Used and new equipment trends and pre-harvest inspections

Shay: And it all comes down to this. Two on, two out, bottom of the ninth. The Farmers lead by one.

Brent

Judisch: Full count. Here comes the play at the plate, and it's the Ag View Pitch!

Shay: Welcome back everyone to another episode of the Ag View Pitch. Today you have Shay Foulk and Brent Judisch. How's it going today, Brent?

Brent

Judisch: Very good. Nice day here in Iowa.

Shay: Yeah, a little bit warm. I think we could all use some rain, but We'll take what the good Lord gives us. So I was wondering if you can reintroduce yourself to the audience here and tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do.

Brent

Judisch: My name is Brent Judisch. We reside at Cedar Falls, Iowa. I sell John Deere equipment for P&K Midwest. I've been doing that 34 years. And we also have an average-sized farm operation here at Cedar Falls. And I've been doing that my whole life.

Shay: Now that's great. So on the equipment side, I wanted to touch base there quickly and look at what you're seeing in the market. Chris and I talk with you quite a fair amount here on what you're seeing, and you have a really good pulse on, on how things are regionally and then kind of what's going on across the country. So looking at, looking at used equipment, is there anything that stands out to you that you think is relevant for the listeners out there?

Brent

Judisch: Well, we've seen a trend the last, I would say, 2 to 3 years. Um, you know, new equipment's getting a little bit pricey, I think. Um, we get price increases every year in 2.5 to 3%, and that makes new get so expensive sometimes. So we've seen a large demand for 2 to 3-year-old machinery, especially tractors and combines. And then we see a really big demand on these tractors that are getting to be about 7 to 10 years old now. Because that puts them into the pre-def, pre-emissions area. And so that's— we've had really, really high demand in those two areas, both the tractors and combines.

Shay: Now when you say high demand, a lot of this stuff that we see working with producers all over the country and into Canada is a lot of times it can be regional based off of folks that are on, you know, different trading timelines, or as they move some of this equipment Is this pretty much across the country that you're seeing this, or what regions are you looking at here on this, Brent?

Brent

Judisch: Well, with today's internet shoppers, whether they're looking at an auction or just buying off the lot, I don't think it's really regional anymore. We ship tractors, combines, sprayers, just about any state anymore. People find a certain machine they're looking for in a certain hour range. If it's late model, we can put some warranty on it. It doesn't matter where you ship it. So I would say it's not really regional. I would say it's basically the whole Corn Belt pretty strong right now.

Shay: Okay, now that's great. How about on the new equipment side? So you mentioned some of it, obviously price points, and with the, with the market that we have right now, there's a lot of uncertainty out there. But what, what's movement in the new equipment market look like?

Brent

Judisch: Um, new equipment has actually been very stable. Um, there's a certain amount of farmers that either have quite a bit of land paid for, or we have, we have our own producers that have other income So we've actually seen our new equipment demand be pretty stable. New tractors, new combines, new planters, especially sprayers, those items really haven't dropped off. We've seen consistent numbers the last 2 or 3 years. And I know right now we have a large number of new tractors coming in. And for the economy, I think it's the new demand has been pretty solid for what the, you know, corn at $3.20 and beans at $9. So I'm Pretty pleased with how our new demand has been holding on.

Shay: No, that's great to hear. And from an economy perspective, it's really interesting as you travel through the Corn Belt region, you go through certain areas that are seeing a definite downturn. You don't see as many people out in the streets, but at the same time, farmers are still out there getting the job done and looking to make equipment trades and upgrades in order to maintain a viable business down the road. So glad to hear that on the new equipment side. One thing that you and I were talking about here before the call is on grain baggers. And, you know, there's been a lot of those moving for, for various reasons, but I was wondering if you can touch on that for a minute, uh, see what you're seeing or talk to us about what you're seeing out there. And then also, what are some of the advantages to, to using these systems?

Brent

Judisch: Well, where the windstorm went through, you know, all the producers lost basically their grain bins, their dryers, all their on-farm storage. And then if you're in the area where the commercial storage has also been wiped out they don't have a lot of options. And baggers are a very viable option. We've been selling them up here for 4 or 5 years. You can put the bags right in the field is the easiest, put them at your driveway, run your grain cart right to them. Essentially, the baggers can take the grain away just as fast as the grain cart can unload it. Leave it in there and let it set through the early part of winter and January, February, go out there and get it. And the baggers, are pretty simple. They're not a high maintenance item.

