Geringhoff: Productivity in All Conditions

PRODUCTIVITY IN ALL CONDITIONS

Denny Uphoff of Beason, Illinois has been involved in farming for most of his life. He grew up in Peoria county as the third generation on his family’s grain and dairy farm. From a young age, he milked cows, baled hay, walked beans, and helped out wherever he could.

Years later, he decided to take a different route by going to school for engineering. However, he did not let go of farming completely as he continued working for a local famer in the area while in school. Denny received a degree in electrical engineering technology and worked in the industry for two years, before marrying his wife Nancy.

Once he and Nancy were married, Nancy’s father, Bob Drake, asked him to farm with he and his brother, Dave Drake. He was excited for the opportunity and began farming fulltime in 1979 on the farm that Bob and Dave began in Logan county back in 1946.

Today, Denny owns the farm with and works alongside Harold Drake, Dave’s son, with the help of their neighbors and friends, Greg Reinhardt and Jim Brown. Denny and Harold take pride in building upon their family farm by incorporating new technology and equipment when the need arises.

Denny has been a Central Illinois Ag customer since he bought his first piece of equipment from Richard Schmidt in 1979. Over the years, he has always been able to count on the dealership for local service and parts, and with the help of his salesman, Todd Irwin, can find the right equipment for his operation.

After last fall, Denny and Harold were not happy with the performance of their corn head or the amount of maintenance it required. They began looking into a Geringhoff after hearing great reports from fellow farmers in the area, and therefore decided to purchase one for themselves in hopes of correcting the issues they faced with their last head.

This past fall was their first year running their Geringhoff NorthStar 830 corn head. Since getting it set and adjusted to their field conditions, they have been impressed with the job it has done. According to Denny, it simply works as it should and works better than what they had been using in the past.

More specifically, he likes the adjustability of the head and the snouts, along with how well it tears up corn stalks. However, one of the main features that was a selling point was the corn sweeper. “We have had downed corn in the past, so the sweeper is a nice addition to the corn head, should we ever need it,” says Denny.

The corn sweeper is part of Geringhoff’s Integrated Crop Flow System, along with the end row augers which aid in crop flow. The sweeper is specifically included to help harvest downed corn with ease. In case unfavorable weather during harvest leads to poor field conditions, the sweeper is there to increase harvest speed, increase yield, and boost overall efficiency. It is a feature that Denny hopes he will not need, but is pleased to have it to ensure a productive harvest no matter the conditions.

Denny Uphoff