Monday, March 3, 2014

Thinking Outside the Circle, Part 2 | by John Kastl

Many growers want to know how to make their operations more efficient. Last week, we talked about using Valley® Benders and DropSpan™ to increase productivity. Today, we’re going to examine what Valley corner options can do for you.

Many growers are increasing their productivity by irrigating the corners of their fields. On a square, quarter-section field you can irrigate as many as 23 additional acres with a corner machine, and on rectangular fields you can pick up significantly more.

Corners operate automatically and can be guided with either a buried wire or GPS. Also, if you chemigate or fertigate, you can cover the entire field. No extra equipment needed to apply these chemicals to the corners of the field.

Valley Precision Corner

Valley offers two corners. The Valley VFlex Corner™ is designed to be flexible. It offers a variety of options, such as a fixed or swiveling water transfer hose, single or dual steering gearboxes for difficult terrain, two corner arm lengths for different size fields, and – coming soon – a longer corner arm, an “inverted” option, and electronic sequencing. All these choices allow you to customize the machine to fit your field, crop, and farming practices.

The Valley Precision Corner® comes standard with a fixed joint, constant-movement VFD drives, electronic sequencing, and a built-in chemigate mode – the high tech features growers demand for industry-leading water uniformity.

So, as you can see, Valley offers a number of products that can improve your farming operation. The best part is you can mix and match these products on a single pivot to develop a truly customized machine that covers that odd-shaped field you didn’t think could be irrigated. So start “thinking outside the circle” and talk to your Valley Dealer today about how you can increase your irrigated acres.


Hear more about gaining extra acres in this radio interview from the National Farm Machinery Show: Download the .mp3 





John Kastl
Product Manager - Equipment

John joined the Valley Irrigation Engineering Department in 2000 after having spent 11 years at General Electric Aircraft Engines. Today, he manages the equipment products for Valley (center pivots, corners, and gearbox, to name a few), helping develop the next generation of Valley Irrigation machines. John enjoys photography, home renovation, and travel. On his third birthday, John watched the first moon landing!

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