Equipment

By Dee Jepsen, Wayne Dellinger, CCA, Ohio State University Extension

Autumn weather conditions have led to an increase in combine fires. Two recommendations to prevent injuries and property damage include: preventative maintenance and pre-planning for fire emergencies. 

Ohio ranks fourth in the nation for combine fires. Other states leading the list include Minnesota (1^st), Iowa (2^nd), Illinois (3^rd), Kansas (5^th), Nebraska (6^th) and South Dakota (7^th). 

The majority of harvester fires start in the engine compartment. Contributing factors for heat sources include faulty wiring, over-heated bearings, leaking fuel or hydraulic oil. The dry crop residue makes a ready source for rapid combustion to occur when the machine is operated in the field. Birds and wildlife are known to make nests in the engine compartment or exhaust manifolds – which can add fuel sources for unsuspecting combine operators.… Continue reading

Harvest is here, and equipment is being prepared for another fall in the field. While the focus is on combining and yields, it is never too early to start thinking about prepping the seedbed for spring planting. Fall tillage offers a head start on preparing the perfect seedbed for planters in the spring. But before heading out to the field one last time this fall, make sure your equipment has been properly maintained and checked over.

When it comes to tillage tool management, a little goes a long way. Proper maintenance and regular checkups on tillage equipment can be the difference between minor tune-ups or costly repair bills. 

Here are 5 quick tips to do before heading to the field this fall.

1. Do a full machine walk around, checking for leaks and cracks on the frame of the machine as well as the hoses and bearings. Neglecting this important step could lead to much larger problems and bigger repair bills down the road.

After the difficult harvest last year, and the prevalence of volunteer corn in soybean fields this year, there is a need to re-visit proper combine setup to minimize loss during good years or bad. Join Ohio State University Extension on Sept. 16 from 1 to 3:30 p.m. as experts discuss proper setup for corn and we look at this applied in the field.

Elizabeth Hawkins will discuss yield monitor calibration through the season. Jason Hartschuh will share combine set-up tips. Combine care and cleaning will also be covered, which could save a lot of headaches this fall due to shortages in replacement parts and equipment. A harvest demonstration will show yield loss with different setups and how to calculate it.

The location of the event is the corner of Clark and Herr Roads north of Urbana. In the event of a cancellation due to weather, please register to provide your contact information: http://go.osu.edu/CombineSetup… Continue reading

By Randall Reeder, P.E., Ohio State University Extension Agricultural Engineer (retired)

You probably know about “supply chain” issues with new pickup trucks, construction materials, computer chips and even Christmas presents. Have you considered how that might affect your corn and soybean harvest schedule this fall? 

         What will happen if a part fails on your combine? John Fulton posed that question at our Ohio No-till event Aug. 27 at Woodruff Farms in Champaign County. Although it is impossible to predict every part failure, at least have a spare on hand for those most likely to need replacing sometime in the future. 

         John Fulton, OSU Ag. Engineer, mainly talked about technology for no-till planters. But he began his presentation with the urgent topic of preparation for fall harvest and ways to reduce delays. 

Check DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid) to be sure it is fresh, especially if the combine has been unused for 4 months.… Continue reading

For over 30 years J&M has listened to their customers to continuously improve their trusted line of grain carts and provide the features they demand. Once again, J&M has taken the feedback from farmers to create a right-side unload auger on select X-Tended Reach grain carts, further increasing operator visibility and efficiency.
The biggest benefit of a right-side auger is that it makes unloading easier and more comfortable. Tractors are designed with controls and monitors on the right side of the cab. Compared to a traditional left-side auger grain cart, putting the auger on the right side makes it much easier to watch the grain cart unload, use the tractor controls and track monitors at the same time. This reduces the risk for mistakes especially during stressful moments and greatly diminishes the amount of twisting and turning while operating the grain cart.

