[AT] junk

Al Jones farmallsupera at earthlink.net
Sat Jul 20 16:04:27 PDT 2013


That's right, I don't know where I got 50% from.....but yes Murphy Brown was really pushing people to grow it.  The devil in me has really enjoyed the way Murphy-Brown and some of the others have gotten so concerned about grain prices and availability!

Al

-----Original Message-----
>From: jtchall at nc.rr.com
>Sent: Jul 20, 2013 6:12 PM
>To: Antique tractor email discussion group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>Subject: Re: [AT] junk
>
>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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