And then they also have to go with the bagger, they have an unloader, and it pretty well just backs into the bag and takes the corn and puts it in the semi. And it's a pretty simple, effortless, uh, job for the farmers.

Shay: And I know on loading the bags, uh, you know, so one of the most difficult things is, is getting it started. We heard that from Zane in a podcast here about a week ago. But unloading, maybe a little bit slower than what some people are used to. We were talking on that tonight here at dinner of anywhere from 12 to 13 minutes maybe to load a truck. But like you're saying, if you can store it for a few months, maybe capture some of that basis, you know, basis might not be a huge issue in some of these areas that don't have the actual corn production out there. But at the same time, baggers can truly make a good option for temporary storage. So I appreciate you hitting on that.

Brent

Judisch: And the baggers are pretty durable. I mean, we milk cows for 30 years, our operation, and we've put bags up for 30 years for the cows for silage. And so the bags are pretty durable, and as long as you keep the varmints out of them, they'll last through the winter.

Shay: And one last point on that too is with the amount of storage, uh, every operation's different. And whether you're a small dairy or someone that's farming several thousand acres on the row crop production side, when you look at putting a certain amount of tonnage or a certain amount of bushels, when you get beyond that 80, 100, 120,000 bushels of usage, you can get your cost per bushel down, uh, pretty comparable or even much better than some of the, the local co-ops or elevators or even your own personal storage. So in addition to those who have maybe lost some of that storage over the last month here or so, just a, just a good consideration for some others to look into. And again, tying that back to a cost per bushel basis in order to tie it into your marketing and maybe make some better decisions.

With those grain baggers too, uh, we were talking tonight that 4020s make a nice little tractor on those grain baggers. So maybe you'll see an uptick in the market on that side.

Brent

Judisch: Yeah, one thing that surprised me, we started selling baggers new about 5 years ago, and I met a couple guys bought baggers but then eventually built bins. And there actually is a really good remarketing, um, demand for those baggers. You get one traded in, only, you know, maybe use it 1 or 2 years and you advertise it And boy, you get a lot of calls. So I don't think the market's saturated by any means yet.

Shay: That's good to hear. Moving on to the, you know, pre-harvest discussion, we had talked last year on this a little bit on what are some of the preparations we need to be making. Might look a little bit different. So I wanted to touch on that first for this year with a lot of the down corn out there. You and I had talked a little bit on reels, maybe moving to some narrower spacing heads in order to better harvest this corn. What are some of the factors that farmers and producers out there should be considering right now, and, and what are some of the watchouts on these systems?

Brent

Judisch: Well, first of all, um, with a corn head, I know there's just a couple major wear points on corn heads. Gathering chains, the number one, and your deck plates. If you're going to pick this down corn up, a guy is going to probably have to take his gathering chains and put the links on the chains together versus alternating. Normally, in a normal corn head, we have the chain links on so that they're alternating one and the other, but in a year like this where they're down corn, we like to take and put them paddles together and that makes them more aggressive so they pull the stalk together as opposed to every other one. I would start there. We've had a large, large demand for corn head reels Roller cones on the ends, AutoTrac. A lot of guys are buying the sensors for AutoTrac. Just kind of take the stress out of it.

And in years past, we've had a year like this, whatever head you have, set your GPS for one less row. That allows you to pick up some, maybe some stalks that you missed that were just missed the snoot on the previous row. So if you have a 12-row head, set it for 11 rows. If you have an 8-row head, set it for 7 rows. And that allows you to get some of them stalks that avoided the snoot from the previous pass.

Shay: Great. And, you know, another discussion that we've had too, unfortunately, a lot of the producers that we work with have had a lot of experience with down corn, and they've even talked on, on harvesting on an angle, especially if you're having to go one way, maybe not even trying to stay with the roads. What are, you know, with those aggressive settings on the gathering chains and maybe making some adjustments on that end, what are your thoughts on that?

Brent

Judisch: We tell people to— every field is going to be different. You can't really pick a certain angle, but normally in today's with GPS, a lot of our guys are using headings 0, 90, 180, or 270. So pick an angle 3 to 5 degrees off of how you planted it and then just set your GPS and go. That way you're not missing a row because you're going across them. And a lot of times Once you get them snoots under them, you can just kind of stand them right up, and that really works pretty well.

