READY TO ROLL

Maintenance work takes time and effort, but these essential tasks set us up for a successful spring.

by Jesse Dvorachek

It has been a productive couple months. We finished our pumping season on January 7 and went right into maintenance season. We had to, since our time for repairs was shortened a whole month because of the wet and late fall.

My team jumped into changing oil, filters, and cleaning tractors like we never have before. This year I had my staff remove all the tires, rims, and weights from the tractors to try to get every last piece of mud hiding under cabs and on top of the axles. It’s amazing what you can find hidden behind wheels and tires. I think we are going to add this practice to our maintenance program every year. Once the easy stuff was done, we took all our tractors to our local dealer for their regular winter maintenance.

While the tractors were gone, we pulled pumps in to the shop and started dismantling the plumbing for their winter inspections. We like to check them every year just to make sure there is no odd wear going on, or to see if there is a potential problem we can catch before a major malfunction occurs.

As all of this is going on, other guys are still washing what’s left of the hose carts and tanker so we can start inspections on them.

We go through all our dumpster hinges to make sure the hoses in them have no leaks. We also make sure all our lights on our dumpsters are in working order. This last year we welded some holders to the dumpsters to keep cleanup tools like scrapers and shovels. It’s been a nice addition because people on-site can start cleanup as soon as we are done pumping. They don’t have to wait for the service truck to arrive with helpers to move equipment to the next field.

One project that always seems to take a couple days is cleaning and reorganizing our service vehicles. During the fall rush, things always get jumbled around, and items need to be reorganized and restocked. Having a couple service bodies with bins for parts inside each vehicle has been a very nice addition that our crew leaders have come to appreciate. The ability to stock their trucks with most of the items they will need in the field has saved a lot of down time from running for parts.

Those service bodies are not cheap to add to the service vehicles. I struggled buying them in the beginning, but now that I have seen how they can save us time, it’s not such a hard pill to swallow.

Lastly, our favorite job of the winter is going through our 20-plus trailers. We send them across the street to a neighboring truck repair shop, and they give us a list of things to fix so they can give us the Department of Transportation (DOT) stickers we need to run them legally down the road. That has become a practice that has worked very well for us. We don’t have a certified guy in the shop, but I have plenty of employees who know how to use a wrench. Once all the trailers are done, we start on new projects for the year and tie up any loose ends that we need to have done before the spring rush.

In the winter, I also like to attend meetings and send all my employees to trainings that are available to us through educational venues such as University of Wisconsin-Extension. I think it helps my guys understand a little more about what’s going on around them and feel like they are not just a warm body in a seat. As custom haulers, we all want our team to be as professional as possible, and I think this training helps them to think a little more like I do.

This year we had the most maintenance we’ve ever had due to all the mud and frozen ground we encountered, and we had the shortest window to do it in. I’m glad all my employees pushed through the winter season, and I’m happy to say we are ready to go when we need to. Now, we just need Mother Nature to cooperate. ■

Fresh Paint

AGRI-KING RELEASES NEW MANURE TREATMENT

Agri-King Inc. has recently introduced Pit-King, its newest product formulated to combat manure solids. Pit-King contains a proprietary blend of enzymes, microorganisms, co-factors, and Agri-King’s patented Bacillus strain. Designed for use in manure pits, lagoons, and slurry stores, Pit-King can be used on dairy, beef, and swine farms.

Pit-King’s multi-enzyme blend creates a rapid breakdown of undigested manure solids, while its unique microorganism combination continues manure solid decomposition and also helps reduce compounds like ammonia.

Pit-King’s variety of enzymes and microbes also help suppress the formation of manure foam. This occurs through:

• Breaking down undigested fibers in manure, reducing the ability for methaneproducing bacteria to thrive.

• Promoting acetate production, which diverts metabolites and nutrients away from methane-producing bacteria.

• Producing organic acids, which lower surface tension of manure and reduce methane production.

• Producing fiber-digesting enzymes and surfactant compounds, which hydrolyze fibers and disrupt foam formation.

Farms also have the opportunity to enroll in the Pit-King Maintenance Subscription Program, where Pit-King canisters will be shipped directly to the farm monthly or quarterly at a discounted price. For more information, visit agriking.com/pit-king.

Kuhn Introduces New Tillage Equipment

Kuhn North America Inc. introduced the new KUHN Krause Excelerator XT 8010 vertical tillage system. While retaining the current 1 to 5 degree vertical tillage gang angle range, the new Excelerator XT 8010 features an additional XTended range of 6 to 8 degrees. The added capability to increase gang angle will assist the operator in removing shallow rooted weed growth or filling light ruts created from previous harvest traffic or sprayer passes.

Individual gang angles adjust using a standard mechanical screw adjustment or an optional hydraulic “on-the-go” adjustment feature. The hydraulic option includes an “in-cab” selector that allows the operator to move front and rear gangs simultaneously, retain the same gang angles front to rear, or to adjust the front and rear gangs independently of each other.

Additional features include: combination 7-inch front and 8-inch rear blade spacing, a mid-mounted heavy-duty tine section, no-daily grease maintenance bearings, constant-flow hydraulic down-pressure adjustment for wing sections, plus the Star

Wheel treader finishing attachment and 24/7 conditioning reel. The 32-flute, 22-inch, Excalibur VT blades extend blade life and retain a cutting edge as they wear, when operated at 8 degrees or less.

Designed to run at 8 to 10 mph field speeds throughout the gang angle range, the new Excelerator XT 8010 provides producers with a “high speed” vertical tillage tool for either fall or spring tillage applications.

It is currently available in 30-foot, 34-foot, and 40-foot sizes. For more information, visit www.KuhnNorthAmerica.com.

Due to the COVID-19 health situation, many meetings and events are being rescheduled or canceled. Please visit the listed websites frequently for updates.

American Dairy Science Association Annual Meeting

June 21 to 24, 2020

Virtual Meeting

Details: adsa.org

American Society of Animal Science Annual Meeting and Trade Show

July 19 to 23, 2020

Virtual Meeting

Details: asas.org/meetings

Midwest Poultry Federation Convention

August 12 and 13, 2020

Virtual Meeting

Details: midwestpoultry.com

National Pork Industry Conference

August 16 to 19, 2020

Kalahari Resort

Wisconsin Dells, Wis.

Det ails: porkconference.com

U.S. Poultry and Egg Association Environmental Management Seminar

September 17 and 18, 2020

Hilton Sandestin Resort Destin, Fla.

Details: uspoultry.org

World Beef Expo

September 25 to 27, 2020

Wisconsin State Fair Park West Allis, Wis.

Details: worldbeefexpo.com

World Dairy Expo

September 29 to October 3, 2020

Alliant Energy Center Madison, Wis.

Details: worlddairyexpo.com

If you would like us to include your event on our list, please email details to info@jofnm.com.