Affordable Potash for Legumes?

[Stocker Steve]

I did some internet work this weekend. Looks like the Saskatchawan based employee layoffs and production reductions are being continued to hold up potash prices. The 2009-2020 K forecast is an average of U$S 1,150 per ton. How does a person justify legume plantings in this situation?

Citigroup Global Markets analyst P.J Juvekar :
"We expect many farmers in North America to go on a 'fertilizer holiday' as they 'mine' their soil for fertilizer," he said. "But the nutrient depletion may set the stage for a robust recovery in 2010 that could cause us to revisit our stance."

 

[jedstivers]

We started doing grid sampling and variable rate application. It has cut way back on total lbs. applied but it is letting us find the small areas that need more. We are doing this for P & K and lime and will ease our way into N.

 

[dun]

We started doing grid sampling and variable rate application. It has cut way back on total lbs. applied but it is letting us find the small areas that need more. We are doing this for P & K and lime and will ease our way into N.

We're doinf almost the opposit. Doing N & P and waiting on the K till fall

 

[Angus Cowman]

I am only putting on N this fall where my soil test are good with using the turkey litter for 3 yrs I am to a point where the p&k needs are at a minnimal level
with the litter you will get a build up of p

 

[1982vett]

Probably going to continue on plans to implement better recycling of nutrients. It is about the last thing I have to focus on. Thanks to the weather conditions and cattle prices for keeping me focused this way.

1 Reduce number in herd to lessen pasture and hay needs.
2 Production of hay for sale greatly reduced, near zero.
3 Unrolling hay as needed when feeding and weather allows, to spread waste over greater area.
4 Better establishment of clovers in pastures without clover.

Expected results = Reduced income from sales of fewer animals and hay to be offset by reduced expense outlay and less risk to reward ratios.

Logic = If one could clear $100 a head on a per head basis, reducing numbers from 100 down to 75 and keeping the same profit margins would decrease total profit from $10,000 down to $7,500. Hardly a change that would be detriment to ones financial stability. No one with operations of this size is living off the profits anyway. Making a lot of money (enough to live on) from small operations is not going to happen. Does not make economical sense to put more effort into greater risks without greater rewards in return.

 

[Stocker Steve]

We started doing grid sampling and variable rate application. It has cut way back on total lbs. applied but it is letting us find the small areas that need more.

Unrolling hay sounds like a great idea but I do not usually feed every day.

How is the size of a small area for variable application?

 

[jedstivers]

We started doing grid sampling and variable rate application. It has cut way back on total lbs. applied but it is letting us find the small areas that need more.

Unrolling hay sounds like a great idea but I do not usually feed every day.

How is the size of a small area for variable application?

Right now we break it down to 5 acr. grids but it can be any size you want. This is for row crops but I did some pasture and hay fields this year but don't have the results yet. In the future we will use yield maps overlaid with soil type maps and get away from the grid but we had to start some where.

 

[1982vett]

We started doing grid sampling and variable rate application. It has cut way back on total lbs. applied but it is letting us find the small areas that need more.

Unrolling hay sounds like a great idea but I do not usually feed every day.

How is the size of a small area for variable application?

This is the first year I regularly unrolled. Each day I'd unroll next to the area I used the day before. Didn't have wet weather to contend with. On the rare occasion the ground was wet I'd feed in the rings. At peak hay feeding I had 4 groups of cows. One with about 30-35 cows without calves that would eat a roll a day. The second had about 40 cows with calves, they would get about a roll and a half a day. The third group had 13 bred heifers that got the rest of that roll. Then the last group of 15 (5 miles away) got fed in a ring every other day, moving the ring each time. Been feeding since July, probably have used about 50 acres to feed on.

I kept an eye on how well they were cleaning up vs. quality of hay they had gotten. Some days I'd feed in the afternoon instead of the morning to get them to clean up a bit better then split a roll or feed a smaller one since I had two sizes to get them back on morning feeding. Takes about 45 minutes to feed and look them over quickly except the days I had to feed the place 5 miles away, Then it would take about an hour and a half tops.