Are you ready to plant? The Importance of Meter Testing

When is the last time you had an inspection done on your planter? or had your planter’s meter calibrated? Keeping up with annual equipment maintenance is an important way to ensure your crop yield is at its maximum potential. It is very common for knockout wheels, seed meter brushes, and vacuum meter seals to need to be replaced. These parts, if left worn out, could have a negative impact on your planter’s ability to deliver uniform spacing and correct population. Correct population and spacing accuracy can ultimately impact your yield potential by up to 12 bu/acre.

Meter Testing

Meter testing is a great way to ensure your planter is at peak performance. It is used to determine whether changes to operational settings can improve accuracy and performance in the field. Bring your planter into any Apple Farm Service locations by March 31^st to save on meter testing. Kinze Meter Testing is $30 for corn or $35 for bean per meter, plus parts. Precision Meter Testing is $40 per meter, plus parts. Our technicians are here to ensure your meter is fine-tuned to provide the maximum accuracy so you can reach your maximum yield potential with your planter.

Here is a breakdown of how we test your meter:

• Meter is mounted to the test stand.
• A sample of the seed you intend to plant is poured into the meter and the test stand is set to the population and your planting speed.
• Advanced sensor technology counts any errors, then each seed meter is adjusted, cleaned, calibrated, and repaired to ensure it is running at peak performance.
• A report is printed for each meter’s performance.

Here are the components we check during a meter test:

• Seed discs
• Singulator brush
• Crowder brush
• Wall brush
• Air inlet screens
• Meter calibration

Why you should test your seed meters:

• Avoids doubles and skips
• Reduces input cost
• Optimizes planter performance
• Reduces equipment breakdowns
• Increases profit per acre

Don’t have a Kinze or Precision meter? No problem, our Precision Planting Meter Max Ultra test stand works on Precision, Case, John Deere, White, and most other planters. Now $40 per meter, plus parts, until March 31^st.

Call or stop into one of our five locations today to schedule an appointment to get your meters tested ASAP!