According to Safe Work Manitoba, rollovers, falls and contact with tractor attachments are the No. 1 causes of tractor-related injuries and deaths. Being that most farms operate tractors, regardless of farm size, the team decided this was a necessary place to start teaching to a future audience of farm workers and agriculture students alike.

According to Safe Work Manitoba, rollovers, falls and contact with tractor attachments are the No. 1 causes of tractor-related injuries and deaths. The new tool will help educate people about the causes and dangers of rolling a tractor.

“Knowing that farmers are the true experts when it comes to using machinery, we wanted something that was interactive where farmers could explore and discover different ways of what was safe and what wasn’t safe with a machine while they were several distances away from it and wouldn’t be injured by it,” says Thea Greene, program manager for KAP. “Our goal with this machine is to be able, in a safe way, to demonstrate how tractor rollovers do occur and, more importantly, demonstrate strategies that will help prevent rollovers.”

The electric tractor is built to the scale of a regular tractor, this way the ROTT will react the same way as a full-size tractor on the same slope. The ROTT has the capability of changing the rear tire spacing so that different operating conditions can be tested in a wide or narrow platform, allowing the team to demonstrate how wider wheel spacing can be beneficial while working on steeper terrain.

Much like a drone, the driver controls the machine with a handheld remote controller. A tablet is mounted to the controller and acts as a monitor for the tractor’s onboard camera. This allows the driver to observe the tractor’s movements from a safe distance while watching for indicators of how the tractor may roll over.

Side and rear outrigger wheels, which allow the tractor to tip over centre but not fully roll over, make it easier for the team to right the tractor back on its wheels and protects the valuable drive and navigation components inside the machine.

The ROTT has a working bucket, which can be used to simulate dangerous operating scenarios, like driving on uneven terrain with an overloaded and fully raised loader, or making sharp turns while having uneven weight in the bucket.

All of these features are just the initial steps in the first phase of this collaborative project. In the future, the team hopes to establish a designated course at the U of M’s Glenlea Research Station. The course would have differing degrees of slopes built in so that the team knows where the training tractor will and won’t roll over.

The team also hopes to add the ability to have simulated rear-mounted implements on the machine. This would serve as another variable for the team to demonstrate how rear-attached implements can affect the stability of the tractor when operating on the side of a hill.

The post New training tool helps teach, demonstrate and predict tractor rollovers appeared first on Grainews.

S3 Air Systems’ User Friendly Option, or UFO aeration system, was designed with simplicity and ease of installation in mind with the ability to retrofit to most hopper bottom bins. In fact, all components of the aeration system can fit through a standard 18-inch manhole.

Many other aeration systems require either removing bin sheets or removing the bin from the hopper entirely for installation.

The UFO aeration system consists of durable polymer pieces, which weigh under six pounds each.

Two pieces are bolted together to form one stage. Up to eight stages can be added, which are then topped off with a nose cone. The polymer stages are supported by steel plates, which are then bolted to telescopic steel legs.

“The aeration fan introduces air through the ductwork, the ductwork attaches to the bottom three vertical polymer stages, and it puts the air up through there for an even distribution,” says Kelly Silbernagel, director of business development for S3 Air Systems, a division of S3 Manufacturing.

“It’s a heavy-duty polymer vertical aeration system. We wanted to achieve the goals of making it affordable and making it lightweight so that it is easy to put in so you don’t have to break your back, or rent a crane (for installation).”

The conical shape of the stackable pieces allows for up to four times as much air flow as traditional aeration equipment. Forced air from the fan is able to push out further toward the sides of the bins creating a more consistent flow of air to a larger portion of grain in the bin.

The UFO can handle bins as large as 30 feet high with a 30-foot diameter.

“All the other stuff from market is either perforated or louvered material and this is something that under each stage is just a big open area to help push air through,” says Silbernagel.

He recommends using a three-horsepower fan for the smaller four-stage setup, which would be good to use on a 3,000-bushel bin. As the size of the bin increases, more stages and larger capacity fans should be used. For example, a 15,000-bushel bin requires a 10- or 15-horsepower fan and eight stages of the UFO system.

The system is intended for aeration only and should not be operated by adding any heat sources to the airstream. If the user chooses to disassemble the unit for any reason, the polymer pieces of the UFO system are able to nest together when unbolted and placed in storage — meaning, the product will take up less space in the shed.

A six-stage UFO kit comes with all the mounting hardware and ducting minus a fan, and sells for around $1,550 on the company’s website; however, pricing may be different through a dealer.

