|
Alton, Ia | This may or may not work if you want to do an upgrade by planting 2019. Before I invested, I planted one spring being careful not to overplant excessively, etc. I kept very good notes on each field, how many acres planted, units used, etc. Then I made a spreadsheet with each field, and a column for the FSA tillable acres. One could debate the accuracy of FSA acres, years ago this is the best I have.
Nowadays, you may have more accurate data from your soil sampler, custom applicator, etc. Compared the two, determined my "overplant". Then, in the fall, this was before I had a yield monitor, I kept track of my end row yields. IE we planted 24 and harvested 6. I picked a field that I felt had "average" point rows, not a real excessively long "approach angle", but not 90 deg either. Made passes 1 and 2 around the field like normal. Made pass 3, I could make it all the way around in one hopper. Drew a line in the dust on the grain tank side. Emptied. Made pass 4, where the "overplant" area was, drew another line, measured the difference, measured the tank dimensions, did the math. Came up with I believe 60 bpa yield loss.
Added that to spreadsheet, figured extra seed for corn and beans, yield loss in corn only.
Just FYI, app 20% of my rows are straight, 80% are contour, so lots of point rows. Your mileage may vary.
Pretty darn low tech, but gave me the confidence to invest in GPS equipment.
Edited by Oliver1 1/11/2019 19:34
| |
|
who can calculate how much seed you save with shutoffs?
