High-efficiency hay starts with well-regulated equipment. And while most producers take steps to make sure their balers and compact tractors are effectively winterized, not all operators perform the summer maintenance necessary to achieve a full season of reliable use.
Although some might consider it counting your chickens before they’re hatched, yield estimating can be a valuable planning and harvest preparedness tool. Best of all, it’s relatively easy, requiring only a little of your time and a few simple calculations.
Whether you’re eyeing the end of your haying season with one last cutting of high-quality alfalfa or perhaps considering leaving a few acres of grass hay as insurance against a tough winter, Case IH can help you slice through the toughest conditions and finish the season strong.
Too wet, too dry; rarely just right. Putting up high-quality hay is a balancing act that requires good timing, reliable equipment and a little bit of luck. Monitoring moisture levels in your hay crop throughout the production process can help harvest better, more consistent high-quality hay.
Farming is more than a job. It’s a lifestyle dedicated to getting your hands dirty. A lifestyle of chasing quality and progress. A lifestyle that lives in the hearts and minds of producers who have contributed to 175 years of equipment innovations by embracing Case IH and its dedication to customer-driven product design.
Whether monitoring fields from the ground or from up above, you’re bound to find a handful of problem areas that have you stumped. A plant analysis can be a useful diagnostic tool. And in many regions, the window to gather samples is open.
Shrinking daylight hours can make those harvest or tillage days seem even longer, if not a little bit harder. Upgrading your equipment to LED lighting can help ease some of the strain and stress of the season while helping you stay productive longer.
“We’re trying to be the most efficient we can be with what we have,” says Jason Strode. Jason and his father, Richard, farm about 5,200 acres of corn and soybean crops near Owensboro, Kentucky, where they’ve begun focusing on nitrogen management and have looked harder at providing nitrogen to the crop when it needs it.
If you’re ready to learn more about your fields this fall but you’re not ready to buy a new combine or tractor, Case IH has the solutions.
If walking your fields this summer feels a bit like riding a roller coaster — even on your most level ground — make sure you walk some fields planted by a 2000 series Early Riser® planter. The consistency fencerow-to-fencerow is likely to sooth your queasiness.
Whether you store your hay, feed it to livestock or sell it, you need the right tools to harvest at peak nutrition. DJ Wassenaar, owner of County Line Custom Farming in Jarvis, Ontario, uses Case IH equipment to improve alfalfa quality for his 150+ customers and reap the benefits of high-efficiency hay.