The post Modular grain drying system simplified, affordable, lightweight appeared first on Grainews.

The X9 1100 boasts it can harvest up to 30 acres of tough, high-yielding wheat per hour or up to 7,200 bushels of high-yielding corn an hour.

“As conditions change, an X9 combine can make automatic adjustments for the operator, so it consistently operates at peak levels,” says Matt Badding, harvesting product manager for John Deere.

“For example, in the morning, straw can be damp and make threshing and separating tough. By midday, the moisture evaporates and harvesting conditions improve. In the past, these changes required operators to adjust combine settings to help the machine compensate. Now, the adjustments are made automatically.”

The increased harvest capacity stems from a few key components on the new X9 combines. A wider feederhouse is able to feed dense crops, while also accommodating the new, and larger, series of headers.

“At the heart of the new combine is the X Series Dual Separator (XDS) with the largest threshing and sepa-ation areas Deere has ever offered. Crop in the XDS is threshed and separated during nine revolutions, resulting in less grain loss and increased harvesting capacity,” Badding says.

Automatically adjusting concaves use hydraulic pressure to better match the conditions of the crop flowing through the threshing system, while four fans provide a more consistent air flow through the shoe.

A 75-square-foot cleaning shoe is 36 per cent larger than that of the S790. “It can harvest thin, dry crop and thick, wet crop, and everything in between, putting more high-quality grain in the tank pass after pass. Even if conditions change, grain quality remains high,” Bad-ding says.

Clean grain is monitored by a camera system coupled with the loss monitor, which is automatically able to detect unwanted features in threshed grain. The system will automatically make changes to the separator until the desired grain sample is achieved, while optimizing the combine’s performance and efficiency.

Foldable unloading augers available in sizes up to 31 feet, unload the 420-bushel hopper on the X9 1000 and the 460-bushel hopper on the X9 1100 at a rate of roughly five bushels per second. To properly fill every bit of space on the grain cart, the augers have adjustable end spouts. Load cells built into the base of the grain tank will monitor yield more accurately.

The improved residue management system can produce finer cut straw and spread it more evenly, up to 50 feet, while using less horsepower from the motor compared with previous models.

Not only did capacity go into the design of the X9, but efficiency has also been considered. A more robust belt drive and updated transmission connected to a new 13.6-litre engine offer up to 20 per cent better fuel efficiency per bushel of crop harvested than the S790. This means the combine will be able to harvest 14 hours on a single tank of fuel.

For the long hours spent during harvest, the X9 has a bigger cab with more storage space, more USB outlets and more connectivity, which gives it a more automotive-like experience. An optional touch screen satellite radio that is smartphone-ready can be added to give the operator the ability to send and receive texts, play music, get directions and make phone calls while using the system’s integrated controls or voice command.

Three different comfort and convenience packages are available on the X9. The highest level includes a 16-degree left and right swivelling seat with heating, cooling and a massage feature built right in.

Three technology packages are also available from the factory. Basic packages include an integrated John Deere 6000 receiver and a 4600 display, with Harvest Smart and interactive combine adjustment software. Medium packages build on this by adding more guidance systems, section control and in-field data sharing.

The highest-level package builds on the first two by adding more data sharing capabilities as well as machine automation and camera functionality. Both the X9 series combines have remote dealer and service support capabilities, and can share valuable harvest data to John Deere’s cloud-based storage system. From the cloud, farmers can share information with their crop advisors and agronomists.

Orders for the X9 1000 and X9 1100 can be placed later this summer for the 2021 harvest season.

The post John Deere announces new high-capacity X series combines appeared first on Grainews.

The failing bearing wasn’t necessarily related to the wet harvest of last year, but it shows how our focus was strictly on getting the crop off, not on the mechanical soundness of our combine. If this was the case, how many other problems would be lurking inside the machine after we pushed it through the muck for weeks on end.

Why it matters: Farmers who check their combines for wear and tear caused by the mud harvest of 2019 will be field ready for 2020.

Recently, I spoke with Chris Plett, a combine mechanic based in Linden, Man., for CPC Ag Repair, to discuss some of the possible fail points and extra problems a combine might have after a wet harvest.

Plett was very quick to point out one of the most common areas of concern is the shoe augers. The beds and augers get coated with frost and mud, and it causes them to run rough.

The shoe augers should be pulled out and inspected for damage, particularly where the bevelled gears attach to the auger shafts. The holes for the pin that connect these two parts may start to wear excessively and become oblong, creating more slop between the gear and the auger shaft.

