Tractors - Post them.

[Brandon C.]

well thank you so much for the info I knew there was a market for silage but i never see any trucks hauling it.. An this year our feilds were on average 125bu/acre due to the rain that never seemed to stop.. Well my dream is to have my own farm an my going by the numbers id rather shell the corn.. i will fill you all in later.

 

[durallymax]

O my figures were way off if your at 125bu/ac. But none the less the same principle applies. Theres not too much of a difference. Besides if you have it taken off for silage what are you gonna do in the fall??

 

[Brandon C.]

Ya this year kind of sucked but what are you gonna do though all it did was rain nothing had a chance to dry out an it was a real pain we finally got everything done with 6inches of snow on the ground, but we made out good. An what would we do not a heck of alot in the fall if we chopped it all. lol My dream is to have my own farm with about 150-200 head of beefers an 500 acres of corn an maybe 100acres of wheat. I know it doesnt seem like as much as some of you guys but for around here thats pretty dam good. I am just trying to figure what is the best route to go. I mean the market for shelled corn is great in PA but i think doing both would be good too so i could feed the cows. Im just trying to learn as much as possible as fast as i can. Vinny you said you went to classes for figures an stuff like that what are those classes called?

 

[busdriver75]

There are a lot of issues with producing corn silage.

1: You have to be near your buyer. Usually harvesters dont want to haul a load more than 10 miles one way or it becomes inefficient as the chopper has to wait for the trucks to return. An alternative option is for you to foot all of the costs, store it yourself and then sell it to a farmer a little further away. But after all of these costs it will be a big headache especially since corn silage is not like grain. Once you open up that plastic its gotta go which is why usually only one dairy farmer sells to another dairy farmer out of the trench (pit,clamp,bunker,bag,silo etc).

2. Figuring out the price to be paid can be a headache. With corn silage it can be a guessing game. However most custom harvesters have portable scales which eliminates part of the guessing game. There are many ways to price corn silage. One way is simply by the ton adjusted by the dry matter (so that the buyer doesnt pay for excess water). Another way is to just use the current grain price. Say if corn is at $3.80, take that times 7 (6-8 bu/ton) then add $6 per ton for the extra fiber from the rest of the plant. This would equal out $32.6/ton. However you more than likely wont get that unless you are harvesting it and throwing the tires on the tarp when your finished. Since the farmer has to foot the bill for the harvest, the price you will get paid will be lower.

Lets say in the end all said and done you end up getting $29/ton. (I should add that I dont know really if this is truely a real world price. Ive never had to price corn silage before, Im just using the formulas I learned in my Forage Class)

Now lets say you average 25/tons an acre which is pretty good. Im not sure if this is common for your area especially if its being grown for grain. On our farm we averaged 29 tons per acre.

Lets also say your corn yeild is 200 bu/ac (again dont know what your crops produce)

And well say the grain price is $3.80 to keep the problem equal.


If you opt to go the corn silage route you will end up making $72,500

Heres the equation

25x100($3.80 x 7 + $6 - $3.6)= $72,500

x=ya(p7 + 6 -c)

x= Net Gain
y= Yeild/Acre in tons
p= Current Corn Price
c= Negotiated harvest costs to you.


Now lets say you got 200bu/ac. and the price is still $3.80

200x100x3.80= $76,000

So you make $3,500 more by harvesting grain, assuming all things equal. However with the corn silage you have no machine wear or other costs.

There is a market for corn silage. Its a great feed. Its just that its no economical to transport it very far.

dont' forget brandon that if you're removing all of the plant material (silage), you're going to removing a lot more nutirents that need to be replaced with more fertilizer than you would be removing with just grain.

 

[durallymax]

dont' forget brandon that if you're removing all of the plant material (silage), you're going to removing a lot more nutirents that need to be replaced with more fertilizer than you would be removing with just grain.

Not a drastic amount,but still more than none, you will also loose your ground cover which in turn (over time) means less organic matter for the soil.

The main nutrients in corn Fodder/stover are N (Nitrogen) P2O5(Phosphate) and K20 (Potassium). Otherwise known as N, P, and K which are the three typical nutrients applied to fields for a corn crop.

the amount in the fodder itself is very hard to measure due to a difference in plant size and such.

The reason this isnt an issue for farmers who grow their own corn silage is that they have Manure and tons of it. Typically the corn silage fields are closer to home making manure application easy. If your going to sell your silage to somebody you could work out a deal with them where they would haul on your land. Most farmers need to get rid of their manure elseware these days as K levels are too high on fields close to home. However be aware than manure is worth something and if the farmer wants something for it, then youll have to work with him.

Soil Science is very interesting, if you can learn a lot about soil science you will be successful in the future.

 

[durallymax]

Ya this year kind of sucked but what are you gonna do though all it did was rain nothing had a chance to dry out an it was a real pain we finally got everything done with 6inches of snow on the ground, but we made out good. An what would we do not a heck of alot in the fall if we chopped it all. lol My dream is to have my own farm with about 150-200 head of beefers an 500 acres of corn an maybe 100acres of wheat. I know it doesnt seem like as much as some of you guys but for around here thats pretty dam good. I am just trying to figure what is the best route to go. I mean the market for shelled corn is great in PA but i think doing both would be good too so i could feed the cows. Im just trying to learn as much as possible as fast as i can. Vinny you said you went to classes for figures an stuff like that what are those classes called?

