One of the top storylines for the 2019 crop season is the weather-related delays that have impacted much of the country.

One of the jobs I enjoyed most as I traveled throughout eastern North America was visiting customers. These visits helped me to understand better how they were using their mixers, and on almost every visit I left with new knowledge I could share with others down the road.

Often when we think about putting time into proper operation, maintenance and tool safety, our thoughts turn to the expensive power tools at our disposal.

For years, my colleagues and I have been preaching the benefits of cutting our area’s cool-season grass lawns at 4 inches to improve lawn health and control weeds. On the farm, the same logic holds. Leaving more stubble in our hay fields can have similar results.

The 2019 hay season is shaping up to be a rather challenging one with the seemingly endless rain and lower temperatures across most of the nation.

Agriculture is one of the most important professions you could choose, but it can be unfriendly at times. Commodity prices are often inconsistent, weather patterns are unstable, markets can be volatile, and labor is growing scarce. With so many factors outside of your control, it’s understandable to want predictability and productivity.

It used to be that round baler performance was measured by the number of bales you could crank out in a day. Not anymore.

If you have been actively farming for as long as I have, you have seen more than a few changes in the machinery we use. Today’s farm machinery is more powerful, faster, “smarter” and more comfortable than ever before. To be fair, they are also more complicated and expensive.

Do you remember the last time you changed the oil in your pickup truck? Do you know how old the tires are or the last time it was inspected?