Lehigh Cooperative Extension Conducts Tune-Up Clinic DEANNA CUNFER Carbon Co. Correspondent MERTZTOWN (Lehigh Co.) A fall equipment tune-up clinic, complete with pig roast and sweet com dinner, provided information for farmers about combines, head ers, and sprayers. Hosted by Mertztown farmers Dan Hunsicker and Jody Menzies, the clinic was a spin-off of the crop conferences conducted each winter by the southeast region of Penn State Cooperative Extension ag agents and sponsoring ag indus tries. Several years ago the extension agents and ag dealers realized it was wiser to combine their educa tional meetings, which were essen tially covering the same material, and the idea of crop conferences throughout the winter months has been quite successful. As an added benefit, a planning committee of southeast region ag agents and ag industry thought they would provide a one evening tune-up clinic and treat those in attendance to a dinner of pig roast with country fresh sweet com, limiting the attendance to 60 peo ple. What was intended to be a one-night clinic filled so quickly it required a second night be sched Lancaster Poured | Walls • Agriculture • Commercial • Residential L Call for Prices On: • NRCS approved Manure Storage Pits • Concrete • Basements • Retaining Walls Pumping • Footers • Foundation Walls • Customer Satlsfactldh Is Our Goal, Lancaster Poured Walls, Inc. 2542 Horseshoe Rd.» Lancaster, PA 17601 . (717) 656-7370 « Fax (717) 656-7350 Call or email us today for a FREE UPDATED CATALOG. TOLL FREE - 1-800-845-3374 • 717-866-7565 • www.farmerboyag.com rfre HEATERS The Purafire heater provides a consistent, cleanburning and fuel efficient source of warmth for all types of poultry and swine houses. LP or natural gas compatible and can be mounted inside or outside your confinement house. Electronic ignition. MS' HEAT MATS These fiberglass electrically heated mats provide a warm bed for baby pigs and help increase the number of pigs per litter. Sizes available: Singles: 12”x36” -12”x48” -12”x60” Doubles: 24”x36” - 24”x48” - 24”x60” ■Mangles: 27"x27”x40” Double & Single available uled. Both evening sessions were filled to capacity. Each evening was divided into two one-hour educational sessions where you could select the com bine of your choice two John Deere or two Case IH for one hour of tune-up instruction and then move onto separate half hour sessions on headers and sprayers. The combines, headers, and sprayers used were either owned by hosts Hunsicker and Menzies, neighbors, or provided by partici pating dealers. Sponsors of the evening were the Southeast Pennsylvania Crops Conferences and Bayer, BASF, Doebler’s, DOW AgroSciences, FS - the Natural Resource, Martin Limestone, Monsanto, Penn State College of Ag Sciences, Pioneer, Syngenta and Timac USA, along with the Pennsylvania Department of Ag. Those providing equipment and technical expertise were Adams town Equipment Inc., Eckroth Equipment Inc., Hard! Inc., Hoob er Inc., Kyle Henninger, Dan Hun sicker, Lehigh Ag Equipment Inc., Miller Pro Inc. and Zimmerman Farm Service Inc. In reviewing the combines and headers either the JD or Case KfiNES IH that were at the clinic, the tech reps went over the basic items to check going into the fall harvest season. There were older models and new 2003 models of each brand to compare, and the techni cians pointed out the improved features seen on the newer models that make operation easier and more efficient. One of the main points that was stressed by those at both the com bine and header sessions was how to set up the machine to prevent grain loss, and if you do notice a grain loss, how to determine where it is coming from. While Hoober’s representatives, Bob Sangery and Nelson Martin, service technicians; Gary House man, sales and Ken Diller, sales service were going over the 2003 Case IH axial flow 2388 they brought to the demonstration, they mentioned one of the first areas to check is the grain coming up the feeder house it often pushes in the center, and sometimes the comers of the door in the throat are push ed open, creating an area of grain loss. They explained that if you no tice a grain loss in the field, it doesn’t necessarily mean the leak or problem is in the back of the combine it could be in the front of the machine. The eas iest and best thing to do is do Doul 5% OFF Hog Hearth yM ve~n Lila Won systems » m A Division of @) With AP’s Hog Hearth System, energy costs are reduced drastically. Compared to conventional heat lamps, which use 125 to 250 watts, our Hog Hearth System uses a maximum of 55 watts per crate. “Warming Up Your World” •* V JL "'jgjj Jelly Jar a dead stop in the field and divide your machine mentally into three sections front, middle, and back. Measure the length of the combine and visualize where the loss is oc curring. Sometimes it is as easy as a clean out door that was never closed. Over at the demonstration by Robert Ziegler, service manager; Left, James Zimmerman of Zimmerman Farm Equip ment, Bethel, and Roy Bas sett, Miller Pro sales repre sentative, review sprayer operation. Dan Eckroth, owner/sales; and Bruce Schock, service department, of Eckroth Equipment Inc., Ore field, Ziegler was going over the 2206 6-row 30-inch Case IH com head and pointing out areas where to look for loss of grain. An inter esting fact that one farmer found interesting was that Ziegler recom mended setting the two end rows of your com head 2 inches higher than the others. That farmer said he was going to make that adjust ment when he got home. In reviewing the parts and oper ation of the sprayers represented at the clinic Miller Pro and Hardi the technicians stressed the need to control accuracy and calibration for a good efficient ap plication of spray material. Before going into the field check various parts of your sprayer in cluding the tips and nozzles. Each farming operation is different so This brooder has been the industry standard for many years Proven reliability. Individual thermostat con trol. Modulates from 30,000 BTU to 17,000 before turn ing off. 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Inc., was reviewing the Hardi Navigator 575 sprayer and said, “You can have the fanciest, newest sprayer with all the gad gets, but you want to keep the boom as stabilized as possible so make whatever adjustments possi ble to keep the boom steady.” He explained that if the booms on your sprayer are bouncing and waving or rocking you are not get ting even distribution of spray ma terial in the field. When asked what point he would remember from the evening, Donald Fink of Germansville, Le high County, said there was a lot of information some things that he knew and had forgotten and some new points to take home with him. Steve Murphy, a fanner from Kresgeville in Monroe County, at tended the session on the Case IH combine and the points he got from the session were on the IH combine they brought up good points of how to set up from front to back if don’t have front end set up properly nothing else will work properly. You have to check from the header throughout the rest of the machine. You want the grain to come into the machine evenly. If you have problems, do a dead stop in the field and go over the machine to see how the grain lays inside the combine. For his view of the clinic as a presenter, Roy Bassett, Miller Pro Sales Rep, said he believes some had their eyes opened when he dis cussed how the farmers were spending more money than neces sary if not able to calibrate their application other than by how fast they are covering the field. He also thinks most owners are not up on the new technology available with the newer sprayers and that if they are tuned in to the new technology, they can save on expenses and care for the soil.
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