A question to commercial farmer?

[cowboy43]

I am preparing a seed bed on 30 acres of pasture land for a cost sharing project with Soil Conservation Service. It is a reseeding project because the drought killed off existing grasses , they are paying 60% of all cost. I am chisling with 10 ft chisle 100 hp tractor then disking with 14 ft disk. I need to figure a cost of preparing seedbed which is to be figured as if I had a commercial farmer do it. So the question is , what do you charge for each trip over the field , do you figure your charge by the acre or the hour and how much do you charge to make a profit? It will chisled then cross chisled then disked once, 3 trips over the 30 acres. The location is in Central Texas. Any help with cost estimates will be appreciated.

 

[Kingfisher]

I am preparing a seed bed on 30 acres of pasture land for a cost sharing project with Soil Conservation Service. It is a reseeding project because the drought killed off existing grasses , they are paying 60% of all cost. I am chisling with 10 ft chisle 100 hp tractor then disking with 14 ft disk. I need to figure a cost of preparing seedbed which is to be figured as if I had a commercial farmer do it. So the question is , what do you charge for each trip over the field , do you figure your charge by the acre or the hour and how much do you charge to make a profit? It will chisled then cross chisled then disked once, 3 trips over the 30 acres. The location is in Central Texas. Any help with cost estimates will be appreciated.

Where are you in Central Texas? I want in on this deal......have you asked SCS what their guidelines are? What do you think it will
" cost" you to do the 30 acres? Thanks in advance.

 

[cowboy43]

King I am in Caldwell County SCS is paying 60% of up to $250 an acre this includes seedbed preparation,seeding, fertilization and one weed spraying. This is aTexas funded program so you need to see your local SCS agent to see what he can do for you. I was doing it out of pocket because of range conditions then I dicsovered their program. You can have it all commercially done or do it your self and and charge machinery,fuel and labor to do it yourself. I will be seeding Dahl bluestem so my actually cost will be fuel ,seed , fertilizer and weed spray. A soil test has to be done to apply the correct fert. I am donig that now, have not got results back . By doing it myself and charging it off as a commercial job (which is ok with them) I am hoping to do it close to what their payment will be.

 

[1982vett]

King I am in Caldwell County SCS is paying 60% of up to $250 an acre this includes seedbed preparation,seeding, fertilization and one weed spraying. This is aTexas funded program so you need to see your local SCS agent to see what he can do for you. I was doing it out of pocket because of range conditions then I dicsovered their program. You can have it all commercially done or do it your self and and charge machinery,fuel and labor to do it yourself. I will be seeding Dahl bluestem so my actually cost will be fuel ,seed , fertilizer and weed spray. A soil test has to be done to apply the correct fert. I am donig that now, have not got results back . By doing it myself and charging it off as a commercial job (which is ok with them) I am hoping to do it close to what their payment will be.

Government program?...Then all you need to do is "reverse engineer" the cost to be $249.99/acre.

Rough guess for tractor work.....$45-50/hr.

 

[Jogeephus]

Here's what it would cost me if I hired it done.

Chisel - 2 x 15 = $30/acre
Harrow 1 x 10 = $10/acre
Fertilizer $80/acre
Planting and seed - $85/acre
Herbicide $25/acre

 

[jack1234]

Texas custom rates from USDA...

2008 publication:
http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_ ... stom08.pdf

There is also a 2004 publication. It's obviously dated, but has some different categories that might be useful.
It's the same address just change "custom08.pdf" to "custom04.pdf".

As always, this stuff has to be taken w/ a grain of salt. These are surveys and the reported "rate", is an average that sometimes seems to be skewed by some outrageously high or low price quotes. IMO some of the difference in various quotes might be explained by discounts being available for large acreage or premiums being charged for small jobs.

Also, this was for 2008 when the price of oil spiked. Not sure how big an effect that may have had.

Taking a quick glance, the Jogeeephus's and Vett's numbers seem comparable to those in this...

 

[novatech]

King I am in Caldwell County SCS is paying 60% of up to $250 an acre this includes seedbed preparation,seeding, fertilization and one weed spraying. This is aTexas funded program so you need to see your local SCS agent to see what he can do for you. I was doing it out of pocket because of range conditions then I dicsovered their program. You can have it all commercially done or do it your self and and charge machinery,fuel and labor to do it yourself. I will be seeding Dahl bluestem so my actually cost will be fuel ,seed , fertilizer and weed spray. A soil test has to be done to apply the correct fert. I am donig that now, have not got results back . By doing it myself and charging it off as a commercial job (which is ok with them) I am hoping to do it close to what their payment will be.

With B Dahl you don,t need a prepared seedbed, just as much bare ground as you can get. I will be using nothing but geophosphate. Spread seed and pull a chain harrow behind. Then hope we don't get another summer like last year. If you prepare a seedbed then it need to be packed until you can drive over it not leaving tire tracks. Cultipacker will put the seed to deep as will no-tils. You will also loose one years grazing while it build a root system, but it can be used for stockpile forage next fall.

 

[dun]

Cultipacker will put the seed to deep as will no-tils.

If the drill is adjusted right it will work fine. But that may be dependant on the type of drill

 

[Engler]

Google "Iowa State University Custom Rates". Granted it's 1,000 miles away, but it's current (< 1 year) and should be a place to start. They update it annually and that's what a lot of people in this neighborhood use for this type of thing. With having several hundred replys to the survey there is some relevence.