[AT] list and a Ramble about the change of farming and tractors.

Fri Apr 5 04:04:51 PDT 2013

I used a foamer one time.  They don't work well on soybeans over about 8" high.  THe foam just falls off the plant onto the ground where it can't be seen.  Running a machine with a 60' boom, I would have been better off to have been blindfolded.

Al

-----Original Message-----
>From: Cecil R Bearden <crbearden at copper.net>
>Sent: Apr 5, 2013 12:34 AM
>To: Antique tractor email discussion group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>Subject: Re: [AT] list and a Ramble about the change of farming and tractors.
>
>Charlie:
>Here in OK, you would have to be farming 10,000 acres to afford that 
>kind of equipment.  Hay is the best crop in this area.  I am trying to 
>get a GPS guide system that I can use in the nightime or late evening.  
>Foam markers would have to have glow in the dark foam so I could see it 
>in the dark....
>
>Cecil in OKla
>
>
>On 4/4/2013 10:52 PM, charlie hill wrote:
>> Cecil,  I wonder if there is an internet forum somewhere or a yahoo group or
>> something
>> where you might find someone in another area that could help you with that?
>> Or maybe on one of the modern farming forums  or surveyors forums, someone
>> might have that problem figured out?
>>
>> As for surveyors.  I can't find one around here that is willing to go back
>> and use old
>> maps and old landmarks to accurately run out some lines on our farm.  They
>> all want to
>> work off of someone else's, more recent survey and a couple of the ones
>> around the farm
>> that I know of are not accurate because of folks cheating on lines and
>> surveyors assuming those
>> lines are correct (not doing their work).   I took some deed plotting
>> software (that I no longer have)
>> and aerial photos and old maps and plotted lines on transparency film that
>> precisely match
>> the old maps up to where my daddy told me our lines were but I can't find a
>> surveyor that is
>> willing to do the work to figure it all out.  With the equipment that exists
>> now and given the fact
>> that there are 4 or 5 known control points and lines that match up with the
>> old map of our farm and
>> 4 other tracts around it, it should be easy.   I could do it in a heartbeat
>> if I had modern GPS surveying
>> equipment and a surveyors license but I don't.
>>
>> Back to your need for ag gps.  I know another farmer, who retired last year.
>> He farmed about 5,000
>> acres of corn, soybeans, potatoes and cabbage. (total acres).  His combines
>> and tractors were all gps
>> equipped from the early years of AG GPS.   He had yield monitors on his
>> combines and at the end of
>> the year he could map the yield of his fields in much the same way as you
>> would do a TOPO map.
>> He would then map his soil samples to match up with the yield maps and his
>> fertilizer equipment would
>> selectively adjust fertilizer an lime application to correct the issues he
>> found on the yield maps.
>> I would give anything to have farmed in a time when you could do those
>> things.
>>
>> Charlie
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Cecil R Bearden
>> Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2013 8:19 PM
>> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
>> Subject: Re: [AT] list and a Ramble about the change of farming and
>> tractors.
>>
>> Charlie:
>> A couple of years ago I bought a mini netbook computer and the GPS
>> software that was written by a guy up north to take a good GPS antenna
>> and do spraying or fertilizing.  It was a great program, but by the
>> time  I got around to trying it out, I did not have the money to buy the
>> good GPS antenna required.  I trazveled over the same route with my
>> antenna and was 15 ft off....!!!  I had centimeter level accuracy in my
>> surveying equipment, but could not get anyone willing to help me connect
>> it up without paying over $1k for their services.   I can connect up a
>> lot of high tech stuff, but I did not have the cabling.   The %$#^&
>> cables cost as much as the software.!!
>>
>>      I probably have over $20K in old Trimble equipment setting here that
>> is obsolete because of software or firmware, but it is still the same
>> thing being used today, just in a different case.   I just need to spray
>> and fertilize about 300 aces a year.  I cannot even justify the cost of
>> a foam marker.  But, I know that I have the equipment here to use my
>> Topcon or Trimble  survey units and get within 2 inches.  The only
>> reason we have to upgrade this equipment is someone came out with
>> another bell or whistle and made the earlier software not compatible...
