SD51555
5 year old buck +
The bosses wanted me to go check out the Ag Phd field day last week out here. I have always wanted to go, but never had the chance until this year. Talk about a heck of an event! If you're not familiar with it, these guys are a big deal in agriculture meeting TV and in teaching average Joe's like us the advanced topics when it comes to growing things. Here we go...
They had tons of plots on their farm showcasing hybrids, the newest fertilizer treatments, seed treatments, chemicals etc. They were on this mobile podium to share observations and learnings from each plot and why something may not look great. Vendors for each product were set up right in front of their plots will all kinds of signs, gear, trinkets etc.
This is their shop. It's air conditioned and has acoustic steel inside. Apparently it makes it easier on the ears when dropping tools, running engines, or doing a nationally syndicated radio show (which I got to watch live).
The other giant machine shed that was nicer than my apartment. Served a few thousand people lunch in about 25 minutes. It was epic to see a well run outfit like this.
John Ratzenberger, better known as "Cliff" from cheers also came out for the day. He was largely just an attraction, but he had some great points to make about the state of things and such.
Also got to sit through a soil testing seminar with Brian Hefty himself. It was very informative. I didn't learn a ton from it, but it was neat just to listen to him speak about his soils and how they're addressing issues they've got. He even told a story where he's trying 1400lbs/acre of potassium to try to fight back against high magnesium in his base saturation. The soil lab they use was also there trying to sign up new customers. They had guys use one of their soil probes to practice puling a soil core if they've never done one before. It was funny as hell to watch everyone that did that, walk out of that tent and over to the next tent and buy a soil probe. I mean everyone! (Including me...)
And perhaps the neatest part of the day, Mike Ditka was there as well. He didn't have a whole lot to say about farming either. The crowd took the opportunity to talk football with him quick while he was on the microphone. He had a great point/joke when asked about Tom Brady and deflategate. "Tom Brady could have beaten those guys with a soccer ball!"
They had tons of plots on their farm showcasing hybrids, the newest fertilizer treatments, seed treatments, chemicals etc. They were on this mobile podium to share observations and learnings from each plot and why something may not look great. Vendors for each product were set up right in front of their plots will all kinds of signs, gear, trinkets etc.
This is their shop. It's air conditioned and has acoustic steel inside. Apparently it makes it easier on the ears when dropping tools, running engines, or doing a nationally syndicated radio show (which I got to watch live).
The other giant machine shed that was nicer than my apartment. Served a few thousand people lunch in about 25 minutes. It was epic to see a well run outfit like this.
John Ratzenberger, better known as "Cliff" from cheers also came out for the day. He was largely just an attraction, but he had some great points to make about the state of things and such.
Also got to sit through a soil testing seminar with Brian Hefty himself. It was very informative. I didn't learn a ton from it, but it was neat just to listen to him speak about his soils and how they're addressing issues they've got. He even told a story where he's trying 1400lbs/acre of potassium to try to fight back against high magnesium in his base saturation. The soil lab they use was also there trying to sign up new customers. They had guys use one of their soil probes to practice puling a soil core if they've never done one before. It was funny as hell to watch everyone that did that, walk out of that tent and over to the next tent and buy a soil probe. I mean everyone! (Including me...)
And perhaps the neatest part of the day, Mike Ditka was there as well. He didn't have a whole lot to say about farming either. The crowd took the opportunity to talk football with him quick while he was on the microphone. He had a great point/joke when asked about Tom Brady and deflategate. "Tom Brady could have beaten those guys with a soccer ball!"