Shay: So let's talk on reels for a minute. Uh, guys out there sometimes have a love-hate relationship with reels. They either love them or they hate them. And like you said, every field's a little bit different. Any watchouts on reels or any considerations there, Brent?

Brent

Judisch: Um, what I tell people is you probably better get your, your worst down corn first. That's where your stock quality is going to be the least have strength in it. So go after them really bad fields first and then you're probably going to want to take your reel off. If you have some fields that are partially down or have sparks down but yet you have a lot of stock standing full height, the reel is kind of getting in the way and will run that down. So a lot of our guys will just go after them really bad fields first and then just take that reel off. They come off in just a few minutes. And then try it without them, because if you have really good standing corn, all they're going to do is get annoying, right?

Shay: With harvesting one way, I think that's maybe the final consideration I have on down corn here, unless you have any other thoughts. But harvesting one way, um, nobody likes doing it, it's time consuming. Any, any major watchouts there as far as wear and tear on the machine and just making sure that you are taking care of the machine otherwise?

Brent

Judisch: The corn heads are pretty self-explanatory. I think one thing that a lot of guys forget is every combine out there has a rock trap in it. Clean them rock traps out. You're gonna pick up stuff you didn't know was out there. You might not name your rocks. It might be pieces of steel from a building or off of a bin, or it could be wood or something. Just make sure that though, every half a day or so, get them rock traps cleaned out. And, uh, because a lot of guys kind of forget that. They, you know, we check them out for beans a lot, but for corn, most guys never check those rock cups, right?

Shay: And, and I think that's a, a note on safety here. And one last thing I wanted to touch on is there's going to be times where, you know, these heads are going to get plugged up. Guys are going to have to get out, pull, make sure that you're, uh, you know, not, not, not wearing too hard on the heads out there. But at the same time There's been a lot of accidents over the years, and there's a lot of safety features built into the machines now to prevent those accidents and prevent something like that happening. But just use extreme caution when you're out there. For all the farmers and producers, I think patience is going to be key this fall as we move into some of that, and understanding that more important to get home safe at night than it is to, to get that field finished maybe 3 or 5 minutes earlier.

We all want to make it home to their families safely, so You know, moving back into more of a regular season for those who don't necessarily have down crops out there, one thing that stuck with me last year that you pointed out, Brent, was as you go to do these preseason maintenance checks and inspections, a lot of guys have done a fantastic job of immediately when they got done with the machine last year, they greased it, changed out any parts, made sure that everything was set and ready to go for this year, and they've had it pointed at the machine shed door. But one thing you said was be sure to check the tire pressure. And it's such a trivial thing in some people's minds. But I was talking with a producer the other day and I joked with him. I said, well, you check the tire pressure, right? And he goes, I don't know if I've checked the tire pressure in 2 or 3 years.

And especially on some of those floaters, it's a little hard to tell if it maybe has 10 or 25 pounds in it. So what are some of the other key watchouts as we move into harvest season?

Brent

Judisch: Here, Brent? Well, the tire pressure is key. Um, corn heads, a typical year on corn heads is not as critical. Bean heads is very critical with tire pressure. But this year with this down corn, you're going to want to get them snoots completely across that head level. And that's going to be really critical this year because you're going to want to get all the corn you can get, but yet you don't want one snoot in the ground and one side of foot off the ground either. And I know at least from the Deere perspective, it takes about 2 minutes to calibrate your head. And a person should calibrate those heads every year. It may not tell you it needs calibrated, but that doesn't mean it is calibrated. And it only takes 2 minutes to calibrate it. That's going to make your header control work good, and it's also going to make your lateral tilt work better.

And that's really critical if we're trying to get them beans, because this year the beans are probably really close to the ground. And you're going to want to get them things shaved as close as you can. So just take the time, it's only a couple minutes, calibrate each head, and you only have to do it once a season. And once it's been done, it's good for the rest of the year.

Shay: No, that's a great point. And aside from that calibration, I know there's a lot to, to maybe take a look at when it comes to GPS systems or, or settings, you know, like you mentioned earlier, of if you have a 12-row corn head, maybe setting it to 11 rows if you're Dealing with down corn and just, just going through and double-checking all those settings. I mean, it's as simple as literally clicking through each of the pages and each of the tabs on the screens to make sure that everything looks right, that it's, that it's consistent. Anything else on the, on the GPS or technology side that you think is a good watch out for farmers out there?

