More First Day of Seeding

Yesterday was not without a few minor bumps.  The straw pickers are prone to finding pieces of metal that have been laying in the fields for years.  Yesterday was no exception.  Thankfully, they are designed to shear a bolt before any major bending or plugging of the drill or pushing a huge mound of soil occurs.

I found a crow bar today!  Reynald came to help as he's usually only a few feet ahead of me in the field.  I'm so thankful that I don't have to fix this stuff by myself!

These are the shaft monitors.  There is an indicator on each drill's straw picker.  If there is a problem an angry buzzer goes off and the light beside the offending straw picker shaft turns red.  It's a good idea to stop immediately if this happens!

This is the crow bar that my drill found!

This is just a small mound of soil that was pushing when the shaft stopped turning.  If you didn't have the monitors, this mound could become as big the drill.  The monitors are a life saver!  

Here is Reynald replacing the shear bold that broke when the crow bar wedged itself in to the straw picker.  This is exactly what is supposed to happen.  

This is how small the shear bolt is.  It is designed to shear relatively easy, before the problem gets too big!

We started out yesterday morning full of seed and fertilizer, so we only had to fill two more times during the day.  This is what filling looks like.  Last year we were pleasantly surprised at how quickly we were able to get both drill filled and back to work.  It's also a nice break from sitting and sitting and sitting!  Alicia makes sure both the fertilizer truck and the seed truck are full of product and in the correct place for filling.

Filling both drills at once.  The white truck with the orange racks has the seed wheat and the blue truck with the black racks has the dry fertilizer.  Each drill requires product from each truck.

The satellite guidance has a warning that beeps if you have driven over a mile without turning the steering wheel.  We are working on a piece that is 2 miles long so every round, you get this warning.
I am alive but I was terribly drowsy yesterday,.  The buzzer that went off helped keep me awake all day!

Operator alive?  Sometimes I wonder!