Seed Treatment 1

Seed Treatment Services #1 of 3: Overview

For the next few months of this new year, FS Construction Services is going to take a look at one of our most popular services, Seed Treatment, and highlight a different aspect of that service each month. For our first month, let’s start with an overview of how our Seed Treatment services can help you.

Seed treating is not just a delicate process, but something that, thanks to modern technology, has become increasingly precise. With increased precision comes increased expectation of an exact product, which is why we’ve partnered with the best manufacturers around, whose equipment is capable of producing consistent, repeatable results year after year. Our partners at USC and Meridian Manufacturing provide everything from tabletop lab treaters to portable treaters to large, commercial treaters. Our job is to know their equipment inside and out so we can work with it in any desired capacity, which is probably why we were awarded USC Dealer Rookie of the Year in 2018.

Of course, producing accurately-treated seed is no good if it can’t be handled, transferred, or stored safely and properly. Beyond treaters, FS Construction Services has not only partnered with the three previously-mentioned manufacturers, but also Schuld/Bushnell to provide conveyors, hoppers, and bulk storage systems to make sure the seed can get where it needs to go and to ensure the hard work of treating isn’t lost in the shuffle.

Seed treatment is a unique job that entails a microscopic attention to detail done at macro levels of quantity. But we also know that no two operations look the same. So whether you’re talking about a small operation moving small amounts of seed to commercial operations moving huge amounts of seed, FS Construction Services can help you with the entire spectrum of seed treatment, no matter how much customization your project needs.

If you are in the market for a new seed treatment system, or if you just have seed treatment service questions, please let Gateway FS Construction Services know. Give us a call at 866-551-3454, and let our specialists help you find exactly what you are looking for. We look forward to providing you the best customer service experience.

Gateway FS Construction Services Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from FS Construction Services

Somehow, another year has already gone by, and we find ourselves looking at another holiday season. It seems like the holidays come quicker and quicker each year, and with the busyness of life, it can be hard to slow down and appreciate them. So to our friends, families, neighbors, and clients, we want to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We hope that you are able to find a little time at the end of this month to look back at 2018 and be thankful for the good things and find peace with some of the harder things.

At FS Construction Services we are thankful for the many clients and friends who have given us the opportunity to work with them and be a part of their lives this year. It’s because of you that we have been able to provide over 40 years of service to the southern Illinois area. It’s the work we love doing in the places we love doing it, and we are thankful to have had another year serving our clients and are excited for what 2019 will bring.

As you look forward to the year to come, with everything that needs to be done and everything you hope will be done, we hope you will consider FS Construction Services. From residential, commercial, and agricultural buildings to grain systems, seed systems, garage doors, roofing, and many other types of services, we have trained experts who can help you with the biggest job to the smallest one – except for wrapping presents! For that, you are on your own.

If you have questions, need an estimate, or just need some advice, please let Gateway FS Construction Services know. Give us a call at 866-551-3454, and let our specialists help you find exactly what you are looking for. We look forward to providing you the best customer service experience in the coming new year!

Gateway FS Construction Services Veterans Day thank you

Veterans Day Thank You

Whether you have been busy working out in the fields as harvest comes to a close or simply busy with the day-to-day demands of life, in the office or at home, we here at FS Construction Services just wanted to take a quick moment to reflect and say thank you to the many brave men and women who serve our country.

It can be easy on these annual days of remembrance to simply let the time pass by without much thought to the reason we celebrate or remember it in the first place. So this Sunday, November 11th, we hope you’ll take a few moments to think about what it means that all across the country and the world, men and women are willing to give up much of their own personal freedom so that we can have ours. It’s a humbling thought, and one we should strive to bear in mind.

To our friends, neighbors, and clients who have served, and to the countless numbers of those we don’t know, we would like to say, “Thank you.” Your sacrifice has allowed us to do what we love and serve our community in our own small way. If you or someone you’re close to is a veteran, be sure to show your appreciation today.