The problem can be fixed by drilling out the hole to make it round again, and then adding the correct-sized bushing into the hole to ensure the original pin joins the two pieces securely. The other option is to change the entire auger altogether.

The shoe auger beds and surrounding areas should also be inspected for cracks in the metal. A particularly noteworthy area, at least on the 70 series John Deere combine we were looking at, is the region between the end of the shoe auger beds and the pre-cleaner.

During a mud harvest, the seal on the front of the pre-cleaner will also become packed tight with wet material and frost. The excessive buildup almost extends the length of the pre-cleaner and it will ram into the metal that supports the shoe auger assembly. The extra stress on those support pieces will inevitably cause the support metal to become fatigued, and to crack and break. In extreme cases, those cracked pieces will fall directly into the fan and cause severe damage.

The pre-cleaner should be pulled back so this critical area can be inspected and repaired properly.

Check unloading components

It’s not only mud that causes issues; wet grain can lead to problems as well. A combine’s unloading system should be thoroughly inspected. Unloading crops like wet corn and wheat put large amounts of stress on the unloading components.

For example, the pulley on the countershaft that drives the unloader auger is a common wear point in the system and one that will deteriorate quicker in the harvesting of wet crops. The welds that hold the pulley together will crack and pulley failure will be the eventual result.

Plett also recommends checking the splines on the unloading system for excessive wear. The vertical auger is particularly susceptible to this type of damage as it will have a great amount of torque applied during the unloading of the combine.

Change fluids

Not only do mechanical parts need to be taken care of after a wet harvest season, fluids are just as important.

“Hydraulic fluid will get way hotter running in the mud and hydrostatic (system) failure can be a direct result,” says Plett.

Changing fluid even before the recommended service interval might be necessary if the combine has spent the season running in extreme conditions. Hot hydraulic oil will lose its viscosity and begin to wear parts faster. When changing the oil, the system should be filled with a quality OEM oil meant to operate in the combine. Along with the fluid, the filters should be changed as well.

Plett wants to remind farmers the hydraulic oil in a combine is not like a tractor’s, which regularly gets discharged out and replaced when a hose is busted on an air seeder system.

Final drives on the combine will also be put under added stress during a wet year. The constant spinning and ploughing actions are harder on the gears inside. Aftermarket tracks will also stress final drive components. Changing the final drive gear oil is recommended after a mud harvest.

Looking toward future wet harvests, Plett suggests upgrading to a rear wheel assist system is a great option in the mud.

“The battle is against resistance. With a rear wheel assist you can have three motors helping the combine along — opposed to just one motor. This will reduce the load and strain on the combine’s drive system and help keep the combine’s hydraulic oil cooler,” says Plett.

He also pointed me toward a set of 1250/45-32 tires on the 70 series combine (9770 STS) we were looking at. He says he’s been happy with how the tires handled the mud this past harvest on his family farm and he will continue to use similar tires or tire upgrades to improve wet weather performance.

The post Is your combine field ready? appeared first on Grainews.

How it works: IDEALDrive is a joystick-operated steering system that will be available to North American farmers for the 2021 harvest season.

With no steering column in the cab, operators have a full side-to-side view of their headers — especially in the middle where the crop begins to feed into the combine. In addition to better visibility, the steering system also increases farmers’ comfort. Furthermore, 180-degree turns can be completed with a slight movement of the wrist rather than four or five turns of the steering wheel at the end of a row.

“It kind of feels like a captain’s chair. You can have both feet on the foot pegs and a hand on the right controlling the propulsion and a hand on the left controlling the steering. With all the controls at your fingertips it’s really nice,” says Zach Stejskal, a product specialist at AGCO. “I would often catch myself leaning back and using a little more of the seat rather than being hunched forward looking over a steering wheel.”

The IDEALDrive uses a joystick on the left side armrest to control the steering. Force feedback on the control guides how far to move the joystick for the desired turn. The wheels come back to centre after the steering adjustment has been made.

Steering is intuitive as sensitivity is relative to the machine’s speed — at slower speeds, the smaller movements on the joystick will create tighter turns. As the speed of the combine increases, the turning degree will change relative to the joystick. This keeps the operator from making the same turn at different speeds.

The joystick also has easy access to controls commonly found on the steering column. Control buttons on the top of the joystick operate turn signals in road mode and row-finder lights in field mode. Buttons on the back of the joystick control high- and low-beam lights, the horn and track guidance.

