Corn planter ???’s

[woodland]

Woodland, Do I understand correctly that someone west of Edmonton is growing corn for grain? I assume you are somewhere near Genesee? I didn't think that was possible...

They started growing 20 acres of sweet corn (the neighbourhood ate lots 😋) and it morphed into grain corn. Last year it came off in December as dry as the cereals came off which was pretty good.

I can see the genesee power plant from my shop although keephills plant is just over the hill. I don’t think it’s been profitable for them but they’re getting better and I’ll be able to learn from/with them which is the best part (to me at least). Keep us posted on how your experiment turns out.



This year the neighbors put only 1 bag of sweet corn in and still had plenty. Whoever wanted some could come and pick. The kids enjoyed it lots considering the weather. Guess what’s for supper tonight ???🌽🌽

[wd9]

That's really neat!

Dekalb has some 68 day sweet next year we are going to try.

[woodland]

Well the trials have been not side by side, but over many fields where you would think the planter would have outyielded one close by solid seeded. Sure there is coincidence, but seeing it happen several times does make a pattern and beg the question. Interesting to hear others question it too. Not scientific at all, just curious.

I will grab some pix of the field and post them. By far the most important thing is tilled ground for corn. Zero till ground will always be behind. We were also thinking of going twice with planter and about 36k - 40k ending up with 15" spacing. Best of both worlds? But then expensive.

We also planted sunnies this year with the planter on 30". Pretty rare sight in NE Alberta. Harvest them probably Dec 24th!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DmIgjrnU8AAb4bR.jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DmIgjrnU8AAb4bR.jpg

Do cows eat faba beans? Seed them between corn rows? They would stand up in the winter.

Sunflowers???thats frickin’ awesome! Ours in the garden are snowflowers today. I hope they’re the confectionary type so you can make some Spitz 🌻 at least.

Cows can eat fababeans especially if they’re the low tannin varieties. Too bad they aren’t Roundup Ready😉 I could see how corn in 30” rows wouldn’t work very well as it takes too long for the crop to canopy and catch all the sunlight. I’m thinking 15” would get the seeds almost perfect since each plant needs roughly 1.25 sq ft. I like seeing the experiments that others are doing. Makes things interesting and light in this calling that at times is very demanding. Keep up the good work everyone 👍

[grassfarmer]

With this talk of 30" corn rows do you realize they use wider further south? A friend in Kentucky tells me they are all 36" rows there. They sow a winter cover crop of oats/legume which they greenfeed in spring before sowing the corn and taking a 20+ ton silage crop just now.

Braveheart that's interesting about your millet - I did the exact same thing the first year I was here and everybody was telling me I was crazy this wasn't like Alberta. With the damp falls and high humidity the swathed millet rows were completely black on the outside but still good on the inside and the cows licked up every piece. I never tried it again, your growing season here is so early it's a long time from swathing to winter feeding period.
I thought about swathing corn originally but have never tried it - thought it would be a great role for the tumbleweed insulators - that way you could micro-manage consumption without pounding posts in frozen ground.

[woodland]

Update

We found a planter south of Winnipeg last week and just got it all home. It’s an Elmer’s toolbar that carries two 1730 JD planters with a liquid fertilizer kit on it. Works out to 24 row 22” spacing which is plenty for us. I brought back the toolbar with us when we went to check it out and found a truck to bring the planter units the other day. They arrived coincidentally on my brother’s and I’s birthday so we each got matching presents. Just got some reassembly and a few cylinders to reseal and it should be good to go. Took my FIL with me as he’s never been east of Saskatoon before. Swung by weyburn on the way back to pick up new steel conditioner rolls for the discbine as the rubber ones are pooched. A quick but good three day trip.


Don’t know what it weighed but I was glad no scales were open coming home😉



The loader handles them slick.

Snow is mostly gone except for drifts and I’m looking forward to trying it out.

[farmaholic]

Exciting times on your farm. Same old same old in the Ghetto.