In addition, tractor seats swivel more to the right than the left.… Continue reading

Fennig Equipment purchased New location in Nova Ohio. Recent growth in northeast Ohio led Fennig Equipment to explore larger facilities. This facility was for sale in a great location and close to Seth and Tammy Reisinger, managers of the Nova Facility. 

Fennig Equipment is excited about the larger 3,500 square foot location with a beautiful storefront, inside parts storage, and showroom. Our customer base has grown and we are always working hard to meet customer, parts and whole foods inventory demands and this facility will help us succeed in Ohio. 

Fennig Equipment, established in 2010, now owns two facilities with 20 employees in Ohio and Indiana.… Continue reading

Ohio Ag Equipment, a division of Ohio Machinery Co., is announcing an extensive rebranding effort in response to increased company growth. At the heart of this rebranding, Ohio 

Ag Equipment is introducing a refreshed logo design, a new and improved website, as well as a new tagline, “Better Equipped.” 

Ohio Machinery Co. entered the ag industry in 2003, doing business as Ohio Cat, and established its agriculture equipment division in 2008. Over the past 18 years, Ohio Ag Equipment has continued to grow within the ag industry and establish itself as a trusted and knowledgeable equipment dealer in Ohio. The rebranding illustrates this evolution. 

“We have grown our business and footprint in Ohio over the last several years. Our brand relaunch represents the natural evolution of that transformation,” said Mike Mampieri, Ohio Ag Equipment’s General Manager. “Today, Ohio Ag Equipment offers seven full-service, ag-dedicated locations across Ohio. It’s imperative for our brand to reflect and promote our company as it is today and the tremendous value we offer.… Continue reading

By Matt Reese

It is hot, tiresome and, in some cases, physically impossible to properly scout every acre of cropland to collect the necessary, timely information to make very expensive decisions in the high stakes pursuit of agricultural profitability. Especially as farms increase in size, it is simply not feasible to scout every acre in a timely fashion.

With this in mind, Molly Caren Ag Center (the home of the Farm Science Review) has teamed up with Integrated Ag Services to explore the possibilities, applications and, ultimately, the return on investment of Taranis scouting equipment and drone technology combined with artificial intelligence to scout more acres more efficiently. 

“With the drone scouting we are doing multiple passes across some of the fields to look for emergence issues and weeds we need to scout for to make a decision on. We have a 200-acre field here that we have broken up into two different treatments.… Continue reading

Preparations are in the final stages for the Holmes County Steam Engine Association’s 2021 Show.  New this year is a dirt track that will be used for both the Horse and Antique Tractor Pull events. 

The 29^th annual, three-day event will be held on the Mt. Hope Auction Grounds/Holmes County Event Center, in Mt. Hope, Ohio. Dates are Thursday, Aug. 5, Friday, Aug. 6 and Saturday, August 7. 

Each year features a brand and make of tractor, with 2021 the year of Case IH/Farmall. If that’s not your favorite, next year will feature John Deere.   

This fun and exciting family-friendly weekend will kick off on Thursday at 9 a.m. and include steam engine demonstrations, the popular Noon Whistle and, later in the day, the Kid’s Pedal Race. Local music group “Six Strings Band” will provide entertainment at 5 p.m. The evening’s main event, the Horse Pull, begins at 6 p.m.  

“Our pull has always been one of the largest in the state and offers an even larger purse of $10,000 this year,” said Melvin Wengerd, HCSEA Board Member.… Continue reading

When JCW Farms decided to install a new grain system in London, the objectives were threefold:  to gain more storage capacity, improve efficiency and allow for future expansion.

JCW Farms is a 5,000-acre family farming operation based in nearby Plain City, about 24 miles northwest of Columbus. The new grain system was opened in 2016 to supplement and eventually replace the operation’s older grain storage facilities. 

“We needed more capacity and wanted to eliminate some of our older facilities so we could consolidate and be more efficient,” said John Wilson, a co-partner of JCW Farms along with his wife, Christina, and son, Jakob.

