Post by farmerguy on Jun 21, 2009 19:08:47 GMT -5
I have had a lot of free time (to an unhealthy degree 
) on my hands because of all the rain around here lately. So, I typed this up. I know most people don't like reading about farms, but I do, so I thought I'd share it. It won't hurt my feelings when you don't read it. ;D
Highland Farms is a 12,840 acre grain farm in Northwest Iowa. This consists of 50% soybeans, 37% corn, and 13% popcorn. We are a licenced seed dealer for Dekalb and Asgrow seeds and own and operate our own custom application business. We also custom haul grain, fertilizer, and chemicals for Farmers Cooperative and Crop Production Services in the off-seasons. We believe our diversified operations have led us to reach the current size of our farming operation due to the fact that we carry out nearly all of our field applications on our own and with our own equipment. This has saved us a substantial amount of money over hiring our services done for us by a cooperative.
We utilize RTK guidance and autosteer for all of our field operations and use fertilizer prescriptions and variable-rate planting so that we only apply what fertilizer and seed that is needed, where it is needed. This, along with buying large enough equipment that we can farm all of our acres with minimal man-power, has reduced our input and labor costs significantly. We have focused on efficiency to make our variable costs per acre as small as possible, and increase the effectiveness of our inputs and resources according to soil type.
In 2003 we completed a 720,000 bushel grain system with a 6,000 bushel per hour tower dryer and a 42,000 bushel wet bin. This system holds all of our popcorn and soybean bushels, along with some of our corn bushels. Ten miles north of this system is a 690,000 bushel grain system that we constructed in 2006 with the help of GSI. This system holds the majority of our corn bushels, and is complete with a 6,000 bushel per hour dryer and 41,000 bushels of wet storage. We have the capacity to store 110% of all of our grain, allowing us to spread our marketing decisions out over a twelve-month time period.
We also have experimented with a test plot every year since 2001, comparing Dekalb, Garst, NK, Golden Harvest, Pioneer, and Mycogen seed corn. Within the different varieties of corn, we experiment with different N rates, fungicide usage, and different tillage practices. We have tried no-till, minimum-till, strip-till, and conventional-till. We have experimented with 30", 22", 20", and 15" corn rows. We are still working on determining the results of this trial. We have also tried growing specialty crops, which is where our popcorn acres come into play. After researching popcorn for 3 years on our test plot, we have concluded that popcorn almost always provides a better return on investment when compared with corn, and also saves on fertilizer and seed costs versus corn.
Every year, we look at different ways to provide better return on investment for our operation. Changes that have come about from this are applying pre-emerge herbicide, increasing our planting population for corn, eliminating nearly all of our disking, adapting sidedress applications of nitrogen, adapting GPS and autosteer, tiling all of our owned acres, and applying all of our own N-P-K in the fall, and all of our own NH3 and 28% nitrogen solutions in the spring and summer.
Our custom application business consists of two sprayers with 120 ft. booms and two floaters, one with a liquid system, and one with a dry system. We also custom apply NH3 and deep-band dry P and K for Farmer’s Cooperative and Crop Production Services in the fall with two of our own tractors and toolbars after we are done with fall tillage.
We collect data for every bushel on every farm and use that data to make business decisions. Our belief is that farming is a big risk, so we have to control everything that we possibly can, and let mother nature do the rest.
Tried my hand at a tower dryer.
Jay
) on my hands because of all the rain around here lately. So, I typed this up. I know most people don't like reading about farms, but I do, so I thought I'd share it. It won't hurt my feelings when you don't read it. ;DHighland Farms is a 12,840 acre grain farm in Northwest Iowa. This consists of 50% soybeans, 37% corn, and 13% popcorn. We are a licenced seed dealer for Dekalb and Asgrow seeds and own and operate our own custom application business. We also custom haul grain, fertilizer, and chemicals for Farmers Cooperative and Crop Production Services in the off-seasons. We believe our diversified operations have led us to reach the current size of our farming operation due to the fact that we carry out nearly all of our field applications on our own and with our own equipment. This has saved us a substantial amount of money over hiring our services done for us by a cooperative.
We utilize RTK guidance and autosteer for all of our field operations and use fertilizer prescriptions and variable-rate planting so that we only apply what fertilizer and seed that is needed, where it is needed. This, along with buying large enough equipment that we can farm all of our acres with minimal man-power, has reduced our input and labor costs significantly. We have focused on efficiency to make our variable costs per acre as small as possible, and increase the effectiveness of our inputs and resources according to soil type.
In 2003 we completed a 720,000 bushel grain system with a 6,000 bushel per hour tower dryer and a 42,000 bushel wet bin. This system holds all of our popcorn and soybean bushels, along with some of our corn bushels. Ten miles north of this system is a 690,000 bushel grain system that we constructed in 2006 with the help of GSI. This system holds the majority of our corn bushels, and is complete with a 6,000 bushel per hour dryer and 41,000 bushels of wet storage. We have the capacity to store 110% of all of our grain, allowing us to spread our marketing decisions out over a twelve-month time period.
We also have experimented with a test plot every year since 2001, comparing Dekalb, Garst, NK, Golden Harvest, Pioneer, and Mycogen seed corn. Within the different varieties of corn, we experiment with different N rates, fungicide usage, and different tillage practices. We have tried no-till, minimum-till, strip-till, and conventional-till. We have experimented with 30", 22", 20", and 15" corn rows. We are still working on determining the results of this trial. We have also tried growing specialty crops, which is where our popcorn acres come into play. After researching popcorn for 3 years on our test plot, we have concluded that popcorn almost always provides a better return on investment when compared with corn, and also saves on fertilizer and seed costs versus corn.
Every year, we look at different ways to provide better return on investment for our operation. Changes that have come about from this are applying pre-emerge herbicide, increasing our planting population for corn, eliminating nearly all of our disking, adapting sidedress applications of nitrogen, adapting GPS and autosteer, tiling all of our owned acres, and applying all of our own N-P-K in the fall, and all of our own NH3 and 28% nitrogen solutions in the spring and summer.
Our custom application business consists of two sprayers with 120 ft. booms and two floaters, one with a liquid system, and one with a dry system. We also custom apply NH3 and deep-band dry P and K for Farmer’s Cooperative and Crop Production Services in the fall with two of our own tractors and toolbars after we are done with fall tillage.
We collect data for every bushel on every farm and use that data to make business decisions. Our belief is that farming is a big risk, so we have to control everything that we possibly can, and let mother nature do the rest.
Tried my hand at a tower dryer.
Jay
