All-terrain vehicles have become indispensable for growers.
Matt Hasbargen, of Fargo, ND, details why they have become common for members of the Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative in the fertile Red River Valley of northeastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota.
“The key to farming is to know what’s out in your field,” he said. “The only way we know that is to walk it or drive it. And if you’re going to drive it you want to use something with really good flotation that you can get across the field quickly. That’s why we’ve always owned an ATV or a side-by-side.”
Hasbargen, 42, resides in Fargo, ND, and farms near Breckenridge, MN. He owns Hasbargen Farm with his father, Michael; brother, Marc; 46, and uncle, Dave. Michael is a long-time Minn-Dak board member and served one term as chairman.
“Our family has been growing beets since the 1960s,” Matt said.
Brutal Harvest
Last harvest was especially brutal.
“It got very wet,” Matt said.
Moisture drenched his farm’s 1,600 acres from mid-September to mid-October.
“Over the years we’ve kind of planned for wet harvest, because we’ve had so many,” Matt said. “We’ve always put the biggest tires we can on our beet cart, lifters and tractors. Guys did a good job getting after it.”
Yet the region was so saturated with rain that some co-op members had to leave beets in the field. This also occurred in 2008 and 2009. One factor that limited the number of beets left in the field in 2013 is tile drainage. More growers use this practice to remove excess water from the soil subsurface.
“That’s one of the reasons we were able to get beets lifted that I didn’t think we would have,” Matt said. “Every year we’re choosing fields to drain tile. We’re going to continue with that as long as we can financially afford to do it, because it’s a huge benefit to our crops.”
The Hasbargens managed to harvest all their fields, averaging 27.5 tons and 16.6 percent sugar content.
ATVs continue to be used for successfully growing beets.
Matt uses three ATVs. They are the Polaris XP 850, John Deere Gator 620i and Polaris Ranger 400.
“We’ve always had a three-wheeler or a four-wheeler on our farm since I was a kid,” Matt said. “The first ATV we had back in the 1970s would have been a Honda three-wheeler. Probably 10 years after that they went to four-wheelers, and we transitioned to Polaris. We made that move because they were a lot safer than the three-wheelers. We’ve also had an Arctic Cat four-wheeler.”
Scouting The Fields
The Polaris 850 is used for scouting the beet fields, sometimes as far as 20 miles away.
“We have a set of aluminum ramps so we can drive the four-wheeler up into the back of a pickup,” Matt said. “We drive to a field and unload the 850 and then traverse across the field to see if it’s ready to plant or to see if it’s time to spray, then load up and go to the next one. We use it a lot—every day in the spring.”
In addition to finding what types of weeds are in the field, the driver also checks the status of beet emergence.
Before GPS, the 850 would be used to flag all the fields.
“Now with GPS all we have to do is get the first flag set right off the edge of the field so the planter can pull in and go,” Matt said.
The 850 also helps fight wet conditions.
Making Trenches
“We’ll take the four-wheeler out there and run through the bottom of the ditches and make trenches with the wheels so the water can gradually flow out of the ditch and into the field,” Matt said. “There’s a company in our area that designs rubber wheels for this. We take the big flotation tires off and put these hard 4-inch wide rubber tires on. It allows the four-wheeler to sink into the ground so you can do trenching with it. A lot of growers in our area now own these rubber wheels. Just about every grower has some form of four-wheeler. It’s very common in our area.”
The Gator and Ranger each come in handy, thanks to their dump box.
“When you’re out tilling a field in the spring the tillage tool is going to bring up rocks,” Matt said. “So the driver can buzz around the field and pick up rocks by hand and load up the dump box.”
The side-by-sides are then transported by trailer to the next field. Loaders are used to gather rocks too large to do so by hand.
Each side-by-side also has a roll cage that helps ensure the safety of driver and passenger.
“I have two young sons, and my brother has two young sons,” Matt said. “Both are ages 8 and 10. Their favorite thing to do in life is to go on Gator and Ranger rides. They’ll be those nice rock pickers that we need in the future. They are working up to that. That will eventually be their number one job in the spring. They’ll be in charge of operating the Ranger and the Gator. It’s a great job because you’re out in the elements—the dust and the dirt.”
Matt said their plastic windshields prove helpful in spring.
“Sometimes it’s really cold when we’re planting,” Matt said. “Red River Valley is always windy in the spring. It’s nice to have the full front windshield on there to block at least some of the wind.”
The vehicles can also be used for yard use and mini repair jobs around the farm.
Matt expects all three of his ATVs purchased in 2011 or 2012 to last eight to 10 years before needing to be replaced. He considers all three to be economical for what they do.
“For me these are work tools,” Matt said. “But they are definitely fun to drive.”
