends at the western edge of Nebraska and that is that.
Of all the company reps and marketing/sales guys I've talked to at conferences, the ONLY ones who haven't given me an attitude that they'd rather be somewhere else, talking to someone else were the guys from Hesston.
The attitude of John Deere reps is hillarious when it comes to hay, and it shows in their equipment as well as their publications.
| |
|
John Deere Farming Books
