INDUSTRY NEWS

The Case IH tractor plant in Racine, Wisconsin, home to the Magnum™ Series tractor, was recently accredited with ISO 50001 certification for energy management, joining a handful of companies worldwide to receive such a rare honor.

“This accreditation for ISO 50001 recognizes the Racine plant’s continuous improvement in energy efficiency and Case IH’s long-term commitment to reducing its environmental impact,” says Steve Tyler, Racine Plant Manager. “This certification is another testament to this world-class manufacturing facility and can be a source of pride for our employees and the community.”

New Holland Agriculture has been honored with four prestigious AE50 awards by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE). The awards are presented for the most innovative product ideas to enter the market in 2011.

The New Holland award winners  include two high-horsepower tractors with Tier 4 ECOBlue™ SCR engine technology, the SynchroKnife™ drive for New Holland’s new 880CF combine SuperFlex draper header, and the MowMax™ II cutterbar for New Holland’s Durabine™ disc mower-conditioners.

What does it cost you to own and operate agricultural machinery for crop production?  Should you own the equipment or seek a custom operator for oone or more field operations?

What should you charge someone else to have your people and your machine conduct field operations on their farm, and vice versa?  These questions definitely need answers as you put a final wrapping on the 2011 growing season and evaluate your cost of production for grains and forages produced.

Here are the Top 10 most-viewed articles that ran in Progressive Forage Grower or Progressive Forage Grower e-newsletters during the past year.

1. Western alfalfa hay situation and outlook
Dairies in the six western states of California, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Utah and Arizona produce around 38 percent of the U.S. milk supply. Dairies in these states consume approximately 65 percent of the alfalfa hay produced in the seven western states.

In the past 27 months some dairies in the West have only seen six to seven months of profitability, some a few more months depending on their operation.

The USDA crop progress report released May 23, 2011 shows 79 percent of the corn acres planted in the top 18 states versus 92 percent in 2010, well behind the 2006-2010 average of 87 percent.

With wet fields and delays in planting, only 45 percent of the corn has emerged versus 69 percent in 2010.

The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) has revised its popular standard for agricultural machinery management data.

The revised standard, ASAE D497.7, Agricultural Machinery Management Data, simplifies fuel consumption equations. This standard is used in conjunction with ASAE EP496.3, Agricultural Machinery Management; to report typical tractor values for tractor performance, implement power requirements, repair and maintenance costs, depreciation, fuel and oil use, reliability for field operation, probable working days, and timeliness coefficients as measure by experiment, modeling or survey.