«CORN TALK
V PENNSYLVANIA MASTER CORN GROWERS ASSOC., INC.
Corn Talk, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 19,1994
Prize-Winning Berks Corn Farmers Share
Some of the members of the Schantz fa.. , gaii.. jx a group photo.. .om
left, Kathy holds Nathan, 1, Dave, Burd and Matthew, 6. Absent from the photo
were daughter Megan, in school, and Burd’s wife, Joyce.
Good Field Conditions Pay Off In Award W T ‘
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Farming Staff
DOYLESTOWN (Bucks
Co.) Using better judge
ment, com fanner Matthew
Maximuck and his father Wal
ter waited until it was just right
until the fields were dry
enough to work their no-till
planter in mid-May before
planting com.
Waiting payed off big when
they were able to harvest an
average of 203.92 bushels per
acre from a 10-acre parcel of
rented land near Solebury, gar
nering a first place award in the
state in the National Com
Growers Association (NCGA)
yield contest.
PRODUCING CORN
PROFITABLY
IN 1994
Good com prices mean com
growers may have another
opportunity to make money this
year. It also means, however,
•hat livestock producers need to
grow their com as efficiently as
Possible to hold down feed
costs.
To increase your chances of
Access, be sure to consider
>omc of the basics of profitable
Matthew. Walter, and Sally
Maximuck in addition to
Matthew’s wife Cheryl and
children Matt Jr., 11 and Melis
sa, 13 farm about 1,100
acres of land on 25 separate
farms in the rapidly urbanized
area near Doylestown. Their
cash-cropping operation
devotes about 550 acres to
growing com, about 70 percent
of which is in no-till and the rest
minimum tillage. The remain
ing acreage includes about
*4OO-500 acres of soybeans,
100-150 acres of wheat, and the
rest hay.
According to Matthew, it
was a combination of looking
for the right planting conditions
YLVANIA MASTER
ORN GROWERS
ASSOCIATION
Between The Rows
Dr, Greg Roth
Penn State Agronomy
Assistant Professor
com production listed below as
you finalize your plans and
progress through the season.
1. Field selection. Before
you crop a piece of land, be sure
to “farm it on paper” before
investing your hard earned
cash. Generally, returns from
production should at least cover
variable or “out of pocket"
costs, to establish and harvest
the crop. For com, those costs
and land rent can often exceed
$2OO, meaning that a 70-80
bushel yield potential or more
and getting the right weather at
critical moments that pushed
the harvest way up above the
Maximuck’s previous record
last year of 189 bushels per
acre.
“We try to stay out of the
fields when they’re wet,’’ said
Matthew. “We might be sitting
another day longer than a lot of
other people in the area.’’
Matthew said many farmers
see others planting early, and
decide that maybe it is time to
plant. He said that, years ago.
when he was young and farm
ing with his father, he would
often suggest going in early to
plant. But his father would tell
(Turn to Pago 6)
may be necessary just to pay for
those expenses.
2. Crop rotation. This age
old practice can contribute to
higher yields, lower N require
ments, and lower insecticide
needs. It may also help with
control of those nasty perennial
weeds. While rotated com on
your farm may be limited
because of feed requirements or
government programs, com
grown on rotated ground can
often be produced from 30-50
(Turn to Pago 4)
CONNIE LEINBACH
Berks Co. Correspondent
HUFF CHURCH (Berks
Co.) The secret to Bind and
his son David Schantz’s conti
nually winning categories of
the Pennsylvania com contest
is available to most any farmer.
“We have endless amounts
or manure,” said Burd with a
laugh about his high-yielding
com. Burd won First place in the
ear com three-year average
class by the Pennsylvania Five-
Acre Com Gub contest.
Prizes were awarded recen
tly at the annual Pennsylvania
Com Conference in Lancaster.
Burd, of Alburtis R.D. 1, had
an average yield of 200.8
bushels per acre using Pioneer
3358, 3245 and 3352. Son
David, also of Alburtis R.D. 1.
won the one-year ear com class,
The biggest highlight of the NCGA events and other
farm meetings is "talking to the people," said Matth
ew, right. He attributes a lot of his success to listening
to father, Walter, left, to learn about growing corn.
5-Acre Corn Club
Winners Announced
LANCASTER (Lancaster
Co.) Awards were presented
to the state’s top com growers
from the Pennsylvania Five-
Acre Com Club at the recent
Pennsylvania Corn
Conference.
In the three-year average,
shelled grain class, regular
harvest size, first place went to
Joseph Matejik, Mechanicsvil
le, with an average yield of
186.5 bushels/acrc using Hytest
736 and 7728; second to Larry
Moyer, Mertztown, with an
average of 183.2 bushels/acre
using DoeblerV 66XP and
73XP; and third to Ed Snook,
Secrets
hand harvest size with a yield of
205.9 bushels per acre using
Pioneer 3358,
“You can see the difference
(in the yield) when you put on
the manure,” Burd said.
And there’s plenty of it to use
on the com crop since the
Schantz’s have 175 registered
Holsteins. Including heifer’s
and calves, the herd swells to
375 head. His rolling herd aver
age of milk is 19,000 pounds.
“It’s a lot of manure to pul on
the ground,” Burd said, “but we
try to get it in the right fields.”
They don’t do anything extra
other than add manure on the
two five-acre plots of land on
which they grow com for the
contest. TTiis regimen is the
same the Schantz’s use for all
250 to 300 acres of com they
(Turn to Pago 10)
Jersey Shore, for an average of
181.1 bushels/acrc with Pion
eer 3352 and 3293.
In the 3-acre+ harvest size,
first went to D. Richard Snyder,
Montoursville, for an average
of 175.3 bushels/acre using
Funk’s 4624 and Pioneer 3245;
second to Lester C. Wingert,
Chambersburg, with an average
of 169.7 bushels/acre using
Pioneer 3140; and third to
Daryl L. Alger, Palmyra, with
an average of 161.6 bushels/
acre using Pioneer 3241, 3293,
and 3394.
In the ear com class, regular
(Turn to Pag* 2)