|
Southeast WI | Correct. I've been putting beans down in 30" rows for years but due to my schedule they were always getting in 2nd half of May. Many times it would rain and I couldn't plant corn for a few days but some fields were dry enough to plant beans. I wasn't going to flip the planter over to beans for that so I sat doing nothing. Found the bean planter locally for $5800, basically went to the Shoup catalog for all new parts (chains, clutch, drive shaft, bearings, heavier down pressure springs, new depth wheel arms) and rebuilt it that winter. It had pretty low acres because the rock shaft had no wear, the parallel arms were not loose and I figured it was a buy finding it 9 miles from home.
After I rebuilt it and used it Shawn Conley from the UW was involved in a multi-state planting date study on beans that I participated in. After 3 years it showed an average return to planting late April/May 1 vs 2-3 weeks later gave an average return of +3 bpa. One year it was only +1.5 bpa and one year it was nearly +5 bpa if I remember correctly. At any rate this confirmed why I spent the money postmortem-wise. I paid for the planter in increased yield in 1.5 years. It's been a winner. Don't need to tie up a lot of cash for a big return.
Now the extra tractor? It's here to run the Pluribus stripper when needed in wet years and after 15 years of a one tractor show it was time to increase the herd and have a backup or 2.
| |
|
109 hours to put a crop in