[shtferbrains]

Exciting times on your farm. Same old same old in the Ghetto.

S/B some kind of award for woodland.

First thread in some time with excitement about increasing production. Even makes beef seem interesting!

[wd9]

Sunflowers???thats frickin’ awesome! Ours in the garden are snowflowers today. I hope they’re the confectionary type so you can make some Spitz 🌻 at least.

Cows can eat fababeans especially if they’re the low tannin varieties. Too bad they aren’t Roundup Ready😉 I could see how corn in 30” rows wouldn’t work very well as it takes too long for the crop to canopy and catch all the sunlight. I’m thinking 15” would get the seeds almost perfect since each plant needs roughly 1.25 sq ft. I like seeing the experiments that others are doing. Makes things interesting and light in this calling that at times is very demanding. Keep up the good work everyone 👍

We have decided to abort the corn planter this year and solid seed the grazing corn and sunnies (maybe) with the Pillar. That way we can also just do one pass.

Sunnies went about 1200 lbs an acre, harvested on Halloween. Gonna do 20 acres this year.

From that seeded field with brassicas into the corn. Some corn remained, but didn't make much corn.
https://twitter.com/efarmerdot/status/1058064922351820800 https://twitter.com/efarmerdot/status/1058064922351820800

The sunnies:
https://twitter.com/efarmerdot/status/1057836111764975621 https://twitter.com/efarmerdot/status/1057836111764975621

https://twitter.com/efarmerdot/status/1057838713806319616 https://twitter.com/efarmerdot/status/1057838713806319616

[woodland]

Exciting times on your farm. Same old same old in the Ghetto.

Nah still the same old thing here. Grow some sort of cow chow and turn it into turds and hopefully sell a yearling that someone pays me enough for to do it again next year. 🍀


On a side note there won’t be any grain being sold from us going forward except for last years green canola. Everything this year is getting put into ABC (alfalfa, barley, corn) and getting sold on the hoof.

Doing my part to leave some room on the train for SF3’s bumper crop that’s on the way😎

[wd9]

Exciting times on your farm. Same old same old in the Ghetto.

Doesn't have to be, have some fun with it.

[woodland]

S/B some kind of award for woodland.

First thread in some time with excitement about increasing production. Even makes beef seem interesting!

Hey who doesn’t get excited over a big thick juicy burger with all the fixin’s 🍔😋

Cow numbers are up 25% over last year so hopefully production goes up😎

Multiplication began the other night here with a 30 pounder three weeks early. All is well though.

[woodland]

S/B some kind of award for woodland.

First thread in some time with excitement about increasing production. Even makes beef seem interesting!

Hey who doesn’t get excited over a big thick juicy burger with all the fixin’s 🍔😋

Cow numbers are up 25% over last year so hopefully production goes up😎

Multiplication began the other night here with a 30 pounder three weeks early. All is well though.


Shtferbrains I think your handle is quite the misnomer 😉

[woodland]

We have decided to abort the corn planter this year and solid seed the grazing corn and sunnies (maybe) with the Pillar. That way we can also just do one pass.

Sunnies went about 1200 lbs an acre, harvested on Halloween. Gonna do 20 acres this year.

From that seeded field with brassicas into the corn. Some corn remained, but didn't make much corn.
https://twitter.com/efarmerdot/status/1058064922351820800 https://twitter.com/efarmerdot/status/1058064922351820800

The sunnies:
https://twitter.com/efarmerdot/status/1057836111764975621 https://twitter.com/efarmerdot/status/1057836111764975621

https://twitter.com/efarmerdot/status/1057838713806319616 https://twitter.com/efarmerdot/status/1057838713806319616

Are your sunnies for birdseed or how did they turn out?

[farmaholic]

Doesn't have to be, have some fun with it.

I do! Another year another spin of the Roulette wheel.

What do you suggest?

[woodland]

I do! Another year another spin of the Roulette wheel.

What do you suggest?

Variety is the spice of life for us out in the hills and muskeg.