Some of the testing was carried out on a road course where the combine was driven up and down hills and side to side over a winding track. At the end of the course, drivers would make a 180-degree turn and return to the starting point. According to Stejskal, the new steering system handled the course well, while performing intuitively.

“Obviously, with a combine, you still need to slow down considerably for major turns, but it’s nice not having to turn over the steering wheel a bunch of times to do the same thing that a simple movement of the joystick will do,” said Stejskal.

The left side armrest flips up for entering or exiting the cab and does not take up any more noticeable space around the passenger seat. The armrest’s length is also adjustable so the joystick fits comfortably in the palm of the operator’s hand.

Almost no time was needed for Stejskal to adjust to the steering system. He says anyone can get behind the wheel and drive the combine. In fact, the only adjustment needed, Stejskal said, was to stop reaching for the steering wheel while operating the machine.

The IDEALDrive steering system will be an optional upgrade on combines ordered this summer for the 2021 harvest season.

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For years, Precision Planting, a U.S.-based company that provides precision ag technologies, has realized the benefits of proper downforce measurement and control on row crop planters. In conjunction with that knowledge and technology, Precision Planting has also realized the benefit of adapting those concepts for air seeders as well.

Seederforce

SeederForce is an automated downforce control system that can be retrofitted to common John Deere disk drills. The system uses load cells on the row units to measure how much weight is on the gauge wheel. If the system detects too little weight, it will automatically increase hydraulic pressure to push harder on the row unit to ensure it properly engages the ground. Likewise, if too much weight is detected on the gauge wheel, the pressure will be decreased until proper weight on the gauge wheel is achieved. This ensures a more consistent seed placement without unnecessary downforce pressure.

The system utilizes most of the seeder’s existing hydraulic system. Load cells in a few of the openers in each gang provide an average downforce measurement for that section. A controller plumbed into the seeder’s hydraulics adjusts the hydraulic pressure as field conditions change. The system allows sections to operate independently from one another across the machine. Disk gangs that are running in tractor track, for instance, will operate with more downforce than a section running in undisturbed soil.

For even more accurate results, SeederForce can be set up where each row operates independently. Here, every row unit has its own load cell and the opener arm compression spring is replaced with a hydraulic cylinder. The row-by-row system has a substantial cost difference with all of the extra components but is by far more precise.

The SeederForce system operates on Precision Planting’s 20/20 Monitor, which shows when openers are not penetrating the ground properly and how soil density and compaction can vary across the field in real time. Additionally, it can be used to track seed distribution across the entire machine.

Although the system is only available for John Deere disk drills, Precision Planting is exploring other brands of seeders to improve as well, which has been a bulk of the company’s work from the beginning. Most of the products the company currently offers are direct upgrades and solutions for row crop planters.

From seeder to planter

According to Troy McKown, a Precision Planting regional manager, in the past, farmers would purchase a used planter from the United States to use with the seeder upgrade kit, which was a good way to dip a toe in the water, so to speak. However, that trend seems to be falling off because those machines don’t have what is required to make a planter useful on the Prairies, as they often don’t match the capacity and broadacre capability like an air seeder.

In response, farmers have started building their own planters. This trend, says McKown, has moved from the U.S. Northern Plains into Canada. The build-it-yourself approach allows growers to customize a machine to their needs, often at 20 per cent less than the cost of a new planter.

Growers can choose toolbar style and add to it the row units at the spacing that suits the crops they grow. Residue management systems that suit specific soil conditions and tillage practices can be added along with any onboard tanks for seed and fertilizer. Adding the capability to tow an extra implement like a tank for seed and fertilizer allows for almost limitless capacity. The addition of in-furrow and between-row fertilizer options really make for a complete package.

From an agronomic standpoint, a planter is superior to an air seeder because it more accurately places seed into the ground. It does not throw lumps and piles of seed down the way an air seeder will. Metering disks are available for almost every crop and even a blank disk is offered, which you can drill out yourself.

With the planter, you are better equipped to manage seed mortality by precisely managing depth, placement and spacing, while residue management systems like row cleaners provide a better environment for the furrow to be cut into.

Focus on soil

Also, the technology available on the planter provides a clearer picture of what is going on in the soil. Not only are downforce measurements mapped for a better understanding of soil density but a sophisticated seed firmer sensor provides details about furrow conditions. The SmartFirmer relays intelligence about the soil to the cab at the moment of planting.

