Sprayer set-up (3-14-12)
We changed out the narrow crop tires on the sprayer for wider flotation tires this year.  The wider tires will help with the wet condtions we typically find in the spring. We will chage back to the narrow tires for in-crop spraying this summer.

Rebuilding Planters (3-3-12)
We were busy this week rebuilding corn planters and gettting them ready to go.  We go through all the moving parts and wear items looking for what needs to be replaced and adjusted. 

Tile Plow (2-29-12)
We purchased a tile plow to go behind one of the large Challenger tractors.  We are going to put in our own field drainage tile with this Johnson brand plow.  We are going to use on of our Trimble FMx monitors to control the grade of the plow using RTK based GPS.  We are looking forward to gettting started with it.  We may get some tile installed this spring but we will most likely be using it in the fall once the crops come out. 

Brad's Trip to China and India with Illinois Ag Leadership Group (2-25-2012)
Brad is traveling to China and India to learn about agricultural issues in these two countries.  His trip is part of the Illiniois Ag Leadership Program, a two year leadership development program.

Excavating Equipment (2-23-2012)
We bought a used excavtator to use for tiling, brush cleanup, and ditch work. The machine has a hydraulic thumb for use in clearing trees. We will be installing a laser based system on the machine to help set the grade for installing tile mains. We plan on digging in the large tile mains with the excavator and using a tile plow for putting in the lateral tile lines.  

New Addition to the Stewart Family (2-6-2012)
We welcomed in a new member of the Stewart family last week.  Brad and Kelli are the proud parents of a new baby girl, Cecilia.  She was born Monday, February 6th.  Big brothers Vincent (3.5) and Joel (1.5) are excited to have a little sister.

Farmland Investment Fair (2-4-2012)
Our farm had an exhibit at the Chicago Farmer Farmland Investment Fair this winter.  There was an excellent crow and we enjoyed visiting with several current and potential farmland investors.

Top Producer Seminar (2-8-2012)
We attended the Top Producer Seminar in Chicago. We enjoyed networking with other producers and learning from the various speakers at the event.

Winter Fun
Keith (8) and I built a sled this winter in the shop.  We have not had much snow yet to test it out.  It is complete with air suspension (inner tubes) and chrome exhaust pipes (pvc pipes painted silver).

Insulating buildings (2-10-2012)
One of the projects this winter was to finish insulating the horse barn.  The guys finished up insulating the doors and covering them with steel this past week.

Hauling Grain
Lee and Brad have been busy hauling grain out of storage.  Lots of corn to go to Chicago in January and February.  Lines at the elevators have been long with a lot of corn moving now.

Equipment Restoration

We have done a couple of equipment restoration projects this winter. Below are some highlights.

CAT Forklift
We sandblasted, painted, and detailed our Cat forklift.  It was looking a little shabby in the bottom photo and ready for a makeover.

Snowblower
We rebuilt and painted our snow blower.  So far the winter has been very mild and we have not gotten to use it very much but at least it looks better that it had sitting in the shed.  When mounted on the front of our bi-directional tractor, it makes for quite a snow machine.  The snow blower it now outfitted with custom graphics designed by Kristine and Keith.  Snowmen beware.

IH Scout
We got the old IH Scout cleaned up and running again after it had been hibernating in a forgotten tool shed.  This was my college vehicle and it is probably time to let it go.