A2>—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 2,1980 How SHOEMAKERSVILLE - There is little that dairymen can do to control the price of the purchased feed and concentrates. At best, they can shop for the best prices and grow higher quality hay to minimize the need to buy soybean meal. Where the dairyman has a real chance to reduce those feed costs is in the crops grown on his own farm. The bottom line is what it costs to produce a ton of hay or corn silage. Factors affecting this bottom line are labor and machinery costs, land and interest, plus seed and chemicals. On the other hand the yields play a vital role since yields dictate the cost per ton of feed produced. Higher yields spread out the cost of production. Two dairymen who have learned how to reduce costs and increase yields are Bill Adams of Shoemakersville and Ray Walton of Lmwood, NY. The Walton’s farm con sists of 500 acres 400 of which are tillable. The crops grown are 200 acres of alfalfa and 200 acres of corn, 50 of the 200 acres are made into silage. There are two major factors which are helping the Waltons keep feed costs down. One is that they have been able to eliminate the cost of side dressing their com with fertilizer and to grow high protein alfalfa. “One of the biggest problems with trying to side dress corn is you either have to forego cutting the alfalfa at the right time and lose a lot of the protein content or you side dress the com after the first cutting and that ends up pruning the com roots “This sets the com back a good 2 weeks The practice also means another trip in the field and further soil compaction” explained Ray Ray prefers to cut his alfalfa in the bud stage when protein content is at its highest He cuts it, windrows it and wilts it down to bet ween 40 percent and 45 percent moisture before its stored m his Harvestore. This past year’s tests showed Walton’s alfalfa haylage was 23 percent protein on a dry basis. They have been able to cut their outside protein costs by $13,000 this past year because of the high quality haylage The average dairyman in western New York spends 25 percent of his milk check for outside feed costs including protein supplements and minerals The Waltons spent a modest nine percent of their milk check for outside feed costs We Specialize In Aerial Wort LKmff Our Twin Bucket Rnom Truck / ELECTRICAL \ / CONTRACTING \ 55 Fl ( Specializing In \ \ J AGRICULTURAL -TggT* J WIRING / Also Residential, Industrial J £\. And Commercial Work / Free Estimates / Wt Ka<r« Po*et In Stock 2S 30 3J *45 two dairymen cut costs, save nitrogen The key to getting in the alfalfa fields at the right tune has been to eliminate the sidedressing of corn. “When we used to side dress our com one crop or the other would suffer. Usually we let the com suffer by getting into the fields too late but that’s because hay is a Jot more important then the com. Only thing is, we had higher com production costs then we wanted,” said Ray. Ray figures it costs $8 to $8.50 per acre to side dress com. That cost mcludes labor, fuel, equipment maintenance and depreciation. It does not include the cost of the fer tilizer itself. He found that to do a good job of side dressing he could do three to four acres per hour. He experienced a two week com growth setback because the com was 12 to 24 inches high and thus the root pruning problem. His alfalfa is cut and brought m starting May 20th and ends June sth. The haylage yields run 6 to 6.5 tons per acres. “I want to keep com silage and gram com yields up as high as possible too. I realize that the whole idea of sidedressing com is to help control the nitrogen loss due to leaching and denitrification. So I tried N- Serve and it did the job” explamed Ray. N-Serve is a nitrogen stabilizer put out by Dow Chemical Company. Basically it slows down the action of the ammonium mtorgen form converting into nitrites and nitrates. Nitrites have a tendency to denitrify (escape into the atmosphere) and nitrates can leach into the ground In both cases this can reduce the amount of nitrogen fertilizer which is available to the corn plant Cornell University experts find 75 percent or more of the total nitrogen applied m the fall is