Photo courtesy of Liz Dodd
Liz Dodd with McCurdy Sod Farms, Dyer, Tennessee John Deere, Make/ Model: Track Loader – 333G Function/How Used on Farm: It does everything but cut sod! Why is this piece of equipment/technology so valuable on your farm? Tis is the one piece of equipment that can be used 365 days of the year. With a bucket, it loads mulch, gravel, and soil.
With a blade, it clears the roads of snow and ice. Attach a Harley rake and you can easily prep a yard for sod installation. Got forks—you can move pallets out of a muddy field and round bales out of the pasture. You can attach a trencher and install tile in a field. Use a grapple, and you can clear out trees and brush piles.
Mark Graf with Tri-Tex Grass, Granbury, Texas
Greg DeBuck with DeBuck’s Sod Farm of NY, Inc., Pine Island, New York
Photo courtesy of Greg DeBuck
GPS-guided tractor auto- steering, Make/Model: Trimble/Case (or any others) Function/How Used on Farm: Controlled Steering of a Tractor Why is this piece of equipment/technology so valuable on your farm? Choosing an MVP on a sod farm certainly brought up the many unique equipment
Graphic courtesy of FieldNET
Brand/Make Model: FieldNET Function/How Used on Farm: Remote Irrigation
Management Why is this piece of equipment/technology so valuable on your farm? About ten years ago, we added FieldNET Remote Management to our irrigation pivots, and as a result, our effectiveness with the pivots increased dramatically. Te ability to use an app on our phone to see the status, speed, and pressure, and adjust our irrigation systems was a game changer. Te roadways to the center point faded away thanks to less traffic and no one had to stay at the farm babysitting a pivot. If a pivot stops, changes direction, or loses pressure, we get a notification on our phone. Tis allows us to spend more time working on other projects that need attention or with our family on the weekends.
items such as harvesters, delivery forklifts, seeders, flotation tire tractors, or the favorite tillage equipment we all utilize. I chose the GPS-Guided Steering in tractors because of a few reasons listed below, but currently, I would consider our farm only moderately engaged with GPS technology. We added our third system this year with autosteer capabilities. Te main use of these three tractors is spraying and planting for our sod and row crops. Te reasons this technology has helped us are certainly the usual answers you hear of money saved in the amount of product applied and fewer skips/overlaps in a field. I would personally attest to the aid in easing operator stress (if it's set up and working correctly!) rather than the constant focus on following your previous pass. Te screen coverage map is also useful for double-checking acreage and application rates. Te technological advances and more integration in the GPS world will help us better record our applications and manage our crops. Additionally, the higher levels of GPS enable sub- inch accuracy and vertical depth control which can be used for such things as leveling or tile installation. Any cons to this product? Te drawback to this technology is certainly the cost, but there are very basic entry-level systems (follow the light bar) up to the tractor-controlled steering and other accuracy and control upgrades. As with all technology, there is the need for education, installation, and training of the operators. Te help of a professional service provider, your tractor supplier, or even a neighbor farmer can help integrate the GPS technology on your farm.
Always Moving Forward While each of these sod farmers chose a different MVP, their choices all incorporate technology and innovation to continually improve their operations. We thank them for sharing this information. Tis kind of sharing helps keep our industry moving forward.
Kelsey Sandbothe is a co-owner and office manager of SelecTurf, Inc., Jefferson City, Missouri. She is a member of the TPI Leadership, Innovation, and Technology Committee and one of the fellows in the first cohort of the TPI Future Leaders Fellowship program.
TPI Turf News November/December 2023 15
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