cropping decisions 2008

[Ron]

How is everybody going to decide on their rotation this year? Everything looks like a moneymaker, so do we try to straighten out our agronomics? Chase $10 canola and hope for $15? Avoid high inputs (fert prices)? Feed prices look like you can make money growing barley, much easier than HRS, a good year to avoid the CWB (actually any year is a good year to avoid the CWB)

I am normally pretty aggressive with my rotation and inputs but this year I think I will back off and lengthen my rotation. I have a bunch of chem fallow, hog manure and compost spread so my inputs should be reasonable.

New crop feed barley at 3.50/bu looks like a great place to start selling. Hopefully its my worst sale of the year.

Any thoughts?

SCREW THE CWB

[just_wondering]

Just going through my numbers today. And the big variable cost is Phos(12-51-0. I have most of my nitrogen bought and am wondering. Should I seed place phos this year with the tag team or just do the tag team alone and spend the money else where.
I can lock in $6.75 peas off the combine next August.
What would you do?
Screw the monopoly

[Ron]

I have a history of manure/compost on most of my land, I am waiting for soil tests to come back for N levels but am looking at peas pretty hard.
6.50 off the combine is decent money? I havent used tagteam before (havent grown peas for at least 5 years), how do the input costs work out?
I imagine decent pea seed will be dear this spring but it will balance out when compared to the N cost?
50 bu @6.50 is 330 gross.

Are these reasonable numbers?

Peas
seed $45/ac
innoculant $10/ac
chem $30/ac

[Ron]

I keep forgetting

Screw the CWB

(I wish I could make that automatic in my typing, if I had a beer in my hand it would be every second phrase)

[Burbert]

I/we will grow malt barley next year, and maybe wheat. Club root issue in Canola not sorted out to date, more questions than answers, and problem seems to be spreading alarmingly fast, if you believe the AB Gag Dept. Will wait on Canola, till everyone else is infected, then we will get the premium price. Hope all continue the short rotations and allow oily guys and pipers to run all over their land tooo, that should spread the clubber everywhere fast. Apparently local county mountie gaggers are going to enforce the pest act ruthlessly from now on. That should be interesting cause most don't even know how to tie their own shoes and are about as motivated as a stone!!!!!!!!

[Ron]

Burbert, how does malt compare to feed barley for returns? I had an offer yesterday for 3.79 for Oct feed barley.
The last malt variety was Harrington and there was a 10 bushel yield drag vs Duke feed barley. Plus in my area (usually wet harvests) the grading for malt is hit and miss.
Do you think the malt premium will be worth the yield drag, selection chances, and delivery issues?

Thanks

(and I have to add)
Screw the CWB

[Burbert]

Ron, Do what works for you, on your farm.
I'll do what works for me, on my farm. I enjoy challenges, hence grow malt barley. Anybody can grow feed. In fact malt barley becomes feed, on those years, it doesn't meet the high standards, demanded by our malty friends.

By the way, I have to add, screw any grain buyer, that cheat framers while selling their grain, to the CWB/Open Market!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kamichel]

Ron one thing I would like to say for someone looking for large amounts of pea seed on a year when peas could be in short supply. Be careful even of certified planting seed , could be some problems with mechanically damaged seed out there.
If you are relying on someone elses seed to be good try to get it home soon so you know you have good seed. Yet getting home early means two more moves through an auger. I have had trouble in the past when picking it up durring planting and it was only 65 percent germ from mechanical damage. Hard to change planting intentions when actually planting and no other preparations made. And fert. went through the roof. I like to use granular tag team. 12 inch spacing makes it cheaper also.

[just_wondering]

I would think pea seed would probably run ya $10 bushel depending on what variety and the germ we seed @ 180 lbs acre and use 4.5 lbs granular tag team last year in some side by sides we saw 2 bu./ acre with no seed applied phos. this year we are going too try a couple field tests with the competitor and phos vs tag team and phos. I expect to see even better results for the Tag team, but you don't know until you try.
Spray costs vary but depending on populations you might get away with just Assure or Poast but with big price maybe just go with the Odyssey
Depending on location you can probably get $7.00 for new crop off the combine delivery we always add .25 cents for handling and depending on the year you can harvest at 16% moisture.
As far as malt vs feed forget Harrington as you say big yield kicks, we have good luck with Metcalf and by 2008 crop year CWB will be only one of many options with your malt
I'll deliver to them if they have the best price. Quite mercenary of me really.
Hope this helps

[darren442]

I just have to say it
screw the CWB
ahh that feels better

[ado089]

If you're growing Harrington and Duke you're ten years behind. A good option when feed prices are strong is Copeland, it yields good, wheighs good and stands up nice. Treat it like a feed crop for fert(if you can afford it) if it makes malt that's gravy, if not you're not out any bushels at the end of the day in a feed market. If you're in the parkland region of Alberta you might be able to find a six row called lacey, it will yield even better and has malt options as well. As for tag-team or anything like that, you have to remember that those are microbes that extract the phos from the soil, those microbes can't over winter so if you don't get a crop the year you use it for any reason you will never recoup those cost where as with phosphate fert it will always be there next year. I'm not saying it's a bad product but it's some food for though.

[Ron]

Yup, its been about 10 years since I grew barley. I though maltsters were very fussy about which variety they accepted? Or are they more flexible now? Specs mean as much as the variety? Does high fert mean high protein lowering acceptance?
Thanks

Screw the CWB

[ado089]

Specs are still very important...If you do some digging now there are a few contracts out there that focus more on the variety than the specs and others on traceabiity and record keeping. Weather has as much to do with protein as fert, that's why I would recomend still chasing yield, espiecialy with high feed prices but with the right varieties you can have options. If the CWB gets the hell out of our way you may even see substantial premiums on these contracts to go along with preffered acceptance.

[just_wondering]

Specs are vary variable on malt. Depending on supply and how strong the local feed prices are relitive to the PRO.
We sold alot of Copeland off the combine for feed in late august because it was high protein 14 and light. Turns out this year it might have made it as malt.

I think it was WD9 who said re: malt
Once the best is gone, the best is left

Also if you belive ritz it will be a continental Barley market by Jan and open market by Aug.
That is IF you believe Ritz?

[shamus]

I grew Copeland 2 years in a row. Got stuck in the boot both times,yielding alot less than other variety. Piece of crap!!!!