Bought fertilizer today....

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We aren't buying any. Too bad too, because our whole area is short of hay. The mountains don't have much snow in them, therefore irrigation water could be in short supply. That coupled with the price of fertilizer leaves us without fertilizing. Darn.
 
The 250 bu/acre I state operations will still be pushing yields. Calf and hay prices are discouraging beef production here, but there are a lot of ways to get fertility. Could buy in hay, could trample more grass, could inter seed, could brew up tea...
 
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This thread is about fertilizer, but I went to the Coop yesterday and it is just not fertilizer prices that are going through the roof. Either farmers get a bigger piece of the pie or run them like deers to come out with anything. Between the rising property taxes and have to input cost even then you lose.
 
I don't know if fertilizer production is decentralized or concentrated.

Will this only hurt that area, or will the cost of fertilizer go up across the nation because of the loss of this plant?

Firefighters pulled back from a massive fire that destroyed the Winston Weaver Co. fertilizer plant Monday night, as fears of an explosion led to an evacuation of an area within a one-mile perimeter of the plant on North Cherry Street near Indiana Avenue.​
 
I don't know if fertilizer production is decentralized or concentrated.

Will this only hurt that area, or will the cost of fertilizer go up across the nation because of the loss of this plant?

Firefighters pulled back from a massive fire that destroyed the Winston Weaver Co. fertilizer plant Monday night, as fears of an explosion led to an evacuation of an area within a one-mile perimeter of the plant on North Cherry Street near Indiana Avenue.​
It will be used as an excuse to raise price more.
 
You really think that was ammonia nitrate in there? Or media was a bit off? You haven't been able to get that here in several years. And this is the heart of the tobacco belt. All you can get is calcium or sulphur nitrate or urea junk. I believe it just burns without the boom
 
The 250 bu/acre I state operations will still be pushing yields. Calf and hay prices are discouraging beef production here, but there are a lot of ways to get fertility. Could buy in hay, could trample more grass, could inter seed, could brew up tea...
Tell me about the tea brewing. Is it worth the effort? Tried it or seen it first hand? Have wondered about it for a couple of years now. I do use it on my raised beds, brew it myself. Hand water with it.

You're talking about running it through a sprayer? Foliar spray type of thing?
 
Tell me about the tea brewing. Is it worth the effort? Tried it or seen it first hand? Have wondered about it for a couple of years now. I do use it on my raised beds, brew it myself. Hand water with it.

You're talking about running it through a sprayer? Foliar spray type of thing?
True believers brew hundreds of gallons in their farm shop during the summer, often in those rectangular poly pallet tanks, and then pump it into an old pull type ex herbicide sprayer. Low cost but have not seen data on how well home brew works.

Commercial bio salesmen struggle with inconsistent results. This is often blamed on tie up from certain minerals in some ground waters.
 
I talked to the fertilizer man on Friday. Urea has started to drop. Down around $200 from 6-8 weeks ago. He said Urea tends to lead the way down so he's hoping things trend down. He also speculated that they would be a pretty good spike for the busy spring season and then he hoped it would crash a bit in late summer and fall. Hopes and reality don't match up too often though.
 
I talked to the fertilizer man on Friday. Urea has started to drop. Down around $200 from 6-8 weeks ago. He said Urea tends to lead the way down so he's hoping things trend down. He also speculated that they would be a pretty good spike for the busy spring season and then he hoped it would crash a bit in late summer and fall. Hopes and reality don't match up too often though.
That still puts urea around 800/ton doesn't it? I would expect everyone to plant soybeans. Can't see paying that to fertilize hay
 
That still puts urea around 800/ton doesn't it? I would expect everyone to plant soybeans. Can't see paying that to fertilize hay
I think there is a lot of grass going into soybeans this spring. Just need to find some Roundup...

Issue here is most producers have "saved" their cows by using old hay stockpiles and droughted out corn silage. That will not work as well in 2022.
 
As long as hay prices follow fertilizer.
And people will buy the hay. And they will. I don't see how you can afford not to buy fertilizer.
I'm going to try it. I'm going to use chicken litter again this year if I can find it reasonable. We don't have much competition from row crop guys. If not then I'm using nothing. I've bush hogged my 3rd cutting for the last 3 years because I had nowhere to put the hay.
 
Here the no fertility farmers usually get 1 to 1.5 tons of grass hay in a single cutting per year. Less when it is dry...

The math problem with that is you cannot pay for your time or hay equipment with low yields/acre.
Agreed but if you're going to hay a field anyway does it not pay to fertilize for the increase? 1 roll per acre increase will pay for 100 pounds of urea even at current price. And of course who counts quality??
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Difference in cropland and perianal grass fields
 
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