what to pay a farmer?

B

benelli-banger

Well-known member
A local farmer helps me with my food plots each spring...last night he called, telling me he had disked last years food plots (10 acres), which he'll do again before they get planted. He never tells me what to pay him, so I always take a guess. Can anyone here tell me what a custom farmer would charge per acre? One factor to consider is my farmer friend farms land immediately North and South of my ground, so it is common for him to already have his machinery in the area. Other than that, I want to make sure he is being adequately compensated for his time, fuel, equipment, etc. Thanks.
 
I have never heard of a custom discking price but 10 acre would be a range than 13.00-15.00 an acre to drill. I would probably pay a little extra just cuz its a little deal.
 
benelli-banger said:
A local farmer helps me with my food plots each spring...last night he called, telling me he had disked last years food plots (10 acres), which he'll do again before they get planted. He never tells me what to pay him, so I always take a guess. Can anyone here tell me what a custom farmer would charge per acre? One factor to consider is my farmer friend farms land immediately North and South of my ground, so it is common for him to already have his machinery in the area. Other than that, I want to make sure he is being adequately compensated for his time, fuel, equipment, etc. Thanks.
Click to expand...

This might help.

http://www.nass.usda.gov/sd/releases/customrates2004.pdf
 
benelli-banger said:
LM--couldn't open it for some reason...any idea what it said? Thanks! Hope all is well...BB.
Click to expand...

This is a PDF file of a survey the USDA conducts occasionally on average rents, custom farming rates and so forth. This survey is for crop year 2004 and the survey was taken in 2005. I think custom rates went up some when fuel prices were higher but now with fuel prices back down I suppose these rates are fairly close to what they are today, although maybe a little higher.

Light disking had an average rate of $10 per acre and row seeding also at $10 per acre. Spray application is around $6 per acre plus cost of chemical. Sometimes there is another charge for small fields but if the custom operator is very nearby anyway it probably isn't much of a factor, especially for disking.

Another thing to consider is no-tilling the food plot. We just no-till right into the old stubble each year and then spray with roundup twice. We only disk it every five years or so. With this method the food stays on top of the ground all spring and summer and we don't have the cost of disking. One of your neighbors may have a no till planter or you could purchase one for about $1000 to $1500. A JD 7000 works good. I spray my own food plots with the ATV now and that works good. I have one of those sprayers that sprays out 15 feet on each side so can do three acres in about 10 minutes or so.
 
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