Adventure USA - that's it...

Hi followers, 

that' it! The "Meet the BiG MAN Tour 2011" is finally over. I am back in Germany right now and have some days off. Last wednesday, I flew back from Reno to Frankfurt. I was lucky, all the planes have been empty so that I had lots of room to stretch out...

Before I left Reno, I got a very nice present from my collegues, which will remind me of the tour. A little "BiG MAN" with the flags of all the states, I have demoed in. Thanks a lot!

During the tour I have made over 20.000 miles through the west of the USA. I crossed state lines about 17 times and made over 100 demos in total. A very succesful tour, what the sales already showed. 

Thanks to the team of Krone North America, who helped me during the tour and some other projects, organized interesting tour stopps for me and for showing me the american way of life beside the day to day jobs.. Thanks to Krone Germany for giving me this chance to run this demo tour. All the experiences, on the personal and job side, I will never forgot. In the name of the Krone Company I would like to say Thank you to the MAN company and the Busatis company, who partnered in this tour. Special thanks to MAN, who sponsored the tour truck with trailer. It created excitement at the customers and made a very good impression, and: It was fun driving it!

At the end the promised surprise: During my tour I had a german film team with me for a few times. After long hours and lots of nerves, I can proudly present you a DVD with good shots of the BiG MAN and the beautiful landscape of the western USA. Below you find the trailer of the movie, which will come to the US soon...

My next project will be the Agritechnica in Hannover for the next three weeks. After that I will start working in the Sales Promotion in Spelle. Maybe I am coming back next year, we will see...

Best regards from Germany, 

Benedikt

Chopping corn in Canada...

Hi followers, 

the last week I have spent in Kanada. Together with our dealer Noblefort Equipment from Nobleford in Alberta, we visited several customers, talked about the new MAN Generation and could exchange a lot of experiences. A very interesting week. Because of the first frost the week before, the corn dried up very quickly and most of the customers were done chopping corn for the season. But not all of them. Because of the dry corn, the customer chopped with 13 mm very short. Around Lethbridge are a lot of feedlots, like you can see on the pictures...

The last week I got used to Germany again. Our mid-sized rental car felt compared to my Tour-Truck very small. Right now I am back in Reno, where I packed my stuff the last days. Everything has an end and so is the "Meet the BiG MAN Tour 2011". Tomorrow I will fly back to Germany already. 

For the next week I got a little surprise for you. Some of you might know already. During my tour I had visiters from Germany several times. But more about that next week, so please check back later...

Regards from Reno,

Benedikt

An interesting week on the road…

Hi followers,

Last Monday I went from Boise in Idaho to Oregon. Along the Columbia River I drove about 500 miles to our dealership in Albany, south of Portland. Last week I ran several demos in conditions, which made me feel like home. Oregon is much more like Germany: Smaller fields, a lot of trees and rivers and a different climate. During the summer they got enough rain, so that they don’t need to irrigate to make farming possible. In the fall during the corn harvest, it is getting almost too wet. The same last week: Because of several rain showers, the trucks couldn’t go everywhere in the field. They were using dump boxes…

The same thing on the pit: Smaller piles and less horsepower. I was surprised about the length of cut, the farms want to see. Some customers have to take knives out and chopping with up to 36 mm. That put some demands on the KP…

Because of more rain, we couldn’t run any more demos. So end of the week, I moved over to Reno, driving for 11 hours and over 500 miles again. This post I am just writing in Canada. My collegue and me flew over to Edmonton in Alberta today. This week we are going to visit some customers and if the weather is cooperating, we might have a change to chop some Canadian corn. We will see…

 

Best regards from up north,

Benedikt

Corn, Rain and the first snow...

Hi followers, 

sorry for the late update of my tour. It's corn season in Idaho and it's busy. Because of the wet and late spring, the crops are about 3 weeks behind. And last week, the weather has really changed. You can feel, that the winter is coming. So the customers are under pressure to get it all done before the frost comes. The demos in Idaho have been very successful. The customers really liked the capacity of the BiG X 1100. You can get so much done in a short time compared to competitive machines. The yield has been very uneven this year. I chopped corn from 25 Tons/ac up to 35+ Ton/ac. On the pictures you can see, how dusty it is during chopping. That's why heavy duty wearliners in the chopper are so important...

 

Last week, we had some rain coming through and there was no chopping going on. I used that chance to visit the Yellowstone National Park. I picked the worst day in the week and because of rain and snow later in afternoon, I didn't get to see everything. Another reason, why I should come back...

Right now, I am on my way to Oregon. There are waiting the last acres of Corn to chop for the BiG MAN. I should start chopping on wednesday. They got rain right now, hopefully that changes...

Regards from The BiG MAN, 

Benedikt

1300 miles through Oregon and Washington

Hi followers,

like you know, I have moved to Washington State from California last weekend. This weekend and about 1300 miles more on the truck odometer, I am already back in Idaho. In Caldwell, ID.   I will spend this week to demo the BiG X 1100 and our trifold 12 row header Easy Collect 903. But first some more about the road trip through Oregon and Washington State…

The landscape in the west of the US is changing very often. Especially in Oregon! Driving through the desert, along mountains and pastures, forests, lakes and rivers. On the mountain plateaus farmers are growing grain on dry land. Going from Oregon to Washington you cross the Columbia River, which is the natural border line between the two states. Just behind the border, you have a very nice view on Mount Adams. But less words and more pictures…

The demos last week went very well. A highlight was to chop corn at a big dairy with about 41.000 cows. That farm was farming about 93.000 ac with corn and hay, grain, potatoes and vegetables. It was very impressive. Unfortunately I can’t show you any pictures about that. My camera is lying somewhere in a corn field in Washington. I have lost it. But a new one is bought already, so there are BiG X pictures coming next week.

On Saturday I prepared the BiG X 1100 for the coming week. The corn is not that tall than it is in California, but customers are talking about 35+ Ton/ac. We will see…

Regards from Idaho,

Benedikt