Ag Practices

At Claussen Farms Custom Farming Inc. we are proud of the way we farm. From planting to harvesting, we plan, mitigate, assess, and implement techniques to ensure the successful and environmentally responsible growth of our crops.

Scroll or select one of the options below to learn more about how we farm.

Combining

We currently have two New Holland CR 10.90 Combines: one on wheels and one on tracks. The tracks and duals will help reduce compaction in the fields, and with the bigger engine we shouldn't run out of horsepower! These combines will operate a 13.5m Draper flex head and a 16 row and 12 row Geringhoff RotaDisc corn head. This machine has the following features:

AFS Pro 700 Integrated Display - including yield mapping
Large grain tank - less unloading time!
Gerringhoff RotaDisc 16 and 12 row corn head - integrated stalk chopping with harvesting process
AWS air reel wind systems in all bean crops
Specialized fine cut straw choppers with guaranteed even spread pattern over the entire cutting width of the headers
Automatic header height control in all crops
Using crop lifters in all cereal crops
Gentle crop handling by using round bar concaves in corn, beans, and wire concaves for wheat and canola

The combines are set up and equipped for gentle crop handling, as well as precise and accurate residue handling because it is our belief that the success of the following crop starts with the combining job of the previous crop!

Fertilizing

We are offering four different solutions for fertilizer application:

Broadcasting 28% UAN solution with the sprayer using streamer nozzles either preplant, preemerge, or in crop to corn, canola, grains, or other growing crops. In tall corn we are using boom draghoses to apply the fertilizer between the corn rows.
In crop foliar feeding nutrient solutions with the sprayer using different styles of nozzles and the sprayer's John Deere PWM ExactApply technology.
Broadcasting all types of dry fertilizer with our air boom spreader either preplant, preemerge, or in crop using tramline systems.
Sidedressing urea to 3 to 12 leaf corn using an aircart with a 16-row 30" coulter tool is the most effecient way to feed the corn crop.

The applicators are equipped with auto rate control, autosteer, autoswath, and application mapping and we can supply the different fertilizer sources as well.

Grain Hauling

Hauling grain is served with farm-style hopper wagons, silage dumptrailers, and truck style trains or bottom unloading trailers on dolly axles which are all equipped with air brakes.

Planting and Striptill

We are planting all crops and are using the following equipment:

Vaderstad Rapid RDA 800C drill
NOVAG TForce no-till drill
Vaderstad Tempo L 16 planter
Amazone EDX strip-till
New Holland P2185 40ft no-till drill - NEW in 2023

Vaderstad Rapid RDA 800C

A Vaderstad Rapid RDA 800C drill is used for seeding grass, alfalfa, cereals, canola, and soybeans under minimum tillage or conventional tillage practices. The 5" row spacing, banding fertilizer capability, and the possibility to broadcast fine seed in front of the wheel packer, makes this the ideal drill for mintill and conventional conditions. The machine design is laid out for high speed seeding up to 10 mph.

NOVAG TForce No-till Drill

We are using a NOVAG TForce drill for seeding no-till soybeans in 15" row spacing. The TForce opener is also referred to as a cross slot opener. It is the only true no-till opener allowing to place fertilizer and seed safely with one single opener. It is also the only no-till opener without hair-pinning issues. All this results in superior seed placement, emergence, growth and yields.

Vaderstad Tempo L16

A Vaderstad Tempo L16 with dry fertilizer is used for planting corn. The Gilstring metering system provides excellent singulation and seed placement with a simple and straight forward metering design.

The planter is equipped with the Precision Planting automatic downforce for perfect seed placement, even in high speed seeding applications up to 10 mph. Fertilizer is banded in a 2x3 band to the seed row. The big 6000 L fertilizer tank is easily filled by tender trucks.

Amazone EDX Plurite Strip-till Units

We are fairly new to the striptill to corn community. We have tried several row units over the past few years and settled for Underground Agriculture Plurilite units. The frame base is an Amazone EDX planter, with a 6000 L dry fertilizer tank extended to 16x30" rows.

We are aiming for a single spring strip pass and banding N and K fertilizer into the strip zone. Dry N and S goes on with the planter in a 2x3 band at planting.

Spraying

A John Deere 4960R self-propelled sprayer is being used for chemical application as well as for liquid fertilizer. The sprayer is transported on a truck based sprayer float that carries water and chemicals for an entire spraying day.

The sprayer itself is equipped with:

Autosteer
Automatic boom height control
John Deere ExactApply
120 ft boom and 1600 ga tank
9,5 ft boom clearance for spraying tasseled corn
Belly shield and protection for spraying tasseled corn
High volume plumbing for liquid fertilizer application
Drop hoses attached for spraying 28% in corn
Boom lift kit to 12ft height
GreenSeeker Crop Sensing System

Tillage

We are offering the full range of tillage options from notill to conventional and are using the following equipment and combinations:

Lemkin Diamant II 8 furrow rollover plow
Horsch Tiger MT 5
Horsch Joker RT 300
Vaderstadt Carrier high speed disc
38 ft Wilrich field cultivators with a roller or crumbler
52 ft Kongskild 2800, S tine cultivator

Stones are picked with a John Deere 224L Loader and an ELHO Scorpio 550 stone picker. Bigger stones can be picked while doing the tillage pass using a stonefork mounted on the tractor's loader.