>>
>> I have a Topcon system that cost me about $8k when I bought it.  I then
>> had to purchase another $2K controller for it because the software to
>> survey in OK would not load into the controller furnished with it.
>> While my system is considered obsolete, If I set up over a known point,
>> I can get elevations and locations within 1/2 inch over 4 miles away
>> from the base station, definitely good enough for storm water
>> engineering.  However, if I have any problems with it, I have no one to
>> call because all the old guys that knew how to trouble shoot this
>> equipment and operate this software are no longer in the business.  They
>> left and went to another company.  Their 3 years were up.  Their
>> replacement won't talk to you unless you buy another piece of new equipment.
>>
>> That JD GPS equipment is probably the best known,  I think that Trimble
>> probably has the most extensive  background in GPS mapping, They do not
>> change their systems when they come out with an upgrades system, and
>> their software for the older units is free.  However, I cannot get the
>> ag software for my surveying units.  Again just need someone familiar
>> with the system who won't charge an arm and a leg for the help...  I
>> want the GPS spraying system for spraying at night.  During the day the
>> wind is too bad here...
>>
>> Cecil in OKla
>>
>> On 4/4/2013 5:27 PM, charlie hill wrote:
>>> When I was a kid the one job my dad would never let me do was bed up his
>>> tobacco rows.
>>> He wanted them to be straight and he didn't trust anyone else to do it.
>>> Jump forward a half
>>> century.  I know a lady who at the age of about 45 married a farmer who
>>> tends about 3000 acres.
>>> Up until she married him she had never driven anything larger or more
>>> complicated than a mini-van
>>> and she wasn't particularly talented at that.  Within a year of their
>>> being
>>> married she was bedding up
>>> cotton rows with a 12 row (I think it's 12, maybe more) bedder.  The
>>> reason
>>> she can do that is GPS.
>>> Every one of his fields are mapped on GPS.   All she has to do is drive
>>> the
>>> tractor to the field and get it
>>> near a corner, hit the button and the massive JD and GPS do the rest.  It
>>> will run rows half a mile long and
>>> not be off more than an inch or so (maybe less) from one end to the other.
>>> When the tractor nears the end
>>> of the row an alarm goes off.  She takes over the controls and turns it
>>> around, and gets it close to lined up.
>>> She hits the GPS button again and it goes to the other end while she reads
>>> her book or talks on the phone.
>>> It's not old school farming but it surely is efficient.
>>>
>>> Charlie
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Al Jones
>>> Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2013 5:44 PM
>>> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
>>> Subject: Re: [AT] list and a Ramble about the change of farming and
>>> tractors.
>>>
>>> As far as modern, working tractors go, I think what you're seeing is just
>>> "progress."  Technology is continuing to advance and it's just spilling
>>> over
>>> into farm machinery.  I don't know about the yuppie farmers but the ones
>>> really doing it for a living actually have a use for a lot of the bells
>>> and
>>> whistles.  A guy was talking to me about the GPS, auto steer, and other
>>> goodies the other day. He was talking about when personal computers first
>>> came out, everyone said the farmer had no use for it.  Now most farmers
>>> use
>>> one daily.  The same thing is coming true with GPS.  If a farmer can save
>>> 10-20 dollars an acre on chemicals due to more accurately applying them
>>> with
>>> a guidance system, and he farms 1000 acres, that's 10-20 thousand dollars.
>>> Doesn't take long to justify all those goodies at that rate.
>>>
>>> Will we be collecting 2013 model tractors in 50 years? Doubt it.  And
>>> technically, that 1960's 4020 really is an antique now.  For example, the
>>> Farmall 806 and 706 are 50 years old this year. In 1995, when I found the
>>> ATIS list, my Super A was 47 years old.
>>>
>>> In some ways, I hate to say it but technology has passed the email
>>> listserv.
>>> Farmallcub.com, redpowermagazine.com, and other websites are good
>>> examples.
>>> I read something the other day that social media like facebook is making
>>> email obsolete.  I expect we'll see that same trend with tractor sites
>>> soon.
