Crop Talk for Farmers on the Forum

UGUIDE

UGUIDE

Active member
Thought I would start a thread where pheasant hunters that farm can share discussion about their ag fields.

I'll start by saying I am taking a little more control over my crop acres by moving away from cash retn in the direction of custom farming but starting this first year with a 1/3 - 2/3 crop share.

Nice thing is I get to disctact the soil management and rotation.

Here's my rotation: wheat-cover crop-corn-beans. I farm about 300 acres and so about 100 acres in each crop.

I plan to have all 3 of these crops on the ground on each farm all at same time. Need those wheat acres for pheasant nesting.

Who else out there is farming? Tell us about your operation.
 
UGUIDE said:
I'll start by saying I am taking a little more control over my crop acres by moving away from cash retn in the direction of custom farming but starting this first year with a 1/3 - 2/3 crop share.
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Hopefully you are not paying any of the costs. Even then 1/3 2/3 seems a little light.
 
Is that the going rate in your area? We do 50/50 splits with the landlord paying 50% chemical and seed. 40/60 splits with landlord paying nothing. At the rate you are describing why not just find someone to custom farm it?
 
moellermd said:
Is that the going rate in your area? We do 50/50 splits with the landlord paying 50% chemical and seed. 40/60 splits with landlord paying nothing. At the rate you are describing why not just find someone to custom farm it?
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Good feedback Moe and thanks. I figure I'll try it this year and get my feet wet. If the 30/70 thing is too lobsided then I thought year if custom looks like more reward and same risk then I will go for that. I think we just baseline off SDSU's custom rate sheet for SD.

One other variable is I get to pick the rotation now and what gets tilled , cover crops, etc.
 
I'll be able to leave more farmland to wildlife now. 90% of the cow herd is gone.:)

I've got this 8 acre patch that I planted RR corn, sprayed 1 time early. Field grew up into the nicest patch of Giant Foxtail, Wild Proso with the corn. Talk about doves!
I walk the edges and see tons of pheasant tracks. I keep the dogs out of this patch but they go into other stuff and get on a bird up once in a while.

Deer and Turkeys are plentiful to.

Maybe put some more parcels into this type stuff. Put some RR soybeans in a patch.

I leased some wooded, marshy acreage to bow hunters, first time. We'll see how that works? In the openings they are responsible for planting wildlife plots.
 
Habitat spot help

OK I need some ideas. I have about 12 acres just behind the farm that I have been planting to a food plot---it just does not seem to attract the number of birds that I think it should. It has been several different types of mixed PF food plot seeds and this year also a 50/50 split of PF food plot and RR corn. There is an additional 20 acres or so that is Brome grass and THISTLE and the thistle got sprayed this fall with Milestone. There are crop fields on 3 sides of this plus 35 acres of good quality nesting cover within the section. So what can I do to make this area a better habitat cover. This is my chunk of ground to play with and it does not qualify for any CRP type programs. One other thing--there is an old dougout that I have the offical OK to restore to it orginal condition of 50X150 ft and 12 feet deep, if I did that would it help or hurt the project?::confused:
 
SDJIM said:
OK I need some ideas. I have about 12 acres just behind the farm that I have been planting to a food plot---it just does not seem to attract the number of birds that I think it should. It has been several different types of mixed PF food plot seeds and this year also a 50/50 split of PF food plot and RR corn. There is an additional 20 acres or so that is Brome grass and THISTLE and the thistle got sprayed this fall with Milestone. There are crop fields on 3 sides of this plus 35 acres of good quality nesting cover within the section. So what can I do to make this area a better habitat cover. This is my chunk of ground to play with and it does not qualify for any CRP type programs. One other thing--there is an old dougout that I have the offical OK to restore to it orginal condition of 50X150 ft and 12 feet deep, if I did that would it help or hurt the project?::confused:
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I'm stumped SDJIM, sounds like bird heaven to me. The water feature would definitely not hurt. One of our camps does all is food plots like this. 1/3 millet, 1/3 milo and 1/3 corn and he harvests the corn midway thru the season.
 
SDJIM said:
OK I need some ideas. I have about 12 acres just behind the farm that I have been planting to a food plot---it just does not seem to attract the number of birds that I think it should.
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I have a 1 acre plot next to some buffer strip and have yet to see a bird in it either. It has perplexed me somewhat.
 
Some ideas

Would disking lightly on some of it get some natural weed growth going or would that just give the thistle more reason to grow-- also thought I would try and get a pollanator(sp) plot going somewhere in here.

Chris how close together do you plant milo rows in your milo plots--thought I would do a 3 acre or so milo strip out in the middle of all of this. Another idea is to do a wild flower planting between the food plot and an existisng CP33 Quail Buffer planting.

Damm this off season between bird season and planting season just drives me nuts thinking about how to improve the habitat.

As you can see I have lots of ideas just not sure if they have merit or not and I'm always looking for new ideas to try.:confused:
 
SDJIM said:
Chris how close together do you plant milo rows in your milo plots--thought I would do a 3 acre or so milo strip out in the middle of all of this. Another idea is to do a wild flower planting between the food plot and an existisng CP33 Quail Buffer planting.
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15". I plug every other hole in the grain drill. Works good for holding birds and walking in yet.

What about sunflowers? The pheasants love them.
 
Guys, thought I would let you know that ag loan interest rates have plunged. I had a great rate at 5.7% fixed for 15 years and am able to convert that to 4.76% for remainder of loan of go to 12 year fixed at 4.28%. I think I'll go for the acceleration and save some money on interest.

Might want to look at any land loans you have outstanding.
 
One thing I would warn you about with FCS. They are extremely fickle. Most notes have an out with early call. I have had farmers with excellent credit and reserves, with existing FCS financing, who applied for an additional credit line, were turned down, and then all their current notes were called and they were placed on credit watch, requiring among other things credit education class with FCS. This has happened on 5 occasions, each time I was able to refinance the customer at a lower rate and better terms. Many of the farmers in the lower midwest won't even consider FCS. Ask around. It all depends on the office.
 
Thanks for the information on your interest rates. I think I'll just stay with my local bank as when I wanted to borrow money intially they gave me the best rate. At the time FCS came close but not close enough to really consider though they had a very nice guy representing their product. I realize my bank has to stay in business but if I were to trip and fall I think they most likely would probably be there with a helping hand to help me sort out the issues.
 
As for my food plot area I think I'm going to do about 5 acres of Maxamillon Sunflowers and let the other 7 acres or so go idle this year and see what grows on it--maybe just plain old weeds--lol
 
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