Week Ending March 26th
It is still too wet and cold for much field work but we were able to start work on some field tile and waterway repairs. We were also able to get more machinery shipped south to Farmer City - ready to start field work when the weather breaks.

Week Ending March 19th
Jim Naughton represented our farm well at the Chicago Farmers - Farmland Investment Fair this week in Joliet. The annual event provides information for investors interested in investing in farmland.

Week Ending March 12th
The planters came out of the shed this week which means spring planting can not be too far off. Our Horsch people are coming next week to put some updates on them including a new active/automated down pressure system.

My immediate family visited the University of Illinois - College of Agriculture open house this week.  Kristine will be attending there next fall in Crop Sciences.  We are very proud of her and looking forward to her studies at the U of I.

Week Ending March 5th
Time to teach the calves to lead.  Keith, Sarah and I worked on getting his 4-H calves to lead. If you wait until they are 800 pounds it is a challenge.

Back at the shop it was time to change the tires on the Hagie sprayer back from the narrow row-crop tires to wide floater tires for spring.  We also sold the last of our CaseIH planters this week.  That 24 row planter went to a farmer friend of ours in Missouri.

Week Ending February 27th
We added 2 more field cultivators to our fleet this week.  We were able to buy 2 Sunflower 62.5ft field cultivators on auction this week at very good prices. These machines will stay in Farmer City and eliminate the need for us to move cultivators 100 miles up and down Rt 47 each spring.  The cultivator are 16' high and 16' wide which makes for challenging road travel.

We started moving machinery south this week.  The roller and 2 sets of portable liquid fertilizer tanks were moved in this week.

Week Ending February 20th
This was truck cleaning a polishing week in the shop.  The guys did a great job of getting the trucks cleaned and the aluminum polished up.

Week Ending February 13th 
We started a major rebuild project on one of our field cultivators this week. We are replacing all of the main frame sections and putting a new drag/rolling basket on the back.  Replacing the frame sections requires basically a total dismantling of the machine.  The cultivator is a Sunflower 62.5 ft machine.  It has about 120 shanks.  During the rebuild we also replaced all the bearings and pivot point bushings.  

Below are some pictures of the project and finished machine.

Week Ending February 6th
Both cornheads were gone over and reconditioned this week. This work included a good cleaning, checking the oil levels in all the gear boxes, adjusting all the knife rolls, lubrication, tensioning the gathering chains, and touching up the paint.  Both heads are 16 row/30 inch Lexion corn heads.

Week Ending January 30th
It looks like we are going to make it through January without any major snow fall.  We have yet to plow snow this winter which is rare.

We switched our seed tender over to bulk dry fertilizer this week.  We are going to start hauling potash and DAP (dry fertilizers).  We use the tender to pick up the fertilizer at the river terminal and deliver it to the spreader in the field.

Week Ending January 24th
We were able to get back into the fields and finish up the rest of the limestone spreading this week.  The ground was frozen so we are not sinking in and there was freshly ground limestone available at the gravel pit that was not frozen so we were able to run again. 

We did find that our rubber track tractor on the spreader is not the best machine for this time of year.  The frozen ground made for a rough ride.  There are very few applications where we do not enjoy tracks and this is one of them.

All of the fields that we soil tested in the fall and needed limestone have now been spread for the year.

Week Ending January 17th
Bob, Sarah, Brad, and Kelli went on a trip to New Orleans this past week to tour the grain port at the Gulf. We toured the ADM grain facilities were they unload barges and load ocean vessels headed to our export customers. It was very interesting for us to see where our grain goes through the export channels. We were able to watch a barge being unloaded and a Panamax vessel being loaded. The volume of grain that moves through the port and the speed that it moves is very impressive.  Special thanks to ADM and First Farm Credit for making this trip possible.

Below are some pictures from the tour.

Week Ending January 10th
Keith received another cow and calf for Christmas along with a treating chute for taking care of his growing herd.  We got the new cattle moved in and built some cattle working pens to go utilize the chute. We appear to be getting back into the cattle business more and more all the time. 

The trucking department is staying busy hauling grain between the snow and ice storms. 

Week Ending January 3rd
The start of the new year finds us back in the machine shop rebuilding equipment and getting ready for the 2016 growing season even though it is a ways off.

We are putting new poly lining on both the horizontal and vertical augers of both grain carts.  We have used the lining before and it lasts longer than steel.  We are also putting a poly u-trough lining in the bottom of the carts.  Reconditioning the carts is far more cost effective than trading to new ones right now.  New Kinze carts with tracks are now over $120,000. 

Week Ending December 27th
We had a great Christmas.  We were able to take time to enjoy family and friends in this special time of year.  The next crop of Lexion combine operators are seen practicing with their new Christmas toys in the picture below. 

We also found just enough snow this week to drag the kids around in the cold for a while.

Christmas gifts included some metal work created in the shop and some improvements to the cattle barn. 

Click here to see reports from this past fall harvest season.