As always, FS Construction Services is here for your building, garage door, grain system, seed system, roofing, and other handiwork needs. Our group of experts and specialists are always happy to answer your questions, give you advice, or help you in any way. Please feel free to reach out to Gateway FS Construction Services. You can give us a call at 866-551-3454, and let our specialists help you find exactly what you are looking for. We look forward to providing you the best customer service experience.

Gateway FS Construction Services harvest safety tips

Safety Reminders for Harvest

It’s no secret that harvest time is a busy season for farmers. No matter how prepared you are, there bound to be some long days and long nights. At FS Construction Services, we understand the desire to get just one more thing done before calling it day, we also understand just how incredibly important farmers are. So, because it’s really in everyone’s best interest, we’ve put together a quick list of safety reminders to keep in mind if you’re going to be out there this harvest.

  1. Get Rest. We know there are going to be sometimes when a full night’s sleep just isn’t going to happen. So make sure you take the necessary steps to keep yourself as rested an energized as possible. Drink lots of water, and, if you’re going to be away from home for long stretches at a time, bring snacks. If you can’t give your body the sleep it needs, be sure to give it the food and nutrition it needs to carry you through.
  2. Take Breaks. Give yourself a fifteen-minute break from time to time. Again, we know much of harvest season is one giant time crunch, but as best as you can, plan ahead and carve out a little time for yourself here and there, especially if you’re going to spend long hours alone.
  3. Keep in Touch. Speaking of being alone, make sure someone knows where you plan to be throughout the day and keep them updated or ask them to check in on you.
  4. First Aid Kid. No one likes to think about it, but accidents do happen. Keep a first-aid kid in as many vehicles as you can, just in case. The Mayo Clinic also recommends having a tourniquet on hand as well, just in case an injury does happen and you are alone or far from help.
  5. Preventative Maintenance. Check the state of your equipment regularly. Clean, well-maintained equipment is far more predictable and safe than the opposite. For more information, take a look at our recent preventative maintenance blogs.

As obvious as these are, we all know how easy it can be to want to cut corners or push ourselves a little too hard in high-stress times. Please take care of yourselves this harvest, and we wish you a successful season. As always, if you have grain storage and handling or seed treatment needs or questions, please feel free to reach out to Gateway FS Construction Services. You can give us a call at 866-551-3454, and let our specialists help you find exactly what you are looking for. We look forward to providing you the best customer service experience.

Gateway FS Seed Systems preventative maintenance

Seed System Preventative Maintenance #3: Call Us in a Crunch

Well, summer is over and we are in the middle of harvest season. We hope that you were able to get any seed system maintenance you needed taken care of and it’s all smooth sailing from here on out. However, we know that, despite all the best efforts and intentions, sometimes things just go wrong. To help out, here is our third and final round of FS Construction Service’s preventative maintenance articles for your seed treatment system.

While technology is amazing, and seed treatment has become an art of repeatable, computational precision, there are always going to be things that are simply out of our hands. We’ve been in the game long enough to know we have to respect, and be prepared for, the unpredictable. So we’ve come up with a few ways that we can be as ready as possible should a problem with your seed treater arise.

  1. We keep ourselves well stocked with a vast number of different parts. Sometimes the smallest thing can cause the biggest problems, so we keep a lot of seed system replacement parts on hand in case of an emergency.
  2. We have a dedicated USC technician on staff. He knows this equipment inside and out and is quick to not only diagnose a problem but pinpoint its solution as well.
  3. We focus on service. We make it a point to get to our customers as quickly as possible, so they can be up and running as soon as possible.

All of these things came into play recently when a pump board when out on a seed treater in Kentucky. The cause: not a faulty part or bad operation, but a power surge thanks to a lightning strike. To ensure our client could get back to work quickly, our service technician met him halfway with the needed replacement, so he could get his system running again within the day.