The seed firmer performs its normal duty of gently pushing seed into the trench for better seed-to-soil contact while also providing five key soil measurements — soil temperature, moisture, furrow uniformity, and residue and organic matter sensing — using infrared and non-infrared light.

The SmartFirmer sensor measures the variability in temperature changes throughout the day and soil type. A furrow measurement provides information on the amount of foreign material in the seed furrow. This measurement alerts the operator to hair-pinning and that adjustments to the row cleaners are required.

Cation exchange capacity in the soil is another measurement the SmartFirmer makes. Information about the soil’s organic matter and ability to hold on to valuable nutrients is available for growers.

The seed firmer also relays important moisture data. The tool indicates whether or not moisture is present in the soil at planting depth based on a 1–100 point scale. Another key measurement is moisture availability for seed germination. For example, if the monitor displays a reading above 25, the seed can take up to 25 per cent of its weight in water over the following three days.

Having this data will make decisions at planting time easier and on-the-fly prescription adjustments to population and fertility possible. Harvest data can also be used in conjunction with planting data providing growers with the ability to make more informed decisions on long-term soil and fertility management.

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If you want to find previous articles of mine or some of my past work as a writer, I can save you some time. Don’t bother looking, because it doesn’t exist. This is the first time I have written anything professionally other than maybe filling out a highway tractor service sheet for my previous employer. My work experience is in slinging grease and slipping wrenches in the shop. It’s in the field seeding wheat and planting soybeans. It is in trying not to burn the neighbour’s oats while spraying canola, and it is in taking those crops off the field every harvest season. Work that I’m sure sounds very familiar to most of you.

Landmark, Man., which sits on the eastern edge of the Red River Valley, is where my young family and I call home. It is where I have spent the last 12 years working on a grain farm and as a mechanic for my boss’ trucking company. It is where I have honed my skills fixing, designing and building. It is where I will hone my skills as a writer.

To start my new role at Grainews, I would like to share some of the shop projects I have worked on over the years, as well as some of the machinery on our farm, to give a little bit of context to who I am.

One of the larger projects I have worked on has been a water trailer setup to service the sprayer. I spent countless evening hours scrolling the internet to find ideas that I would implement into the build. There always seems to be endless options and navigating through them all can be quite daunting. Therefore, I decided to keep things as simple as possible on this build and upgrades could always be added later.

The inductor makes mixing, dissolving and measuring of chemicals simple and efficient.

There are basically two options to choose from before starting a project like this. Would it be made from an existing tanker trailer, or would we add tanks to a flat deck trailer? After searching around for a while, we came up with a used flat deck lead from a Super-B. If I do recall correctly, the trailer was in great shape and hardly needed anything to pass safety.

I removed the fifth wheel and made a new deck to cover the entire rear end. I cut apart an old Morris cultivator for most of the steel I needed. After I made the deck frame, I dropped in structural slats used in the penning of hog barns. The strong plastic-coated expanded metal makes a great surface for working on. If you spill anything you can just wash it right down. I also used a similar product for the sides and doors for the chemical storage areas. The downside to using a recycled product like this is the ever-so-slight smell of hog barn that still persists, even after sandblasting and a few coats of paint.

The two-tier chemical storage area also uses steel from the cultivator as its main structural support. It can hold two totes of chemical on the bottom, and roughly 20 boxes on the top. Additionally, there is space to store spare parts and fuel for the pump.

A 3,500-gallon tank was purchased new and fastened on the back of the trailer. We had an existing 1,600-gallon tank that we used on the front. At first, the entire system was plumbed with two-inch hose as it matched up with our old system. About a year ago, we decided to upgrade it all to three-inch plumbing. The larger diameter hose and fittings on the trailer probably cut the sprayer fill time in half. A 6.5 horsepower three-inch pump moves the water throughout the system. A larger pump would further decrease fill times.

I have kept the plumbing design simple without a lot of direction changes in the flow of water. I wanted to keep water moving off the trailer as quickly as possible. Chemical can either be sucked out of totes or out of the induction tank when using the venturi. I also keep a chem pump on board as a backup. The induction tank has an agitation nozzle for filling with fresh water and dissolving and mixing chemicals. Inside the tank, I made a blade to pierce and drain jugs. I got the material from cutting up a stainless-steel fender off of a semi-truck. The blade also has a rinse hose attached to make jug cleaning easier. Eight feet of garden hose and a good nozzle plumbed into fresh water also make cleaning up easy.