The project, designed and built by local GSI dealer Sims Construction, featured five new grain bins, including two 150,000-bushel bins for storing corn, a 60,000-bushel bin for soybeans, a 40,000-bushel flat bottom wet bin and a 20,000-bushel wet hopper bin. Other components included two grain pits for holding incoming grain from the field, three grain legs, a support tower, a 2,000-bushel-per-hour Tower Dryer and a 7,000-bushel-per-hour system for loading grain into transport trucks. … Continue reading

Apple Farm Service, Inc. is excited to announce the addition of their newest location in Washington Court House, Ohio.  Beginning April 1^st, the Washington Court House location of Baxla Tractor Sales Inc. will be owned and operated by Apple Farm Service, Inc. 

 “We look forward to continuing the excellent customer service that the team at Baxla Tractor has created and building new relationships,” said Bill Apple, President and CEO of Apple Farm Service. “We wish Chris Baxla and his other two locations the best as they transition from three stores to two.”

Baxla Tractor Sales Inc. will continue to operate their two other locations in Seaman and Batavia. These two locations will not see any changes, and will operate under the same management that their customers have been accustomed to.

“I’m happy we could work together on this transition,” said Chris Baxla, owner of Baxla Tractor Sales Inc. “I’ve known Bill Apple for years.… Continue reading

By Matt Reese

All things John Deere will be descending upon the Ohio Exposition Center in Columbus this summer for the Classic Green Reunion 2021.

“The Classic Green Reunion was started when a bunch of John Deere enthusiasts and collectors wanted to put on a national show that would move to different places around the country. The first one was two years ago in Nebraska,” said Mike Smith from Marion County, who is serving as the show chairman for this year’s event. “I just knew that it needed to be in Columbus, Ohio for the second show. It is all about the people. It has to be John Deere, but it doesn’t matter how shiny it is or how dull it is. If you’ve got a John Deere and you want to come and have some fun and display a tractor, implement, or a power unit or a toy or a tool, bring it and enjoy the 3 days.”… Continue reading

When it comes to strip-tillage products, Unverferth has led the industry in innovation since the early 1990s with deep-tillage products such as the Zone-Builder and Ripper-Stripper tools. With evolving farming practices, technology and increased demand for in-row fertilizer placement, the company announces the introduction of the Raptor strip-tillage tool. This versatile tool tills a strip of soil for planting, while leaving between-row residue intact to help increase organic matter and sequester carbon.  

The Raptor strip-till tool features TerrainPro row units with independent depth control to optimally follow soil terrain for creating the ideal seedbed in six stages:

1. The leading swivel coulter with 20-inch blade features 1,500 pounds of down pressure to cut through the heaviest residue. 
2. The free-floating row cleaners with curved finger design help clear residue from the strip. 
3. The centrally mounted crowfoot-style wheel maintains row unit depth independently from row to row. 
4. The tillage shank precisely tills the soil from 6- to 12-inches deep to manage root zone hardpan.

By Michael Boehlje and Michael Langemeier, Center for Commercial Agriculture, Purdue University

There are a number of potential payoffs of precision farming from the producer, value chain, and environmental perspectives.

1. Potential payoffs for the producer

Cost reduction/Efficiency improvement increases

The improved measurement of soil characteristics and weather patterns that is part of precision farming has the most direct and obvious payoff in terms of cost reductions and efficiency increases from more accurate use of inputs such as fertilizer, seed, chemicals, and other inputs and the systematic measurement of the impacts of these inputs on yield and profitability. In essence, precision farming is one step closer to the manufacturing mentality of production agriculture. Precision farming combined with creative ways to schedule and sequence machinery use including 24 hour-per-day operations, moving equipment among sites, and deployment based on weather patterns has the potential to increase machinery utilization and lower per acre machinery and equipment costs as well.… Continue reading

Bane-Welker Equipment is thrilled to announce an expansion of the company in Ohio. Bane-Welker has purchased the sales and service areas of the Evolution Ag dealerships in Circleville, Utica and Plain City. Bane-Welker will offer parts, sales and service at all three locations. 

