The planters have not moved out of the shop and we are installing new blades on the drill and three of our four planters. We are hoping these new serrated blades, when combined with the new closing wheels from Integrated Ag Solutions that we installed last week, will do a better job of cutting through our no-till residue to create the ideal seedbed this spring. I participated in an XtremeAg webinar last week with my grain marketing consultant, Jarod Creed. There was lot of good information on using crop insurance to insure revenue instead of yields. It’s an approach that has changed our view of how we buy crop insurance each year, and I am excited to be able to share it with XtremeAg members.
Photo Credit: XtremeAg XtremeAg’s Kevin Matthews, Matt Miles, and Kelly Garrett are putting the finishing touches on winter business and putting the planters in the shop for maintenance and upgrades for 2021 planting season.
Kevin Matthews - East Bend, North Carolina
Kevin and his wife, Cindy, own and operate Matthews Family Farms of North Carolina, Inc., Precision Nutrient Management, Inc., and Deep Creek Grain, Inc. in East Bend and Yadkinville. We’ve been busy applying layer litter and pulling soil samples during this brief dry period. Rain is on the way, but hopefully, it will be light so we can get the small grain top dressed with nitrogen with one of the split applications.
Photo credit: XtremeAg XtremeAg’s Kevin Matthews, Kelly Garrett, and Matt Miles share changes and decisions being made to prepare for the 2021 season. From the XtremeAg team, we wish everyone a wonderful Holiday Season!
Kevin Matthews - East Bend, North Carolina
Kevin and his wife, Cindy, own and operate Matthews Family Farms of North Carolina, Inc., Precision Nutrient Management, Inc., and Deep Creek Grain, Inc. in East Bend and Yadkinville. Harvest is now finally over. Office work is in full swing catch-up mode, and we are cleaning poultry houses out and spreading litter when land allows. Machine maintenance will be our focus for the next few months, starting with the combines then moving onto our planters and sprayers. We generally like to service our tractors at the end of winter as close to spring as possible to avoid huge temperature swings that can cause sweating on the cast housings. We feel this keeps the engine fluids much healthier.