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| I have a mix of systems on the farm that need to be organized and consolidated. Sprayer is Raven Viper Pro with Smartrax. T8.300 is New Holland PLM (Trimble) Intelliview III integrated auto steer. The other tractors are sharing FM-750 Trimble with AG25. One combine(6620 Titan II sidehill) runs Loupe Elite(WAAS-yield mapping), other combine(9550 Sidehill)just has JD Yield Monitor from ground radar. I'm planning on getting the cab cables and antenna for the Raven Viper Pro to be able to switch that into whatever tractor will be pulling the fertilizer spreader, plus I'm searching for a DD-6.5T fertilizer spreader for my (new to me) GVM Predator that also has the Raven Viper Pro. I'd like to have something that works with everything, but my tractors are blue, my combines are green, and my planters are green(DEERE) and puke yellow(Esch). I'm hoping to upgrade the corn planter to a Kinze soon. My corn planter is 46 years old, but I recently dumped $15,000 into it, and it runs a Vanguard VM-5500 with wave vision seed tubes. There is no way to directly link the planter monitor to the FM750 or the Climate FieldView... Climate FieldView keeps everything tied together, even though they have rubbed me the wrong way so many times that I would probably smile if they went under. Just a selfish company that doesn't disguise their true motivation (to give Bill Gates all of our data so he can continue to purchase hundreds of thousands of acres and drive the land prices up to where we can't afford it). I have a neighbor who is a billionaire(literally) who keeps buying the land around me for upwards of $75,000 per acre(I'm not joking). How am I supposed to compete?
I'll probably go with the Raven PWM hydraulic valve and a 20 gpm motor on my pull type fertilizer spreader. It doesn't need a big motor, it is an old Tyler 4 or 5 ton, and it needs the spinner upgraded to double spinners with hydraulics. it's currently single spinner PTO drive with a press wheel web. I should upgrade that whole spreader also, but we are staring $3 corn right in the face this fall. These are decisions that bankrupt a farm if not handled with a modicum of restraint... and I can use it as a test mule and then just move the system over to a nice Chandler BBI or Stolzfus Redhawk that can handle lime as well as fertilizer.
but again, I'm searching every day for a GVM Predator fertilizer body for the sprayer I just bought. Those can handle lime also. I want to make sure that is also capable of VRT spreading. It's more a matter of making sure I still have a pull type for timing the applications when the sprayer has to be a sprayer and not switching back and forth to a fertilizer/lime spreader body. I grow some racetrack alfalfa and hay, as well as your standard row crops and small grains. Very diverse operation but a matter of staying afloat without the burden of livestock.
Do you think I should invest the money into putting Ag Leader into everything? I guess I could try to price it all out. Everything is just piece mealed together as I went. There was no plan and I never thought I would have this much technology in my humble operation. It sure does save money on inputs if everything gets placed only where it is needed. I still run dry fertilizer in 2x2 on the planter to save money over broadcasting on no till in rented ground. It slows everything down. I'm filling the planter every 7 acres between pop-up and dry fertilizer. I'm just trying to get more efficient. Like every other farmer, I plant more acres to compensate for low prices, and all that does is drive up national stockpiles; which, in turn, lowers the price further. if I could get the input costs down, I could plant fewer acres.
This was a long post. I do apologize.
If you read this to the end, I do thank you.
Johnny (GreenCastle Farms - Established May 10th, 1775) | |
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Are there any alternatives to Climate FieldView?
