Meet Mid-Atlantic Services Shop Foreman John Haase

When John Haase is asked about what he’s building in the shop at Mid-Atlantic Services, his face lights up. He describes the specs of a new piece of spraying equipment and the high-tech electronics that make it perform. John clearly loves his work, and smiles easily as he recounts his history with the company.

A Cecil County native, John graduated from high school in 1984 and joined the Army National Guard. After basic training, John spent some time doing construction work. Building homes, doing roofing and siding, he was always putting things together, creating something new. His next stop was working at his father’s auto repair shop, a familiar setting, since he was quite used to repairing engines and making things run. After a few years, John was ready for the next challenge. In 1995, he joined Mid-Atlantic Services (MAS) where he began welding and fabricating equipment in the shop, building sprayers, and figuring out how to make the equipment do more in less time.

John fit right in to the “solving problems” culture at Mid-Atlantic Services, and quickly showed an affinity for custom work. Hand him a set of blueprints or even a concept of what the client wants to achieve, and he is off and running. Many times he suggests ways to improve on what he is given.

I often say that I give John 80% of what I want and he gives me back 110%.

In the early part of his career, John focused on small utility-type sprayers and repairing older John Blue sprayers. As the technology evolved, he spent more time on larger, more sophisticated sprayers and the electronic components monitoring them. John has become the resident expert on Raven controllers, as well as GPS guidance systems.

In addition to fabricating sprayer equipment, John said that MAS is known for having good technicians. “Many of the big companies don’t have the time, knowledge or experience to help customers on a one-on-one basis. We take the time to listen, hearing and understanding what they are trying to accomplish, and then we recommend the best solution for their situation.”

Now shop foreman, John eagerly accepts new assignments. He and his team build each sprayer, carefully fabricating parts, installing components and running quality assurance checks. When it’s time for delivery, John often meets with the customer to demonstrate the equipment, including the electronics. Teaching the owner how to operate the equipment is all part of the deal.

“I’ve spent 18 years at Mid-Atlantic Services because I work with a great bunch of people and we take a lot of pride in what we do.” John continued, saying, “Every day is different. We will build anything the customer needs. Sometimes we have to figure out how to create a custom piece that can do what they want it to do. When it all works and the customer is happy, that’s very satisfying.”

Corn Planting on Delmarva

Corn planting is all but completed on Delmarva and the rest of the mid-Atlantic region. Stands look excellent with adequate rain fall so far. Currently the push is to finalize full season soybean planting and sidedress the rapidly growing corn crop.

Here at Mid-Atlantic Services we have enjoyed our best year of record sales on the Blu-Jet AT3000 All Terrain injection applicator. This field proven unit has been responsible for more than its share of acres sidedressed in the last few years. Equipped with high capacity 1025 gal elliptical tank and toolbars up to 17 30” rows, growers are able to cover acres as never before. Heavy duty coulters with 1200 pounds of down pressure cut through trash and stubble while disturbing little soil.

We are seeing ground speeds of 6 to 9 miles per hour and the large 12.4 x 38” tires are keeping soil compaction to a minimum. Dependable CDS-John Blue metering pumps insure complete accuracy and simplicity of application. The massive 7 x 7 three or five section toolbar provides strength and ultimate flexibility for uneven fields. New units were assembled and delivered last week.

We not only build and sell these units, but we use them, too, so we know first-hand how they operate. The Blu-Jet AT3000 high acreage precision applicator is designed and built to rugged standards, and delivers on its promise.

Not Your Father’s John Blue Sprayer

Farming has always been a source of relaxation for me. After putting in a full day of work at Mid-Atlantic Services, I find it very enjoyable to spend the evening on a tractor where I just have to concentrate on the job at hand and leave everything else behind.

One job I particularly like is spraying. Running my own sprayer has done much to improve our equipment because I get first-hand knowledge of the challenges associated with doing a good job of spraying.

About six years ago I took home one of our 500 gallon sprayers with a 50′ boom and that is what I have sprayed with ever since. My tractor was a John Deere 5500 which had a limited hydraulic system and I was only able to run the hydraulic-driven pump or boom functions one at a time.  I could never adjust the boom on the fly, but had to stop to make any changes. This was particularly cumbersome when crossing a waterway at any angle at all. 

Recently I purchased a used Deere 6603 which has a much better hydraulic system. Now I can operate my pump and my boom at any time. I sprayed a 40-acre field last Saturday and was amazed at how much time it saved to be able to adjust the booms at any time. I had never been able to use the joystick properly since I only had a Fasse electric over hydraulic control for my additional outlet in the tractor. What a pleasure it was to spray with the joystick control.

I remember quoting a sprayer to a farmer who objected to the joystick, thinking it would be too hard to learn. I adapted to it in minutes since the only on-the-go adjustments are usually wing tilt and overall boom height adjustments. I never could figure out how operators sprayed in the days of no foam markers or GPS, and now I can’t imagine spraying without hydraulic folding and leveling booms.

FP 750

The FP750 from Mid-Atlantic Services tracks behind the tractor straddling 30” rows.

Early Spring

Spring came early this year, and we are all enjoying the mild weather. Farmers can get on their fields sooner. Plus, the early reverse migration of waterfowl means less crop damage to small grain.

I talked with a customer from Maine recently who told me the temps were in the 70’s this week and the only snow left was in the woods.  Another customer from the Shore related that quite a bit of sweet corn had been planted and one grower had even planted field corn.

The early spring has been a welcome change from the long snowy winters of the last few years.