Barley

[Horse]

Rsomer I didnt see any depreation for equipt , taxes intrest, on land and if owned then some return on investment how about a little for your labor and something for management you know the stuff other buisness charge for because if you want to work for nothing there is probably a good demand for you unless others think anyone willing to work for nothing is all they are worth.

[cowman]

Country guy: Are our rents really absurb? They are high but so is our production and we have a ready made close market in feedlot alley. When I talk about $40/acre pasture that is not necessarily very good pasture! Might take as much as 4 acres to pasture a cow/calf for the summer. Works out to about $30/month per cow/calf which is fairly cheap around here.
As I've said before this is an area close to a booming city. The farmers have to compete with the playboys from the oil and gas industry. Economically it might not be a good place to farm but it is a good place to live. Most of the farmers still in business are fourth and fifth generation so they've had a few years to pile up some capital.

[rsomer]

Horse: you said "I didnt see any depreation for equipt , taxes intrest, on land and if owned then some return on investment how about a little for your labor and something for management."
The $48.92 contribution is the money available on our farm to cover the fixed costs you have mentioned and more such as utilities, wages, taxes, office expenses and so on. Obviously $48.92 is not much per acre if you are farming at Olds but it you have enough acres or have other enterprises such as cattle there would be enough contribution available to cover all the fixed costs and provide an acceptable return on investment. The numbers can work even in areas like ours that have lower yields. Likewise, farming in areas that typically have higher yields is no guarantee of a profit because the farm may not have enough acres to generate sufficient contribution to cover its fixed costs. If I could be guaranteed 30 bushels per acre year in and year out I would be comfortable with that, especially when barley is worth $2.30 or more per bushel.

[Junebug]

I guess we live in a real expensive area.
Grey wooded soil. A 1/4 section has been selling from $220-$260,000.00 A neighbour got $45.00 cow/calf per month for summer pasture and didn't even have to look at them. No wonder we are having a tough time trying to make the figures work.

[cowman]

rsomer: I'm am looking at your figures and trying to figure why your inputs are so low. I mean $10.85 for fertilizer? Do you live in the desert or something? Not trying to be ignorant here, just wondering if there is a reason?

[rsomer]

Why, actually we do live in a semi arid region. Most people do not fertilize at all here and use a two year crop, one year summerfallow rotation. In my township one other farmer other than me fertilizes at all. My fertilizer rates are determined by annual fertilizer trials that I have in about 1/2 of my fields with the actual yields measured each fall. Fertilizer rate represents a compromise between maximum yield and conserving cash during crop failures. Moisture is often our limiting factor. I tend to look at soil moisture in the spring and fertilizer prices before determining how much cash I want to risk on fertilizer. I would not consider the expected price of the crop, moisture and cash spent is what matters to me. It will be a tough decision this spring to see how much I should spend this year, although the available snow looks better now than a week ago, actual soil moisture remain very low.

[lornej]

rsomer - I think you answered a lot of our questions about how you can make money at 30 bushel yields when you mentioned that you depend on other farm enterprises to help cover off your fixed costs . I quit farming 5 years ago and my costs to produce a bushel of grain approached $100/acre then . This was a pedigree seed farm with no livestock to subsidize the costs and fertilizer prices were much lower than they are now !

[cowman]

The last two years I haven't put any fertilizer on the hay due to the drought and high prices. The year before that it cost over $40/acre and it actually paid quite well with the increased production. Now I'm just not sure what amount my cousin puts on. Some anhyrous and some when he seeds but he usually is pushing the max. He soil tests.
I guess he would be considered a high input/high output farmer but he does produce some real good crops and it is moderately profitable.
I am often in awe of you guys who farm out in the desert! You are a hardy bunch!