A few years ago A.H. gave me a "hand-me-down" four row, John Deere, corn planter. It's a very basic unit with hydraulic lift that uses power from the wheels to operate the planting mechanism when the planter is lowered. There are no gauges to tell the operator if corn is successfully planted in each row. The operator can stop and dig out the rows behind the planter to see if there are corn kernels.
When I'm using a tillage machine or a mower I can look back and see if things are working. But, with planting it's more a matter of faith, that unseen the kernels are left underground. Eventually the flags that stand on the unplanted corn in the planter move lower indicating that the corn is indeed leaving the boxes.
A few days later the emerging rows give proof of how well the planter worked and how straight the operator drove.
1 comment:
Of course farming is the ultimate act of faith anyway isn't it? You have faith that the seeds will grow, that the weather will cooperate that the market will not fall into a complete state of disrepair...etc. etc. etc.
Ed is glad to have you blogging again.
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