That's cool, enjoyed that. I have thought of doing this in my woodlot, hoping that a before/after video would capture a thinning of brush and countless redundant saplings that I have contemplated doing surrounding my trails. I came across something very cool in a ride a few days ago that I took through the farmlands here. A young man had a drone package -- drone, fancy trailer with mixing vats, generator and chargers, state of the art. I hung out with him for a half hour as he sprayed fertilizer on a 40-ac field. The big drone has a 12-gal spray tank, so that is 100 lbs and then the weight of the drone. Drone was 3-4 ft wide and he could pick it up by himself. Had four motors with counter-rotating props. He didn't have to fly it, it flies itself via its software and GPS. He can take over and fly manually when he wants to, if he wants to or needs to. The only hiccup is the drone 'saw' something in the field that we could not see and it stopped during a couple of passes at the same spot in the field until he manually flew past the 'obstacle.' We didn't see anything but corn but it did or thought it did. It has onboard radar. His controller looked like an iPad with joysticks and had a video display of the field in front of the drone as it flew. It sprayed 6 acres in six minutes and then returned. Flew about 22mph and speed is adjustable. As is spray rate, height, several variables. It took him only ten minutes to charge a battery, he had three. His generator, he said, was 220v. I was shocked he could charge a battery that fast. Online info claimed about double that time, so, maybe the 220v was his mod, don't know. All of this was quite a surprise; I had read about drones coming to agriculture but I was shocked to see it in my little part of the world. I told him I bet the ag pilots are worried. He told me the cost of flying is much, much less for the drone. He claimed 1/10th the cost. Of course, it is not nearly as fast and that cost is the flying cost, not the spray/total cost. He needs 8mph or less wind to prohibit excessive drift. I should have asked him how much his entire setup costs. This fellow is age 21 and his boss is about 40, I know him, and he, the boss/farmer has come across one heckuva financial backer because he is spending money like crazy. Buying brand new, state of the art tractors and implements and even buying land. And leasing up tens of thousands of acres to farm. This backer is loaded because I have witnessed millions spent. I hope the 40 y.o. farmer is not too cocky because I have farm experience and watch it closely and it's not easy to make it. Especially if you do not own all your land. They have certainly subscribed to the 'go big or go home' mantra.
My grandson is working up to being a surveyor and they now use drones to survey with. We brought in a drone at the paper mill I worked at to survey and measure the amount of chips we had available. We needed to get some pictures inside a chip silo so had an offer to use a drone. This was several years back and the technology has improved a lot since then. When he got the drone flying, it lost signal and crashed, destroying the drone. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I’ve always liked the ferns so make an effort not to destroy them when cutting brush. The woodlot is over due for a haircut. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I have ferns that like to come up on the north side of my house. Running them over with the lawnmower was never enough to eradicate them. I have to get out there and pull out as much root as I can.
