16-4-8...491/ton...10-10-10...525/ton

[dieselbeef]

guess whos not gonna be doin any fertilizing this year....

guess ill keep em on hay til its gone...the 5 acres theyre on is weedy and sandy so i guess theyll be eatin hay til the rest of it seeds out once or til the hay is gone...only havin 18 acres and 9 animals its the best im gonna be able to do...


anybody got any better ideas...maybe a different application method or rate...im guessin it would be bout 100lbs/acre? didnt even ask as i was lost for words after the price quoted...very very sandy siol here but the ph is good. been movin the hay rings around to cover some and to try to get somethin to cover a little where its bare


gonna wait til the rest of it seeds before i turn em out

 

[grannysoo]

I'm in that same club as you on this one. I have plenty of hay from 2007, everyone has plenty of hay from 2007, and anyone buying hay is getting it for $25.00 per roll. As stated in another thread, I not only can't, I won't do it for this. If it grows, I'll cut it. If it doesn't, I'll let the field rest for a year.

Anyone want to rent a hayfield or two so you can make all that money instead of me this year?

 

[Jogeephus]

Diesel, moving your hay rings around is a good idea. If you plan this right, with time, that sandy soil is going to turn into some pretty rich soil that will grow just about anything with minimal input. Kinda like organic gardening but on a larger scale.

 

[dieselbeef]

yeah thats kinda what i was hopin..time is all i got to watch the grass grow...

 

[Caustic Burno]

guess whos not gonna be doin any fertilizing this year....

guess ill keep em on hay til its gone...the 5 acres theyre on is weedy and sandy so i guess theyll be eatin hay til the rest of it seeds out once or til the hay is gone...only havin 18 acres and 9 animals its the best im gonna be able to do...


anybody got any better ideas...maybe a different application method or rate...im guessin it would be bout 100lbs/acre? didnt even ask as i was lost for words after the price quoted...very very sandy siol here but the ph is good. been movin the hay rings around to cover some and to try to get somethin to cover a little where its bare


gonna wait til the rest of it seeds before i turn em out

Why would you buy these blends at todays prices one blend you are getting 28 lbs on the 100 the other 30 lbs on the 100he rest is filler(sand). With todays prices IMO you are spending a lot to get a little.
For example what is the difference in triple 21 thats has 63 pounds of fertilizer to the 100 versus triple 10 that has 30. Buy triple 21 and cut the application rate in half and do twice as much ground.

 

[ga. prime]

Drag your pastures. You can likely get by without phosphate. A very knowledgeable county agent at my Ga. Cattleman's meeting last Monday night said you need to put a minimum of 60lb Nitrogen, 60lb Potash to maintain your pastures. At last week's prices that was about $60/acre. Do a soil test. You don't want to put more than necessary. You can likely do without fertilizing at all in the vicinity of your hay rings where I assume there's a high concentration of manure. See what a custom blend of 19-0-19 would cost.. You'd need 300lb/acre to get the 60/60. I agree with Jogee that moving your hay rings around would be some help. And we need any help we can get.

 

[LaneFarms]

Drag your pastures. You can likely get by without phosphate. A very knowledgeable county agent at my Ga. Cattleman's meeting last Monday night said you need to put a minimum of 60lb Nitrogen, 60lb Potash to maintain your pastures. At last week's prices that was about $60/acre. Do a soil test. You don't want to put more than necessary. You can likely do without fertilizing at all in the vicinity of your hay rings where I assume there's a high concentration of manure. See what a custom blend of 19-0-19 would cost.. You'd need 300lb/acre to get the 60/60. I agree with Jogee that moving your hay rings around would be some help. And we need any help we can get.

I was quoted $398/ton for 19-0-19 last thursday when I ordered just enough to hit the pastures with 200 lbs/ac to get it started this year.

 

[ga. prime]

That's good Lane. Cost you $39.80/ac if I figured right. You don't have to put it all out at once. Probably better not to.

 

[dane12]

ok here is a different angel.if we all buy less fertilizer this year.Then the price should go down big time if supply and deman means anything.also i have talked to a few people in my area and they are not going to produce as much hay as last year.I for one is only going to produce hay for my own needs.I do not think the horse people are willing to pay the price for us to make a small profit this year.also if more and more people is selling off cattle or going out off business.shouldnt the price of cattle go up with time again supply and deman.in other words if you can hang in there long enough we should be ok?

 

[BC]

ok here is a different angel.if we all buy less fertilizer this year.Then the price should go down big time if supply and deman means anything.also i have talked to a few people in my area and they are not going to produce as much hay as last year.I for one is only going to produce hay for my own needs.I do not think the horse people are willing to pay the price for us to make a small profit this year.also if more and more people is selling off cattle or going out off business.shouldnt the price of cattle go up with time again supply and deman.in other words if you can hang in there long enough we should be ok?