The trailer has its own dedicated electrical system that has a solar charger hooked to a 12-volt battery, which powers the work lights and chem pump. The trailer can load the sprayer four times before a refill is needed. It has the capacity to hold enough chemical on board to complete the entire application of a single crop on our farm. The trailer has proved very useful in the past few years, boosting our efficiency by reducing our trips to a water source and to the yard to get chemical.

Seed tender

However, by far the biggest efficiency booster on the farm has been the addition of a seed tender, which has substantially cut down our air seeder and planter-fill time. Additionally, it has reduced the number of vehicles needed at the field. We used to take one tandem axle truck and two single axle trucks to service the air seeder. Now we only need to take one.

The tender unit is a Convey-All CST 3400 with three compartments to hold seed and two types of fertilizers. The unit so far has been pretty much flawless for four seasons now, with the only repair being a torn belt last year. Rear-mounted cameras on the conveyor take out a lot of the guess-work when backing up to the air seeder. Remote control gate openers and hydraulic conveyor functions make loading a one-man job.The truck is a 2000-year model WG64 Volvo. The engine in the truck is perhaps a bit small, but the drivetrain has a low gearing and we haven’t had many problems making it off and onto fields. The truck previously served as a roll-off container truck in the waste industry, which was great because it already had a hydraulic pump and very hefty, triple-thick frame rails. However, all of those layers of frame also became a curse when we needed to drill holes into them when it was time to add the third drive axle.

We drilled most of the holes with our floor mount drill press. We lay the drill press across the frame of the truck horizontally, using the opposite side frame as a brace. We perfected this idea after the use of the hand drill became too much work.

The third drive axle was installed in front of the existing two. We purchased a used drive axle from a truck wrecker complete with the wheels and air suspension. We use a common air pressure regulator mounted in the cab to control the amount of air pumped into the air bags that provide suspension for the new axle. Normally, a levelling valve would be used to control air pressure in the airbags, but the existing suspension is an airless heavy-duty walking type. We couldn’t find a possible scenario where a levelling valve would work properly with the existing suspension. So far, the regulator system has worked well.

Two new and shorter drive shafts needed to be installed to replace the existing one between the hanger bearing and the original front drive axle. All three drive axles are lockable, which is great for pulling out of soft spots or uneven terrain. However, driving with all the axles locked makes it a little difficult to steer with all those drive tires wanting to push you straight forward.

The original hydraulic pump took power from the crankshaft and was mounted on the front of the motor. After that pump failed, we scrapped that system and a PTO pump was installed on the transmission. The PTO style has proved to be the better option as the pump only turns when it is needed and isn’t constantly following along with the engine.

Finally, I used rigid hydraulic line fastened to the side of the tender to complete the flow circuit between the pump and the seed tender’s valve block, which is located at the rear of the machine.

I had a lot of fun working on these projects and hope to do more in the future. There is a great deal of satisfaction regularly using a machine on the farm that is something of your own creation.

I would love to hear from all you readers out there about article topics you would like covered in Grainews. Nothing is off limits if it falls into the machinery, shop and technology categories. Also, if you have an interesting project on your farm, large or small, I would love to hear about it, and chances are we can get it into Grainews as well.

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Implement dealers across the Prairies have also been quick with their response. “We want to help as much as possible,” says Martin Raupers, service operations manager for AgWest Ltd. in Manitoba, whose plan is as always to keep machines moving this spring. The business will still be offering in-shop and call-out service. Precautions are being taken to protect customers and employees alike. AgWest has implemented a rigorous glove safety policy for their technicians and has taken additional precautions like propping open doors at their facilities to minimize personal contact.

Jim Wood, chief sales and operations officer for Rocky Mountain Equipment says the same thing. Stores will remain open, parts will be available, machines will be fixed. However, all of this will be dependent on keeping staff safe. The company has limited branch-to-branch travel for employees, as well as increased the cleaning protocol within their locations, especially in high-traffic areas.

Most dealerships are offering curbside parts pickup. It’s also better if customers stay out of stores as much as possible and to limit those visits to essential business only. Additionally, it’s not the best time to go kick tires in showrooms.

If a call-out is needed, farmers should try to keep their distances from technicians and mechanics who may be working on machinery. Try to wipe down and disinfect surfaces before and after service personnel work on equipment, particularly monitors and armrest controls and anything that is constantly being touched or in close quarters with operators.

Furthermore, information and policy may change quickly as the pandemic and seeding take their course. Check in with your local parts and service suppliers regularly online or over the phone to remain up to date about business hours, practices and policies. Help keep yourself and others safe so we can all keep laying down acres this spring.

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