We’ve been doing this long enough to know that it always pays to be prepared. Whether you’re getting your system checked and cleaned before harvest, or you find yourself in a sudden bind, we are there for you. We hope this series on preventative maintenance has been helpful, and as always, if you have any questions about our seed system services, please feel free to reach out to Gateway FS Construction Services. You can give us a call at 866-551-3454, and let our specialists help you find exactly what you are looking for. We look forward to providing you the best customer service experience.

Gateway FS Construction Services seed systems preventative maintenance

USC Seed Systems Preventative Maintenance Blog: 2 of 3: Increase Accuracy and Save Money

Welcome to the second round of FS Construction Service’s seed system preventative maintenance articles. Like we said before, a little maintenance can go a long way when it comes to keeping your seed treatment systems effective and operational, and our goal is to give you the information you need to keep your equipment in the best shape. What follows is a description of the service you receive when an FS service professional comes out to take your seed system through the preventative maintenance process.

One of the wonderful things about seed treatment systems is their precision. Knowing that you can program and produce an identical dressing for seed year after year that can be applied consistently and evenly each time brings with it some serious peace of mind. However, none of that happens by accident. Thanks to the advancement in seed system technology and automation, the margin for error has decreased significantly. Obviously, automatic systems sound wonderful, but it’s also no surprise that we have found there are a number of manual seed systems still out there.

Brand-new equipment is expensive, we get that. That’s why our Seed Treating Solutions experts retrofit older treaters with automation upgrades. Our team can perform recommended maintenance and upgrades on any USC treater to turn previously manual processes to automatic processes. Most commonly what this means is that we will add a seed wheel system to keep you at your desired rate of flow and level of seed treatment. However, there are other simple ways to upgrade additional processes that are not only low cost, but can increase the accuracy of your system’s chemical delivery by 99.95%.

So, if you’re still using a manual seed system and aren’t yet ready for a whole system upgrade, let FS Construction Services know. We can inspect your equipment and determine ways we can make your job easier and your product more consistent.

To schedule maintenance, or get answers about maintaining or upgrading your seed system, reach out to Gateway FS Construction Services. You can give us a call at 866-551-3454, and let our specialists help you find exactly what you are looking for. We look forward to providing you the best customer service experience.

FS Construction Services seed systems preventative maintenance

Preventative Maintenance #1: Seed Systems

Seed systems and treaters are amazing pieces of machinery. Modern technology has allowed for more precision and consistency in seed treatment, assuring not just an even application, but the ability to treat seeds exactly the same way year after year. This kind of reliability brings considerable peace of mind, but it doesn’t happen accidentally. Some of the most important work you can put in on your seed treatment system happens before you ever need to turn it on.

Tapping the knowledge of our agricultural equipment experts, FS Construction Services is going to release a series of preventative maintenance articles covering both seed and grain systems. Our Seed Treating Systems expert says, “A little maintenance can go a long way when it comes to keeping your systems effective and operational, and our goal is to give you the information you need to keep your equipment in the best shape.” What follows is a description of the service you receive when an FS professional comes out to take your system through the preventative maintenance process whether you use USC, Meridan or any other of our partner manufacturers.

When it comes to seed systems, there are two types of preventative maintenance: standard and bin site.

When we come out to perform our standard maintenance service, we will check your system’s inlet, outlet, treater, belts, bearings, and inspect the equipment for any other possible issues. Standard maintenance covers things like: tightening the motor coupler, cleaning the atomizer chamber, checking the ball valves on the mix tank, inspecting the pump motor, and checking timers and relays.

A bin site inspection is a full-systems check from top to bottom and takes about six hours to perform.

For either of these types of maintenance, we recommend you schedule between late fall to late winter. If you are interested in having an FS professional come out to your site to perform a maintenance check, please allow a four-week lead time. Scheduling as far in advance as possible will give us the best chance to find the time that fits most conveniently into your schedule.

If you would like to schedule maintenance, or have any questions about our seed system services, please feel free to reach out to Gateway FS Construction Services. You can give us a call at 866-551-3454, and let our specialists help you find exactly what you are looking for. We look forward to providing you the best customer service experience.