E2-Corn Talk, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 19, 2002
Fulton County Grower Manages Under Unique Conditions
(Continued from Page El)
small grains and manages
timberland as well.
But McLucas has also de
veloped systems that work for
growing and handling com.
While he’s experiencing his
share of drought loss this year,
some of the fields are produc
ing moderate to good yields.
“The best word I can give
you is ‘erratic,’” he said of the
com crop. He noted yield esti
mates ranging from 11 to
more than ISO bushels per
acre, with a good part coming
in at around 90-100 bushels.
According to McLucas,
those figures would be a lot
worse without the manage
ment practices he employs on
his limestone-based soils that
contain a lot of alluvial sand
stone and shale in the top
layer.
The key to maximizing com
yields is the no-till or min
imum tillage approach he has
been using for more than 20
years. In the past four years,
he has switched to a strip-till
planter, which works a narrow
band for each row.
The difference in soil quali
ty and moisture conservation
beween no-tilled and plowed
ground is significant, McLu
cas said. After years of obser
vation, and one recent experi
ence with planting com in a
chisel-plowed field, he is ready
to put the plow away.
According to McLucas,
chisel plowing opened up the
soil to greater moisture loss
and contributed to a crop fail
ure.
“Never again,” he said of
using the plow to prepare com
ground.
A T-shirt held up at bin door demonstrates signifi
cant amount of air being forced up through corn
from below by a fan aeration system. The bin here
contains shelled corn about six feet deep. McLucas
said that even when the bin is full, there is no ap
preciable loss of air movement.
McLucas looks over his land in “The Narrows”
area of Great Cove.
No-tilling also helps prevent
erosion in McLucas’s fields,
many of which have fairly
steep slopes.
For planting wheat after
com, McLucas makes one
pass with a heavy-duty disk
harrow. It’s necessary to work
the com stalks down to reduce
disease pressure on the wheat,
he said.
In addition to moisture
shortages and other chal
lenges, McLucas estimated
that deer cause him upward to
$30,000 com crop damage a
year.
A possible advantage to
farming here is what McLucas
calls a “micro-climate,” which
creates unusually heavy fogs
and dews each spring and fall.
This phenomenon occurs in a
relatively small area of the
valley, including the land he
farms. According to McLucas,
these waterings can contribute
significant moisture for crops.
McLucas makes sure of
this: the com he does harvest
will be dry, high-quality grain
that brings a premium price.
His propane-powered dryer
system can dry shelled com
from 25 percent to 17 percent
moisture as fast as it is har
vested by his four-row Glean
er combines and hauled to the
pit where it is augered to the
dryer.
“If you start the dryer at 6
in the morning, by 10 at night
it will do 4,000 bushels,” he
said.
According to McLucas, the
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drying costs about 7 cents per
bushel, including propane and
electricity to run the dryer
fans.
When the com is dried to
17 percent, it is augered to a
16,000-bushel round steel bin
equipped with a commercial
aeration setup, which com
pletes the drying process. This
is accomplished by a high
powered fan that forces air
from the floor of the bin up
ward through the com.
Once com comes into the
bin in the fall, the fan runs
continuously until January to
ensure dry, quality kernels. It
takes about $35 worth of
electricity per month a
small price to pay, according
to McLucas. He doesn’t take
chances on com going bad.
“The grain bin people tell
me I’m overventilated, but on
the other hand, I don’t have
moldy grain,” he said.
McLucas starts harvesting
com at 25 percent moisture in
order to head off field losses.
By the time harvest is com
pleted, the com is at about 18
percent moisture in the field,
he said.
For hauling com, as well as
hay and small grain, McLucas
has another solid system in
place. His son-in-law, Donald
Truax, runs a trucking busi-
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Relatively small but
fllled-out ears are char
acteristic of McLucas’s
crop this year.
ness, mainly hauling ag com-
modities.
“I guess you could say it’s
an in-house trucking compa
ny,” McClucas said.
In addition to farming,
McLucas was recently named
secretary of the Pennsylvania
Com Growers Association. He
is also hosting field com trials
on a number of varieties this
year.
McLucas contracted his en
tire com crop this August to
ensure the benefit of a rela
tively high com market. What
does he think of the price?
“It’s close to what it ought
to be,” he said. “It’s getting
there.”