Equipment Windfall

The BPMC equipment inventory had a substantial increase over the past 6 months. Last fall, we received permission from the MT NRCS State Office to purchase an electric forklift (alleviating us from gas fumes in a closed building), a riding zero-turn mower, seed bin aerators, a grain hopper for the Wintersteiger plot combine, a 15 ft roller harrow, a 12 ft grain drill, 200 ft of sprinkler hand-line, an ATV tow-behind boom sprayer w/ 60 gal tank, and an 18 HP portable irrigation pump. These new pieces of equipment will greatly enhance the safety of our operation, improve the quality of field production and seed cleaning, reduce worker hours, and increase noxious weed control. For example, replacing our 45 year old grain drill is going to significantly improve seed placement, emergence, and stand uniformity.

In addition, surplus seed cleaning equipment at the Pullman PMC was offered nationwide and we were able to obtain most of it for the cost of going to Pullman and bringing it back. This included a Carter disk separator, a Carter indent cylinder, a Clipper 57BD air screen cleaner, and a Clipper scalper. The used equipment will greatly aid in reducing the backlog we normally have for seed cleaning during the winter months. Now we just need the fickle winter weather to give us a clear 3-day window to go and get it!

By Roger Hybner, PMC Manager

< Back to Plant Materials Today, January 2008 Issue

Last Modified: 01/25/2008