Planting Season Preparation
It's not too early to start preparing for planting season. A little advance preparation and planning can go a long way in ensuring a successful harvest. We have gathered up some key planting season preparation strategies below. If you want more advice or want to explore farm equipment for sale, head over to Rivera's Machinery, Inc. Our dealership is in Donna Texas, and we also serve those in Harlingen and San Benito.
Get Your Farm Equipment Ready
You don't want to take your agriculture equipment straight from storage into the field. It needs some tending to first.
Start by consulting the owner's manuals for all your ag equipment. These documents will cover any maintenance tasks you need to handle, the timeline for the tasks, and recommended products. You may be due for some maintenance and now is a good time to check.
Next, see if your farm equipment needs to be cleaned of any mud, dirt, grass, and debris. Ideally, you would have done this before storing your ag equipment, but it's okay if that didn't end up happening. All this debris does more than hurt your agriculture equipment's aesthetic. It can impede your machines' ability to work well.
Finally, you will want to tackle the tasks that get your ag equipment ready to run. Sharpen and clean any blades. Reconnect the hoses on your hydraulic planter. Connect grounding wires on electronic consoles. Look for any pests that may have set up home in the vacuum units on your planters. If you notice any issues, you will want to take your ag equipment to a service department. Small problems now can manifest into larger, more expensive ones if left unattended.
Use Proper Seed Spacing
When you space your seeds out optimally, you can enjoy higher yields and a decrease in wasted seed. A seed meter is a helpful tool that can establish the seeding rate per acre. If you see unevenly spaced seeds, it might be an issue with the seed delivery aspect. To help prevent this, test and calibrate seed meters by using samples of each seed size and grade that you want to plant. That way, you won't need to experiment with your valuable seeds to figure out the settings (which can waste time and energy). Focus on planting each seed type at the ideal depth, which helps them be less vulnerable to air temperature changes and helps them get the right moisture from the soil.
Another key strategy is to avoid planting when the ground is muddy and wet. This mud can clog up your agriculture equipment, which can lead to spreading out the window of emergence by two or three times it should be. It's important fort he seeds to emerge at a consistent rate in order to enjoy the best yield possible.
Refresh Your Knowledge of Your Ag Equipment
Before you take your farm equipment to the fields, be sure you remember how to use them. It's likely been some time before you last used your agriculture equipment and it's understandable if you've forgotten a few things. Spend some time looking over how the systems work. Review the owner's manuals to ensure you remember all the steps that you need to take to ensure a safe and effective operation process.
We hope you found these planting season preparation strategies helpful. For more advice or to explore agriculture equipment for sale, head over to Rivera's Machinery, Inc. Our expert staff is happy to chat with you and help you find the perfect ag equipment for your needs. You'll find us near San Benito and Harlingen, Texas.