Your idea was what we were taught in economics years ago. Unfortunately, that was before a push to produce ethanol fom corn and increased demand from foreign countries like India and China who for the first time have money to buy inputs.

I am afraid if we reduce our numbers of cattle to match what we can raise without expensive fertilizer, there will be a big push to import more meat to keep the cost low to the consumer. It is called outsourcing in other industries.

 

[dieselbeef]

hey hey hey...lets stay on topic of fertilizer for my crappy grass here huh....the economics of cattle business have been discussed to death all over thes board....thank you!


just kiddin huh...what else can i do to make fertilizin any cheaper


has anyone eve considered hydroseeding pastures....

 

[dun]

.what else can i do to make fertilizin any cheaper

Run thousands of free range chickens?

 

[dieselbeef]

hahaaa! i like that idea!! haha!!!

 

[Caustic Burno]

ok here is a different angel.if we all buy less fertilizer this year.Then the price should go down big time if supply and deman means anything.also i have talked to a few people in my area and they are not going to produce as much hay as last year.I for one is only going to produce hay for my own needs.I do not think the horse people are willing to pay the price for us to make a small profit this year.also if more and more people is selling off cattle or going out off business.shouldnt the price of cattle go up with time again supply and deman.in other words if you can hang in there long enough we should be ok?

Sounds good but one of the major problems a lot of the fertilizer is made overseas and the dollar is getting weaker and weaker. Stearns imploded this week from credit coming home to roost. Money is fixin to be real tight and beef is going to be the first thing to leave the table. The weaker the dollar = higher fuel, fertilizer, which =Recession. If history repeats itself we didn't do so well in the last one.

 

[Bluestem]

.what else can i do to make fertilizin any cheaper

Run thousands of free range chickens?

I read somewhere (Backyard poultry?) that 12 chickens produce 1/2 ton of manure per year.

 

[dyates]

ok here is a different angel.if we all buy less fertilizer this year.Then the price should go down big time if supply and deman means anything.also i have talked to a few people in my area and they are not going to produce as much hay as last year.I for one is only going to produce hay for my own needs.I do not think the horse people are willing to pay the price for us to make a small profit this year.also if more and more people is selling off cattle or going out off business.shouldnt the price of cattle go up with time again supply and deman.in other words if you can hang in there long enough we should be ok?

Fertilizer prices have almost nothing to do with demand. Most of the inflated prices are because some broker who knows absolutely nothing about agriculture is speculating on the prices and driving them up in hopes that someone else is willing to pay more than he/she did.

 

[alabama]

I don't have the exact numbers in front of me from last week's fertilizer application but this is about it.
I put out 13-0-35 on a 30-acre hay field. It was made of Ammonium nitrate and potash. I could have used ammonium sulfate cheaper but it would lower my PH even worse and required more lime. When you figure in the cost of lime, the Ammonium nitrate worked out cheaper. Well the 13-0-35 ran about $520 a ton and I put out 6 tons. That worked out to $104 an acre. I went with my normal rate of N and due to the drought the last two years and having removed less than ½ my normal hay I should have some potash left so I went with about ½ rate of pot ash.
This is the first year I recall where nitrogen is cheaper than potash. I think potash was about $600 a ton and N was about $500 a ton and then I got a discount off list price.
This should get me through the first cutting about the mid to late May. I will then need some more Nitrogen for another cutting. That should get me through the winter so plan to put nothing out for the last cutting.
By the time I get the hay cut, I will have $50 an acre in just fertilizer on the first cutting. That is if it rains.

Nope this hay business won't get me rich. Soil test are getting cheep at $8 bucks a pop.

 

[dieselbeef]

.what else can i do to make fertilizin any cheaper

Run thousands of free range chickens?

I read somewhere (Backyard poultry?) that 12 chickens produce 1/2 ton of manure per year.

i read backyard poultry too....im actually fixin to get me a portable coop so i can move it around. sorta free range inside a 20 x 20 pen in skids. little sunnet over the top and a couple 5 gallon buckets to roost in and ill be gettin some chicken poopy..and eggs....


the fertilizer thing just sucks. mostly i guess cuz im really not sure what i need to do. i always do the same thing. put out 100lbs/acre of 16-16-16 and hope for the best...but i know t aint right...and i need it to be so i aint wastin my money ... once i started askin around i got even more confused on what to put out

 

[dun]

the fertilizer thing just sucks. mostly i guess cuz im really not sure what i need to do. i always do the same thing. put out 100lbs/acre of 16-16-16 and hope for the best...but i know t aint right...and i need it to be so i aint wastin my money ... once i started askin around i got even more confused on what to put out

That's why soil tests were invented. So you put down whats needed and don;t over do what isn;t.

 

[dieselbeef]

yea....the soil tests i got here didnt get into enough detail...typical of our ag agent