Brent

Judisch: Um, all, all brands of GPS receivers need to be calibrated when you put them on the machine every year. You've probably been on a tractor or sprayer. Put them on the machine, go into the calibration mode and what they call calibrate the TCM. It only takes a couple minutes to do it. But that really, really is important on a combine because on a combine your steering tires are behind you. And most guys don't realize that. So getting that TCM calibrated is really critical just because of, you know, a tractor your steering wheel's in front, but on a combine it's behind you. So it's one thing that most guys don't think about.

Shay: Right. Moving down the machine, one thing you mentioned with the bean heads is that rock trap. Another thing too, with some of these, the Draper systems out there, it doesn't matter what type of unit you're running, there are some adjustments to be made on there. And I know one of the things is looking at the tension of those belts, looking for any wear and tear. Any other key things on headers, in particular bean heads, that we should be thinking of?

Brent

Judisch: Well, if the guy has the same combine and the same bean head every year, you probably level it once. But if you have a different combine or a different bean head, just takes a few minutes to level the feeder house. It's very critical that you got that cutter bar level to maybe, maybe just a little bit above level in the front. 'Cause the last thing you want is if it's a little bit, you know, the beans are short, you don't wanna be digging into the dirt and digging into the leaves 'cause that's frustrating when you can't. Can't get out there running at a good speed all day long, right?

Shay: And just watching some of those adjustments to the, the technology and the capability to adjust those headers, I think is pretty amazing when it looks to the different conditions that you're harvesting in. Simple things too, you know, looking at air cab filters and, and actual machine engine filters and things like that, not to mention oil, hydraulic fluid, grease points, all of those those main things. But as we move back into the body of the machine, uh, what, what are some final thoughts that you have there on, on adjustments and, and maybe considerations here before we get into the season?

Brent

Judisch: Well, I think most of your newer combines— I had actually had a gentleman yesterday that I had sold a combine to, and he was saying that he wasn't really— wasn't spreading the trash on it when he was combining beans properly. Well, we got to talking, and most of your newer combines now have a PowerCast tailboard that you can change it from the cab. Um, on the Deere side, they go from like 250 RPM to 500 RPM. Well, if you're running a 40-foot draper, you need at least 450 to 480 RPM to spread that trash. And he wasn't running it near that fast. And he was leaving, leaving some strips on the outside that he wasn't getting the trash put out. And, uh, we need to remember that next year's crop starts with this year's harvest.

Shay: Yeah, you said that last year, and residue management is such a key. It doesn't matter what system you run either, uh, you know, whether you're conventional tillage, we see a lot of that high maintenance or high management in residue, especially with strip-till systems. A lot of those farm operations have that really dialed in and just making some of those key adjustments there as we move forward. So Brent, any last thoughts or anything else that I, that I maybe haven't covered that's pertinent either on, on the equipment side or as we as we look at some of these pre-harvest maintenance checks and inspections?

Brent

Judisch: I think you touched on it earlier. Just, I think most farmers should get a chance to get a little earlier start this year. So for the guys that have the down corn, have the tougher harvest areas, just be patient. We should be able to get an earlier start. The last 2 years have kind of been a struggle to get anything done before middle of October. I think this year we'll get going in September. So hopefully guys can use the better weather and not have to get as much of a hurry and just be careful.

Shay: Absolutely. And I would say too, um, you know, we're early enough here in the year, a little bit earlier than when we talked here last time, uh, or, you know, last year in 2019. I know there's some operations we talked offline that are actually running here and hoping and praying for their safety in the season. But as you go through these calibrations, uh, I find that If I spend time on a problem, you know, anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes and I'm not able to figure it out, that's what your dealer support is there for, the technical support. Be sure that you're reaching out to them and just having their numbers and knowing that contact information as we move into the season too. A lot of great dealerships out there that have some awesome service. So be reaching out to those folks as well. Brent, thank you so much for the time here.

I appreciate you providing the, the listeners with some of this perspective and might even consider reaching back out here later on this season and talking with you again on how things are going.

Brent

Judisch: Yeah, you call me whenever you want. I'm always here for you.

Shay: That sounds great. Well, thanks again, Brent, and thank you everyone for listening to another episode of the Ag View Pitch, and we will catch you next time.