Im enrolled in a Farm and Industry short course at UW-Madison (yes the party school). There are only a handful of programs like this left in the country though.

Another useful tool for you will be the site below. It will give you your soil types and such and other valuable information. every state is different to manage. If you need help deciphering the soil types let me know and ill see if I can help.

 

[Brandon C.]

dont' forget brandon that if you're removing all of the plant material (silage), you're going to removing a lot more nutirents that need to be replaced with more fertilizer than you would be removing with just grain.

I was thinking about that today to be onist, another reason why im leaning towards shelling most of the corn. The name of the game is really to be effiecent an profitable as much as you can.

Im glad you brought manure up vin. how many of you still use it to fertilize. My buddies farm (the one i work on) they have cows but dont really use the manure to fertilize mostly chemicals. what do you guys think about that?

 

[durallymax]

if a farmer has a good nutrien tmmanagement plan manure can be used as f ertilizer we do it a lot.

 

[Brandon C.]

also you said not to have a self propelled chopper like in my avatar would you rather a pull behind or an older self propelled chopper. ive seen both used around here but im not sure what would be better.

also do you prefer round or large square baling?

 

[durallymax]

Its a joke, just means not to use a deere. the kind of pull type choppers is the New holland FP240. They also make the FP230 which is rated for less power. An older model is the 900. All are very good choppers.

For self propelled any of them are good and bad. None are perfect. If I had to pick it would be close between a Krone and Claas.

I have a 7 page paper on forage harvester technology if you would like to read it.


We do all square baling because they are easier to handle and store. The netwrap for round bales is nice, but we still dont ever deal with round bales.

 

[chevyCowboy]

used to work a horse farm and we went through alot of hay we had rounds and big squares. i would have to agree that the big squares are easier to handle/stack and cover if need be

 

[Brandon C.]

Its a joke, just means not to use a deere. the kind of pull type choppers is the New holland FP240. They also make the FP230 which is rated for less power. An older model is the 900. All are very good choppers.

For self propelled any of them are good and bad. None are perfect. If I had to pick it would be close between a Krone and Claas.

I have a 7 page paper on forage harvester technology if you would like to read it.


We do all square baling because they are easier to handle and store. The netwrap for round bales is nice, but we still dont ever deal with round bales.

Im really not brand loyal myself but if i had to pick one brand it would be New Holland for everything but a combine i want a Cat Lexion for that.

an ya if you want to post it or send it to me id love to read your paper on forage harvester tech.

what kind of baler do you have?

 

[durallymax]

I was gonna say buy any selp propelled but a new holland. The news ones show good promise but stil way behind on tech compared to krone an claas.

When I get on my laptop again I'll try to remember to post that paper.

Here's a few interesting things about forage harvesters self propelled ones that is.

They are all built in Germany within a few miles of each other.

The new krones and claas will automatically follow windrows and corn even if you don't follow the rows of corn. An they do this without gps. They also physically look at the corn as it comes in an adjust the chop length accordingly.

The krone big x 1000 can harvest over 400 tons in one hour. To give a comparison we harevest 170 an hour with our Deere and werun the Piss outta it.

Bigger heads equal less fuel consumption and more productivity because you don't have to drive the machine as fast. Krone compared an 8 row and 14 row head on a 1000 and efficiency went up by 13% not to mention you can fit three trucks behindthe 14 row head making mile long splits easy.


We don't do our own baling a guy who works for us has a side business and he does it. He has a new holland and runs a second one in the fall.

 

[Brandon C.]

I have watched vids on the Big X 1000 an that thing is a beast 1000hp and a 14 row head you best have alot of chopping to do with that thing. lol

No rush on putting the pages up just when ever you get time.

Do you guys uses forage wagons or just trucks?

An whats your take on the Cat Lexion combines?

 

[chevyCowboy]

I have watched vids on the Big X 1000 an that thing is a beast 1000hp and a 14 row head you best have alot of chopping to do with that thing. lol

No rush on putting the pages up just when ever you get time.

Do you guys uses forage wagons or just trucks?

An whats your take on the Cat Lexion combines?

they are huge first off and they are assempled right here in omaha. iv never ran one but they sell the things like they are going out of style. i used to weld up wheel spacers for the ones they sell with tracks on the front

 

[Brandon C.]

well there all huge anymore they dont make small ones at all. an how do the tracks do compared to the tires?

 

[chevyCowboy]

well there all huge anymore they dont make small ones at all. an how do the tracks do compared to the tires?

like i said iv never run one but some of the ones they are making here are bigger that the cases and the John Deeres that i have seen round here. im sure they make bigger ones as well but i dont see them rolling out of the assembly plant):h i would guess the tracked ones work pretty good in wet conditions and i think i remember them saying that they have less impact on the soil but that dont make much sence to me cuz it all get disced up any way.

 

[Brandon C.]

have you ever seen a 560r or 570r?

 

[chevyCowboy]

have you ever seen a 560r or 570r?

ya i walked around them and i sat up in a 570 i think.

 

[96 OILBURNER]

The chopper were hoping to trade the deere for

Our Chopper

That's a far cry from the 2950 and Super 717 we used to use.