[AT] junk

[jtchall at nc.rr.com]

Al, Milo was about 90-95% the price of corn last year. Murphy-Brown was 
begging for it last year and was installing new dryers and wet bins all over 
the eastern part of the state. I think we went from nothing to around 50,000 
acres last year. A large push to grow it was you could get some sort of 
government payment to grow it instead of Roundup beans or Corn--this was to 
try to fight resistant weeds. I didn't want to deal with the rules and 
regulations concerning soil erosion so I didn't participate. This year I 
planted some early and the rest double cropped behind wheat. The best part 
about it is the deer don't mess with it! That and being cheaper to grow than 
corn are making it a very attractive alternative to soybeans--it does well 
in marginal land as well. My insurance agent got me to grow it--he was tired 
of me filing deer damage claims!

John Hall


-----Original Message----- 
From: Al Jones
Sent: Saturday, July 20, 2013 5:02 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] junk


I think if you manage wheat well it can be pretty profitable.  Seed cost is 
fairly cheap and there aren't a whole lot of chemical costs involved in a 
normal season.  We have had wheat on the farm for the last 3-4 years, up 
until last year we had had 4 terrible corn crops in a row and my dad needed 
the grain for feed. So I can't say a whole lot about cash money since it 
stayed on the farm.  Grain sorghum is the same way, it got popular when the 
corn crops started getting bad, corn prices went up, and the hog and poultry 
companies started to feel the pinch.  I want to say they will pay 50% of the 
going corn price for sorghum or something like that, and a couple years ago 
they were actively "recruiting" farmers to grow it.  It is a good option on 
land with a low yield potential for corn and is cheaper to grow.

Al

-----Original Message-----
>From: charlie hill <charliehill at embarqmail.com>
>Sent: Jul 20, 2013 1:48 PM
>To: Antique tractor email discussion group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>Subject: Re: [AT] junk
>
>Interesting Ron.  I don't think wheat is all that profitable here.  We 
>plant
>soft
>wheat not hard red(I think that is right)  like up in the wheat belt and
>primarily
>because it's a cover crop that they can get some income from.  There is 
>also
>a lot
>of Milo planted here now and it fits in the rotation similar to beans I
>guess.  Of course
>this are plants a lot of cotton now too.
>
>I've always had a fascination with aerial crop spraying.  The older I get
>the more I wish
>I had tried to get into it.  There was a guy about 10 miles from our farm
>but as a kid it
>just never occurred to me that I could go and talk to him and might have a
>chance to get in it.
>That guy sprayed until he was in his 70's or later I guess and died in his
>plane but it wasn't from
>the crash.  He had a heart attack that killed him and the crash came as a
>result.
>
>Charlie
>
>
>
>-----Original Message----- 
>From: Ron Cook
>Sent: Saturday, July 20, 2013 1:19 PM
>To: Antique tractor email discussion group
>Subject: Re: [AT] junk
>
>Charlie,
>     No, actually we try to plant corn in mid to late April nowadays.
>It used to be early May 30 years ago.  Now we follow immediately with
>the soybeans and try to be done with them by mid May.  Soybean planting
>used to start the first of June.  New hybrids, chemicals, and modern
>farm equipment have changed everything.  We can have the first frost as
>early as 15 Sept. with a killing frost ending the growing season around
>the 10th of Oct.  Our soybean harvest is Oct and Nov with the corn at
>the same time.  The new hybrids dry down in the field and harvest can
>sometimes start in the corn ahead of soybean harvest.  Then when the
>soybeans are ready, we just switch to them and go back to the corn later.
>     I always refused to seed soybeans with the airplane.  The results
>were usually dismal, and it was done in desperation.  It seemed to me to
>be ripe for non-payment of my services.  The farmer always survives with
>some sort of government program if he plays it right.  The fellow making
>things happen for the farmer is just SOL!
>     There is seeding cover crops in the fall by air and it is getting
>more common.  Rye is usually the crop of choice for its weed control
>ability.  I am not in a wheat growing area, but it can be successfully
>sown by air.
>
>Ron Cook
>Salix, IA
>On 7/20/2013 11:45 AM, charlie hill wrote:
>> Ron we are about a month late for planting soybeans here now.  Generally
>> the
>> cut off
>> planting date for Crop Insurance coverage is about June 20.   I wouldn't
>> try
>> it now particularly
>> this year because it feels to me like we are going to have an early fall.
>> The air here feels
>> like mid August already.  Soybean seed are so comparatively large that I
>> can't imagine air seeding
>> being very cost effective.  I've heard of it being done here but all I've
>> actually seen done is
>> broadcast seeding by driving through the wheat.
>>
>> The funny difference between the Southeast and your area is that we plant
>> corn early in the spring.
>> Sometimes as early as mid March and they will be picking corn here in
>> probably 3 weeks or so.
>> Soybeans are always planted later, in May or early June.  I believe you
>> guys
>> do the opposite don't you?
>> Sometimes we are picking Soybeans in late October and all through
>> November.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Ron Cook
>> Sent: Saturday, July 20, 2013 10:57 AM
>> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
>> Subject: Re: [AT] junk
>>
>> Rye and wheat work well by air.  Helicopter might be cost prohibitive.
>> Soybeans should work if the ground is damp long enough and the beans are
>> in shade.  In order to make soybean planting by air work here in western
>> Iowa you have to get them covered with a little soil somehow.  This is
>> spring planting soybeans.  We can't do that double crop thing.
>> Ron Cook
>> Salix, IA
>> On 7/20/2013 6:43 AM, jtchall at nc.rr.com wrote:
>>> Sounds like you guys are having a tough time with the rain. I talked to 
>>> a
>>> guy who's brother works for a Deere dealer near the NC/SC border. One of
>>> their customers is a real big farm. They are still trying to get wheat
>>> out
>>> due to the rain. Running 2 combines with duals and still getting stuck.
>>> It's
>>> so bad they keep a big tractor on hand just to pull them out. The wheat
>>> is
>>> too good to abandon and accept an insurance payment. It's going to take 
>>> a
>>> lot of tillage to get the ruts out of the field.
>>>
>>> How did the seeding by airplane work? I wouldn't think a soybean could
>>> sprout and survive like that. Dad has told me before about a neighbor 
>>> who
>>> used a helicopter once to seed some wheat in standing corn. Must not 
>>> have
>>> worked to well as I don't think he did it but once.
>>>
>>> John
>>>
>>
>
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