I am reluctant to embrace change – especially if it involves technology. Heck, I still marvel at the pocket calculator and am amazed by the remote control on my television. I guess that’s why I was a little skeptical when my trusted machinery salesman suggested I “upgrade” on a purchase I made last week.
I had traded trucks and needed to buy a new hydraulic bale bed for the new rig. I’ve had three different ones over the past 18 years. Every one of them has been the same brand and model, and each has been set up with the same options – two toolboxes, two work lights, and one hard-wired control. I’ve been pleased with each of them.
The sales rep suggested that I might want to try a new option in the wireless, remote control. His pitch pointed out that the little gadget would allow me to work from outside the truck whenever I needed to use the arms of the unroller to pull fence posts, load the fuel transfer tank, or a multitude of other tasks to which it lends itself.
“Is it simple to operate?” I asked.
“Have you had any problems with ones you have sold already?” I quizzed further.
“You’re just buying one, right?” He inquired.
I assured him that I had no need for more than one hydraulic bale bed, but I was curious as to why he had asked such a question.
As it turned out, he had encountered one problem when he had sold a pair of new bale beds to a father/son farming team. The father was like me and wanted to continue using the tried and true control attached to 10 feet of wiring cable. His tech-savvy son had convinced him that they should both upgrade at the same time and switch over to the wireless control box. Reluctantly, the father gave in and the new beds were installed on their new trucks.
Eager to try out their new bale beds, both father and son prepared to move in the last remaining bales from one of their hay fields. They both raced to back into bales about 20 feet apart. As the older farmer began to back toward his first bale, the hydraulic arms of his new piece of equipment began to rise upward and then down toward the approaching bale. Since he hadn’t even touched the wireless control, he could only assume that the bale bed had some sort of sensing device similar to what he had seen on TV with some of the newer modeled cars that can park themselves. As he got close to centering the bale with the pretty, red spinners, the arms began to squeeze inward, so he had to hurry to get the truck into position. When the arms squeezed the bale and loaded in onto his truck without the father ever even touching the controls, it left the older gentleman impressed. But, when the son arrived at the bale yard and began unloading while dad waited at the gate to the yard, the old man was just as shocked when his bed began unloading and spreading the arms automatically. It seems that the wireless controller operated both beds when they were within 50 feet of each other!
I shouldn’t have any problem since I only have one truck and bed, but I can’t wait to have a little fun with a certain neighbor who has recently purchased one just like mine. Don’t park behind him at the coffee shop.
Jerry Crownover farms in Lawrence County. He is a former professor of Agriculture Education at Missouri State University, and is an author and professional speaker. To contact Jerry, go to ozarksfn.com and click on ‘Contact Us.’