lost They figure that an average of 35 percent of spring applied nitrogen is lost The loss can vary from zero to 95 percent depending on weather and soil con- ditions. “The mtrogen stabilizer costs $4.80 per acres, but that is a lot cheaper then $B.OO per acre' for side I BARN PAINTING : Call Us Now „ | For Free | Estimates PHARESS. HURST f RD 1, Box 420 K Narvon, Pa 17555 % 215-445-6186 C. M. HIGH CO. Box 175 RD2 Myerstown PA 17067 Phone 717 866-7544 dressing plus I have eliminated soil compaction and root pruning” explained Ray. Ray put the nitrogen stabilizer with part of his com this year and got a nine bushel yield mcrease per acre. Basically he chisel plowed in spring, applied a tank mix of fertilizer, N-Serve and herbicides and promptly incorporated it with a drag harrow. This was followed with planting the com m 32 inch rows. Ray used Sutan and Bladex as herbicides and Furadan as an insecticide. 200 pounds of 7-21-7 fertilizer starter was apphed per acre at planting time. 400 pounds of 20-6-12 plus 40 pounds of urea was apphed per acre with the tank mix. By increasing his'protein from an average of between 16 and 17 percent up to 20 or 23 percent he has cut his protein bill in half. Before it ran him $26,000 per year and now it is $13,000 per year. This coming year Ray will treat all 200 acres with the nitrogen stabilizer. His added yields he figures will run 8 to 10 bushels more. At $2 per bushel Ray will have $3OOO more high moisture com and silage for his cows. Currently his rolling herd average is 14,500 pounds of milk and 3.6 percent but terfat. His milk herd is 116 Holstems, housed m a free stall bam. The upshot is that the USED HARVESTER n MF 620 w/2 Row & Pickup *<fc,4so. USED TRACTORS IHC Super C, fast hitch w/2 bottom plow USEDSPREADERS JD 40 w/hydraulic end gate NH 516 NH 510 single beater USED HARVESTER SPECIALS NH 880 2 row narrow row head NH 717 w/1 row head NH 717 Fox 1000 RPM PTO,w/2 row corn hd & Pk up attach USED BALER SPECIALS John Deere 14T John Deere 14T w/ejector USED GRAIN DRILLS Cooplsx7Fert Grain Drill w'grass seed attach $750 00 John Deere 15x7 FBB Drill 450 00 USED MOWER CONDITIONERS HAYBINES NH 1495 SP 12 w'Partial Cab Real Sharp l New Holland 479 as is Hesston 320 9 Gehl 770 7 ft am Evergreen Tractor Co. Inc. Wmm 30 EVERGREEN RD., LEBANON, PA 17042 mums l phone (7i?) 272-4041 The Ray Walton operation cut corn growing costs, and therefore feeding costs for the milkers, by $13,000 last year because of higher quality and better yields Waltons have $16,000 more would cost me about $lO per profit from their dairy acre. Also I need that time to operation because of cutting make my hay” said Adams, feed costs plus increasing- Adams enjoys high corn corn yields and alfalfa yields with this year’s crop protein yields. varying from a low of 150 Bill Adams agrees that bushels in some fields up to side dressing can’t be 200 bushels per acre in his justified today. ‘‘l figure that top producing fields side dressing corn today Adams practices a con- 1.675 00 $1.050 00 975 00 850 00 $3,650 00 2,195 00 1,175 00 1,495 00 $750 00 450 00 $14r750 00 2,150 00 1,850 00 1,975 00 USED ROLLER HARROW Dunham 15'w/cylinders Hoses ___ only used on 100 acres *0,450. USED PLANTER SPECIALS Tag 11934 JD 494 Tag 1229 Ford 4 Row USED TILLAGE SPECIALS Ford 4 16 Plow JD KBA 32x18 Wheel Carrier Disc Bnllion 10 Cultimulcher USED COMBINE SPECIALS Cockshutt 427 w/Power Steering & 10' Platform $1 450 00 JD 55 Corn Soybean Special 12 head 9700 00 JD 55 Diesel w/cab 12 platform 7,500.00 MISCELLANEOUS John Deere #5B Loader A 1 Shape John Deere #lB 1 row Corn Picker New Set 18 4x30 Snap on Duals w/New Goodyear 6 Ply Tires Used NH #8 Crop carrier SPECIAL SAVINGS FOR YOU Planter & Tillage Tool Replacement Parts February Over-the-Counter Sales 5 % Cash Discount - $50.00 to $lOO.OO 10% Cash Discount - $lOO.OO or more ventional tillage no-till rotation program to minimize weed and insect problems. He moldboard plows two-thirds of his 300 acres of corn and no-tills the rest. Of the 300 acres of corn, 40 (Turn to Page A 29) $1,275 00 775 00 $950 00 875 00 850 00 51.850 00 950.00 1,050.00 1150 00 r ')
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers