Extended grazing

[cowman]

The experts seem to imply if we are not into serious extended grazing we are somehow hopeless dinosaurs leaving untold fortunes in the field!
Now I'm all for extended grazing,but I wonder sometimes where these rocket scientists think the land comes from to bank forage, swath graze etc.?
If you can grow a good crop of barley,canola, wheat on that land, go for it! Don't waste it on some damned old cow!
Here is a classic example. 90 bu. at 3.50/bu. =$315/acre. Now if you can buy hay at $.04/lb. your value for the 90/bu. crop plus straw would be, say 5000 lb./.04= $200. Now I know it costs something to combine and haul grain but you would also have the straw so we're probably pretty even.$315 compared to $200? With these figures it costs you one hell of a lot more to swath graze that crop! And lets not forget all the waste left in the field?
Even though the grain business is fairly ugly right now I still think it competes pretty well with cattle! And hey, 3 weeks in the spring/3 weeks in the fall!

[countryguy]

Cowman

How about we use some more realistic numbers.Let's say 80 bushel barley At $2.10.That pencils out to a whole $168 an acre.Not so rosey now is it?Yes there were some pretty phonominal returns on some crops this year but those years are far and few between!

And you really don't believe that 3 week in the spring and 3 week in the fall crap now do you??

[bob-b]

ya you slipped up there cowman....shatter my image

[cowman]

On the land I rent the barley yield was down to 90 bu./acre this year due to the drought. It usually is consistently in that 100 bu. range. $3.50bu./acre this year $2.85 last year. How much next year??? This is deep black loam and We are close to some fairly large hog barns and feedlots.
And three weeks in the spring and three in the fall isn't so far off anymore as most of the farmers in my area use a custom sprayer and just about all the grain is hauled by B-train. Most of the equipment is new and is replaced fairly quickly(tax purposes?)so repairs are kept to a minimum. I would think maybe three weeks in the spring is a actually a little high!!!

[countryguy]

Ahhhh,to be one of those farmers with everything new and paid for,and to be able to get everything custom done.Can't see myself ever wearing those shoes.Would be kind of nice though!!

[dfarms11]

my barley consistantly grows 50-65bu/acre every year. The best I got was $2.50/bu last year $3.10 this year. Thats realistic for me. Not very profitable.

[cowman]

Here in west central Alberta the rotation is pretty well barley/canola with a fair bit of CPS wheat of late. No one even bothers to grow cereals for export as we have such a strong local market. Some barley is grown for malt but a lot of it ends up in the feedlot because the price is so good. Metcalfe barley is extracting a "plumpness" premium of up to 10 cents a bu. from Western Feedlots.
Every bushel of barley is priced FOB Lethbridge. That is the best market in the world. So the further away you live the more the freight is and so your price goes down. So if you are only getting $3.10/bu. then freight is eating up your price.