The investment was made in an effort to better serve the valued Ohio customer base. This addition brings the total of Bane-Welker dealerships to six in Ohio. The 55-year-old Case IH dealership purchased locations in Georgetown and Wilmington Ohio in 2014 and purchased a location in Eaton Ohio in 2016. Bane-Welker also operates nine locations in Indiana.

“We couldn’t be more excited about the growth we’ve seen in Ohio,” said Jason Bane, president of Bane-Welker Equipment. “Ohio has welcomed us with open arms, and we are deeply committed to these communities. We’re looking forward to serving as ag partners in these counties with our new customers.”

Customers can rest assured that BWE is committed to a smooth transition.… Continue reading

By Erdal Ozkan

This is the time of the year you must complete shopping for nozzles because the spraying season is just around the corner. Each part of the application equipment plays a critical role in achieving maximum performance from the sprayer. Therefore, each component must be selected carefully and must perform successfully the tasks associated with it. Although nozzles are some of the least expensive components of a sprayer, they hold a high value in their ability to influence sprayer performance. They help determine the gallon per acre intended application rate. They also influence the droplet size, which plays a significant role in achieving improved penetration into crop canopy and better coverage on the target pest — both affect the efficacy we expect from pesticides applied. 

The wrong choice of nozzle may hurt in several ways, but here are the three most obvious.

We may end up with streaks of untreated areas causing non-uniform pest control; or simply complete failure or ineffective pest control which require repeat applications; and finally, we may end up losing a significant part of the pesticides applied in the form of spray drift.… Continue reading

Picture four men sitting around a kitchen table. The discussion is serious, but the conversation isn’t strained. The topic is the challenge farmers in southern Ohio face when trying to find the equipment they need and knowledgeable people to service it. To the business owners having the conversation, the solution is fairly obvious, challenging as it may be. When the chairs slide back from the table the men shake hands and a unique relationship is formed with the goal of better serving southern Ohio’s agricultural community.

That is how Harold Neuenschwander and Marcus Miller of Harold’s Equipment and Mick Heiby and Frank Burkett of Hills Supply brought two of Ohio’s strongest agricultural service companies together to offer better customer service and more equipment options in Southern Ohio. Harold’s Equipment and Hills Supply began working together out of Washington Court House in January of this year. It’s not an acquisition and it’s not a buyout of any kind.… Continue reading

By John Fulton

With planting upon us, it is important to ensure both your planter and associated technology is ready to go. With seed costs and the desire to maximize yield potential, placing seed and fertilizer accurately and a way to eliminate mistakes including generating compaction. Checking your planter can helps it plant more uniformly and place seed at the proper depth. Having errors during the planting operation can impact yield and ultimately profitability for a field and the crop. Yield potential has a season-long cumulative negative effect of yield limiting factors (YLF’s). We frequently state that corn hybrids or soybean varieties have the highest yield potential when in the bag. University research has noted that errors at planting can impact corn yield. For example, a 10-bushel per acre gain can occur from good seed-to-soil contact. Further, uneven emergence can lead to a 5% to 9% yield reduction in corn. Therefore, seeding depth and downforce management are critical for optimization of planter performance.… Continue reading

Apple Farm Service, Inc. is excited to announce the addition of their newest location in Washington Court House, Ohio. Beginning April 1, the Washington Court House location of Baxla Tractor Sales Inc. will be owned and operated by Apple Farm Service, Inc. 

 “We look forward to continuing the excellent customer service that the team at Baxla Tractor has created and building new relationships,” said Bill Apple, President and CEO of Apple Farm Service. “We wish Chris Baxla and his other two locations the best as they transition from three stores to two.”

Baxla Tractor Sales Inc. will continue to operate their two other locations in Seaman and Batavia. These two locations will not see any changes, and will operate under the same management that their customers have been accustomed to.

“I’m happy we could work together on this transition,” said Chris Baxla, owner of Baxla Tractor Sales Inc. “I’ve known Bill Apple for years.… Continue reading