Set up Your Farm for Great Harvest Data

Are you ready for good data collection this harvest season? FBN has put together a few pointers on how to prep your operation for the best yield data collection this fall.

Having high quality yield data benefits not only your operation but the entire FBN community. Building good practices around calibrating yield monitors and properly saving data will be key to getting the most from your precision equipment.

1. Check the Mechanical Components of Your Monitors

Your yield monitors actually have mechanical components that can become worn or broken. During your pre-harvest combine check on your combine, check the four main components of the Yield Monitor:

• Yield Sensor – check for wear and/or alignment.

• Moisture Sensor – check for old crop residue in or on the sensor as well as the auger system for testing moisture which can blow small fuses.

• Display – Verify Grower, Farm and Field structure is set up, and Variety Tracking information is set up and turned on.

• Receiver - check for solid GPS connections once outside with a clear view of the sky.

2. Calibrating Your Monitor

Each harvest increases the wear on your Yield Sensor. We recommend the following for having the most consistent calibration for your yields. Want to know how to calibrate your monitor, use FBN’s Knowledge Center.

• It is best to calibrate at the beginning of the season for each crop and 2-4 more times during the season as conditions and moistures change.

• It is best to calibrate at the beginning of the field if a new calibration is needed.

3. Save Your Data!

If you don’t save your data, it can’t help you with next year's crop. Verify often that your yield data is being captured and saved often.

• Verify your data is saving correctly. During harvest, check after your first fields to verify your monitor is mapping correctly. FBN is happy to read and verify the data being captured is mapping well for your fields. This will give you comfort knowing that the rest of the season you have set up your Yield Monitor correctly to capture good Yield data.

• Save and back up your data as frequently as possible. In a perfect world we’d recommend doing so every night but we understand how busy you are! We highly recommend backing up your data weekly to a computer or cloud system. This can be as simple as copying the files to your computer. Your data can help you save thousands of dollars next season through better decisions, it’s well worth it to buy a few USB or compact flash drives!

• If you use cloud based services, verify they are capturing data by logging in to your account. It is still good practice to log in frequently and make sure each days fields have made it to the cloud and if not to copy the data on your monitors just as if you didn’t have cloud systems.

4. Post Calibrate

Post calibrating will ensure the correct yields are used in your farm analytics. To post calibrate, save your scale tickets. You can either enter post calibration directly into FBN, or email us photos of your scale tickets at data@farmersbusinessnetwork.com.

Quick Tips for Popular Systems

John Deere

• Make sure you have changed your JD Starfire Frequency for 2015.

• With newer machines, remember it is good to have more than 4 calibration loads.

• Ask your AMS Specialist for new updates.

Case/NH

• Make sure your USB or DATA CARD is in the monitor and in working condition.

• Check your header height settings to verify your monitor registers your header setting.

• Make sure your GPS is setting is NOT set to Autonomous.

Ag Leader

• Look at auger to check the moisture sensor for blown fuses or blocked auger.

• Check flow sensor plate for potential replacement.

• Verify GPS if using third party GPS.

Precision Planting

• Update to newest software.

• Inspect Yield Cup for any damage.

• Charge IPAD each night or verify 20/20 is charging IPAD. If it is not charging, try a different USB port.

Trimble

• Ask your Precision Ag Specialist for optimal operating software.

• Ask your Precision Ag Specialist for best moisture sensor options.

• Good practice to do a lot of calibrations with this system.