Equipping the backup combine for precision yield mapping
Location: Greencreek, Idaho
Combines: New Holland CR970, Case 1680
Crop Type: Wheat and canola
The Challenge:
Transferring the same Yield Monitor between combines in the midst of the harvest crunch, while staying confident the yield data is accurate for the field.
The Solution:
Universal, straightforward installation of the FarmTRX Yield Monitor on any make, model or age of combine keeps setup simple.
Why Does it Matter:
Harvest rarely goes as planned. Farmers are too busy to be crippled by inflexible hardware and unwieldy software. Spending hours troubling over yield monitor setup in order to get accurate yield data back shouldn’t be one more thing to worry about.
Installation In One Afternoon
Eric Wassmuth was halfway through harvesting his 1000-acre wheat and canola farm in Greencreek, Idaho with a newly installed FarmTRX Yield Monitor when he lost the engine on his New Holland CR970. It would be at least a week before he could get replacement parts in to fix the engine, too long to be stuck waiting at harvest time.
Wassmuth couldn’t go without yield maps for his fields. He needed accurate yield data to meet the requirements of a Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) stewardship program for variable-rate fertilization. Additionally, his neighbor had custom contracted Wassmuth for the same reason, he had 500 acres in the same program but lacked a combine with a yield monitor.
Wassmuth was forced to revive his older Case 1680 out of the equipment shed in order to keep harvesting. While the 1991 Case could handle the rest of harvest, it wasn’t outfitted with a yield monitor. Acting quickly, Wassmuth uninstalled his FarmTRX system from the now out-of-commision CR970 and remounted the sensors, monitor and wiring onto the 1680.
”"In one night, I took the FarmTRX system off the New Holland, dropped it into the 1680 and down the road I went."
Eric Wassmuth
“I started at about 5:30 or 6 pm and finished by 9,” Wassmuth says, adding that his longest delay was manufacturing new sensor brackets as he decided to leave the originals provided by FarmTRX on the CR970.
The next day Wassmuth was back to harvesting and could tell the hardware transfer was working successfully. Real-time yield data was coming through in the combine cab via the Harvest Mobile App. Back in the house after harvest, Wassmuth was able to view precision yield maps for his latest harvested fields in the web app, FarmTRX’s web-based platform.
Once the engine was back up and running on the New Holland CR970, Wassmuth re-installed the Yield Monitor to its original location and finished out the rest of harvest.
Uninterrupted Yield Data from Multiple Combines with Post-Harvest Calibration
While the physical transfer had been simple, and Wassmuth knew the yield monitor recorded yield data across both combines, he wondered how accurate the year’s yield maps could be from two different machines. He had not had time to perform a new calibration in the Harvest Mobile App before harvesting with the 1680.
”“I could tell it was tracking more bushels in this area of the field than that area, and that’s all I needed for the (CRP) program. But I thought, we can always backdoor calibrate it.”
Eric Wassmuth
Why FarmTRX ?
FarmTRX uses optical beam technology to measure yield accurately enough to detect even a slight percentage difference in yield. If you forget or neglect to connect to the Yield Monitor via Bluetooth before harvesting, yield changes are always being recorded as long as installation is correct and power is running to the monitor.
In addition, a universal and simplified installation for any make, age or model of combine gives more farmers access to precision yield monitoring for their harvester, without the price tag or time delay.
After harvest, Wassmuth took advantage of post-calibration features of the web app to correct the yield data to usable, accurate yield maps. FarmTRX sensors are always recording relative differences in yield with or without calibration. To get accurate maps for the field, users can edit the total yield value within the web app post-harvest and the maps will be regenerated to account for the new information.
Precision mapping, simplified.
For Wassmuth, FarmTRX’s ease of use gives him full precision ag benefits and on-farm digitization that can otherwise be unwieldy, inaccurate, and inconvenient to capture. “With FarmTRX, I can put that data on my phone, and that night when I’m home and eating dinner I can actually see where I’m at and how the field is shaping up,” Wassmuth says.
After purchasing a new CR970 to replace the one with the engine failure, Wassmuth replaced the factory yield monitor with his FarmTRX system. His original FarmTRX Yield Monitor has now been swapped between three different combines.
He also likes that FarmTRX will work across systems, no matter what brand of equipment he uses.
CASE 1680 Canola
New Holland CR970 Wheat
”“You’re not tied into one system. If you have a John Deere, you have to have everything Greenstar down the line. These things don’t talk to each other. FarmTRX is all-cloud based. I can run it from my iPad.”
Eric Wassmuth
Wassmuth likes his FarmTRX Yield Monitor so much that if he ends up selling his newest combine, “I’ll probably grab the Yield Monitor off of it too. It just works.”