>>>
>>> A;
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Cecil R Bearden <crbearden at copper.net>
>>>> Sent: Apr 4, 2013 10:30 AM
>>>> To: Antique tractor email discussion group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>>>> Subject: Re: [AT] list and a Ramble about the change of farming and
>>>> tractors.
>>>>
>>>> Charlie:
>>>> If the original poster would let us know what the solution was, then we
>>>> could put that into the "virtual" knowledge base.  I wonder what is
>>>> going to happen to this list, as there are not many new guys coming on.
>>>> I look at the TractorBynet forum once in a while, and there is so many
>>>> mistakes being made that I have already experienced.  If I do post to
>>>> it, I wonder if I come off as a know it all.   That forum also seems
>>>> like it has a lot of guys with late model tractors.  Ones that I could
>>>> pick up and stack on top of the hay with my loaders......!!  I just have
>>>> not accepted these small tractors yet.   My Dad used to say that they
>>>> were good for running around under the house looking for eggs..!!!   Dad
>>>> spent a lot of time in the Arkansas Bottoms as a child.  I have used
>>>> that expression and got some really weird looks!!
>>>>
>>>> Back in the 70's when everything was going big big HP, and dealers were
>>>> limit ed on the number of units (rationed) they could get in a year, the
>>>> "experts" said this would create a shortage of tractors in the 20 to 60
>>>> hp range.   Boy did they hit that nail on the Head!!  The other thing
>>>> that no one envisioned, was these new operators are used to cabs and air
>>>> conditioning.   I recently sold a 4010 JD on LPgas, a great utility
>>>> tractor.  for $3000.  I spent a fortune on advertising trying to sell
>>>> it, and finally went to auction.  I could not make these new guys
>>>> understand how to fill an LP tractor.   One of the problems, while they
>>>> liked the idea of only spending $2.00 / gallon for fuel, they did not
>>>> want to invest $400 in a tank and then come up with another $400 to fill
>>>> it. They could just go by the local C-store and get 10 gallons of
>>>> Diesel.   The other was the lack of a cab.  I overheard a lady in her
>>>> 50's ???  talk about mowing with a bush hog for 10 hours and coming in
>>>> covered in dirt and itching for days when you hit a bunch of sticker
>>>> weeds.   Here in OK with our 20mph minimum wind, a cab is now standard
>>>> equipment.   I guess our old antique tractors of the 60's have really
>>>> become antique!!!   I remember when A-C came out with the D21, I wanted
>>>> to get into Farming...!! Now, a large tractor like that is not necessary
>>>> since everything is going to No-till here.....
>>>>
>>>> I am rambling here while my coffee is getting cold....  I gotta quit
>>>> sitting up watching those old movies.  Black & White seems normal to
>>>> me!!!!
>>>>
>>>> Cecil in OKla
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 4/4/2013 7:55 AM, Charlie V wrote:
>>>>> Got up on the wrong side of your cup of coffee today, John?  GRRRRRRR!.
>>>>>
>>>>> Sorry.  Just had to do that.  I somewhat agree with you.  I cannot help
>>>>> notice in a situation where someone posts a question--Say a tractor will
>>>>> not start.  Ten replys are posted.  Some not too related, but some very
>>>>> on
>>>>> target.  Then the original poster is never heard from again.  It would
>>>>> be
>>>>> a
>>>>> nice courtesy it the original poster would come back in a few days and
>>>>> let
>>>>> everyone know if his tractor is now running, and if he knows , what
>>>>> actually did the trick.
>>>>>
>>>>> Just my 1.25697 cents.
>>>>>
>>>>> Charlie V.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Wed, Apr 3, 2013 at 9:01 PM, <jtchall at nc.rr.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> You know, It’s getting really tiring to post help on the list and never
>>>>>> get acknowledged for it. Especially when you go to the trouble of
>>>>>> posting
>>>>>> links that may help folks with a problem. I have gotten to the point I
>>>>>> pretty much refuse to help some folks as they never seem to thank
>>>>>> anyone
>>>>>> or
>>>>>> fail to heed the advice they are given. It’s sad to see the knowledge
>>>>>> base
>>>>>> we have dwindling away.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> John Hall
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