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| A 2004 custom harvesting blog. Updates are in reverse chronological order. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prep in Iowa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2004-5-16 We finally got back onto the soybeans yesterday after a rain delay of over a week. Looks like more rain is in the forecast for this week though. At present, the moisture conditions are pretty good.
2004-5-13 I spoke with Brent Johnson today and it looks like Monday the 17th is the day I will be going north. There are still 3 combines, 2 grain carts, 2 semi trailers, and all the support equipment to be moved south. In the mean time, I got a video of spraying on Roundup 2-4D burndown on some no-till ground. The sprayer is a RoGator 554 with 80' boom.
2004-5-11 We have about 1/3 of the soybeans planted, but haven't done anything for several days due to some wet weather. Several days have been in the 80s and humid causing the corn to really shoot up. The earlier planted corn is now about 4 inches tall. As for IT, I finished up my MCSE on Windows 2003 today. Man it feels good to be done with that. 2004-5-5 Corn planting was completed yesterday and we are now on to soybeans. 2004-5-1 2 weeks and counting. Here in Iowa, we have about 2 more days of corn planing before moving onto the soybeans. On the IT side of things, I finally finished up my Compaq/HP ASE certification this week. Ran a 25 hour day yesterday installing a couple new servers. At about 2 AM this morning I found another WRX in the parking ramp and took some pictures. To my surprise, this one was nicely modified - just check out that intercooler piping.
2004-4-17 I have 4 more weeks of IT work before harvest begins. Here in Eastern Iowa, we began planting corn on a limited basis today. We received a bit of rain last night so things were damp this morning. Rain is in the forecast for tonight again. We prepare the seedbed with a 33' Sunflower land finisher. The planter is a 16 row (30") Kinze planter with the interplant option for soybeans. Preferably within 24 hours of planting, we follow up by spraying on Bicep.
2004-4-10 I went live with the iPod today to see how it is going to work. There were no skips and it perfomed perfectly. I can already see that I will need to develop playlists as there is just too much going on to change songs while moving. I also took a video of the 9180 folding up the disk as we move to another field.
2004-4-9 All the tile work is now complete and we applied some anhydrous ammonia earlier today. We have also begun to incorporating Treflan on some ground. The videos are from inside the Cash IH 9180 at 6.0 MPH. There was no wheel hop yet the tractor still bounces that much.
2004-4-5 Here are some pictures of the 40 Gig iPod I will be taking with me. This will be my source of entertainment in contrast to the indian chanting that I hear is common on public radio in some areas. Also shown is the DLO car adaptor, iSkin exo2 case, and the Griffin iTrip FM Transmitter.     2004-4-3 Yes there is only 1 dual on that tractor. We had to remove the other dual and adjust the remaining tire to fit in the furrow.
2004-3-30 My new digital camera (Fuji F700) has arrived. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of video this still-image camera can produce. I verified that I can take the acquired video and encode it with VirtualDub and the DIVX codec to get some pretty small video files. I anticipate testing this "in the field". 2004-3-25 No big news lately. I'm now under 2 months till "go time" and it seems I have a lot of projects to complete before then. I had ordered a digital camera from Dell; due to low supply they canceled the order and then shipped it anyway after I already ordered another camera from somewhere else. I also now have a case and charger for the iPod that I don't yet own. As of today I'm now a MCSA on Windows 2003, just 1 more test for the MCSE update. Things around our own farm are starting to liven up too. Most of the tillage equipment is ready to go, the new grain dryer has arrived, and I'll probably need to mow the lawn soon. Bring on the fun! 2004-3-2 Took the CDL driving test again today and passed. I got a 84 of the 85 points on the pre-trip inspection. Now I need to get back onto IT testing and get my MCSA and MCSE on Windows 2003 before I leave in May. 2004-2-28 So the guys tell me that some of the places we will harvest in have limited reception of FM radio. Apparently there is nothing but Indian chanting on the public radio in some places. Since I like my music, I have been thinking about getting an iPod for the summer run. I bought the iTrip FM transmitter and tested it with a friend's iPod in a combine today to see how clear it is. I got just a hint of static, but once the machine is running, that will mask the static anyways. Seems the passenger seat will be the best place for it since the antenna is on the left of the cab. Sorry, no pictures of it in action.  2004-2-21 Link - 16 row corn head (somwhere in central Iowa) 2004-2-19 Took the CDL driving test today and failed the pre-trip inspection. I got 65 and needed 68 out of a possible 85 points. Seems the key phrase is that I am looking for anything that is "bent, craked, or missing". Well now that I have done that once, I know what to look for and say next time. I can't say I'm real impressed with the DOT office either. The office I went to operates on a first-come, first-serve basis for driving tests. So I'm there when they open, get ticket #001, and yet wait over an hour to start the test. I'm still perplexed by this, but at least the people there are courteous. On the drive out to the DOT office, I had tried shifting with and without the clutch. On our particular truck, it just shifts beautifully by floating the gears. Almost to the point where I wish my car could do that. Since I took the whole day off work, I spent the rest of the afternoon cutting down a tree. My problem was that it was an old hollow tree that sits between a house and a road. Solution is to cut it down from the top first. There is just something about running a chainsaw 40 feet up in the air that gives you a certain appreciation for life. 2004-2-7 I visited the guys up in MN. Kind of a meet-and-greet mixed with an interview. This answered a lot of questions for me about how everything works on harvest. It ended up being 873.1 miles round trip, but was worth the knowledge gained. We checked out the crew trailers, headers, service trucks, and the other trucks that transport the grain. Their oldest combine was in the shop getting a thorough check-up and rebuild. There is also a newer 2388 in the shed and 6 new 2388s still at the local dealer. These are the 7 that will be going south for harvest. There are 2 new grain trailers on the way and potentially another kinze grain cart. I am getting the feeling that these guys really like horsepower. 2004-1-23 Since the new year rolled around, I've been working on some Compaq/HP tests that I need for my ASE. I finally took an hour to study for the HazMat test and then passed it this morning. I still say it is far to easy to get a driver's license in the US. I also found out that I will be taking my driving test in Cedar Rapids. That is going to be a blast with all the traffic in town on any given day. 2003-12-24 Well I got my CDL learners permit today. I thought it was supposed to be hard to pass those written tests? Maybe I'm just used to testing from all the IT tests I do. I'll be taking the HazMat test soon, which means I'll have all the endorsments except passenger. I'd do that one too, but I don't have easy access to a bus for the driving test. 2003-12-17 Today I found out that I cannot take the Compaq Systems Management test that I have been studying for. Turns out the testing center is closed till next year. Time to start studying for the CDL in the interim. 2003-12-16 I've always thought it would be interesting to see how large scale farming works. I got to looking around the Internet and came across Johnson Harvesting who I am planning to work for in the summer of 2004. Looks like the schedule is mid-May through November. I've heard some people speculate that wheat acres will be up this year due to the aphids, rust, and other diseases in soybeans lately. Background So maybe a little about me would make more sense of the situation. My name is Lance Lefebure and I have grown up on a farm in Eastern Iowa. We grow primarily corn and soybeans in this area. As of this writing, I am 22 and have absolutly no experience with wheat or custom cutting as everyone around here owns their own combines. I still live on a farm, however I work as a computer systems engineer since I graduated college 3 years ago. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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