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jbgruver

Posted 2/22/2012 14:17 (#2244711)
Subject: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

About 15 minutes ago I asked the students in my Soil and Water Conservation class how much diesel is consumed per acre of production on their farms.

None of the students had any clue and the guys that were willing to guess wildly offered up #s ranging from 20 to 75 gallons per acre.

2 questions for you guys...

1) how much diesel is consumed per acre of production on your farm?
2) When you were 20, did you have any idea how much diesel was required to grow an acre of crops?

Joel
WIU Agriculture

BTW Probably 2/3rds of the 52 students in the class are from farms and the total farm acreage is well over 50 thousand acres.

JAS#17

Posted 2/22/2012 15:05 (#2244776 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

NE IL

I come up with around 5 gallons per acre (conventional tillage). When I was 20 I would have had to do some figuring to come up with an answer. I've never been good at coming up with quick answers on the spot.

Dennis SEND

Posted 2/22/2012 15:12 (#2244784 - in reply to #2244776)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Same here about 5-6 gallons/per acre (100% conventional tillage) and that includes clear fuel in pick-up/semi and misc use in payloader and loader tractor around the farm mowing grass and all other misc work, I just took gallons purchased / acres farmed and that is what I came up with.

Edit: I should add I do all my own spraying/fertilizer application also don't hire anything done so the fuel I burn is for 100% of my farm operation.

Edited by Dennis SEND 2/22/2012 18:32

garvo

Posted 2/22/2012 15:16 (#2244791 - in reply to #2244784)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

western iowa,by Denison

fuel burned doesnt matter on corn-how much fuel does it cost to dry the crop is what is expensive

Robzorbk

Posted 2/22/2012 19:23 (#2245192 - in reply to #2244784)
Subject: 15 to 20 gallons /ac. Rice/soybean operation. 100% irrigated nt

canadianeh?

Posted 2/22/2012 20:36 (#2245374 - in reply to #2244776)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Saskatchewan, big whitetail country!!!

2 an acre, not including to market. No-til, land is custom sprayed.

I have known since I was 16 what it cost me to farm with all the inputs, that is the year I started on my own after dad died, and that year I filled my own tanks up. Found out real quick! The difference between knowing, and not knowing, is that some guys are "babied" by pops, or given the inputs outright the first year, or part of a family corp. and so they do not get a clue as to what goes on, as they don't write the checks. I have several neighbors whose start in farming was an entire years worth of inputs on dads dime! No wonder few have a grasp...

Colorblind

Posted 2/22/2012 15:24 (#2244803 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

I've kept pretty close records the last 3 or 4 years and to cover an actual acre by acre cost of producing the crop (tillage, planting, spraying, harvesting, and hauling it away at harvest) I've been coming in at 3.5-4 gallons per acre. Once you figure fuel for misc equipment around the yard, hauling grain from bins, pickup fuel, etc I'm pretty sure i'd be in that 5-6 gallons range.

pbutler

Posted 2/22/2012 15:26 (#2244806 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: RE: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Macon, IL

400 acres, 95% no-till. All corn and beans.

Have a 500 gallon tank I fill every spring, refill before fall, and usually run out with a few days left. So maybe 1200? More in heavy corn years-less in bean years. I only use anhydrous every few years-would be a few more gallons then.

So my wide ranging guess would be 3-4 gallons per acre, depending on crop and year.

That includes doing usually about 1/2-3/4 of my own spraying, mowing, running auger, etc. Does not include road fuel to haul to town or pickup.

jbgruver

Posted 2/22/2012 15:49 (#2244819 - in reply to #2244806)
Subject: But how would you have answered this question when you were 20???

I am regularly surprised/concerned by how disconnected most of my production ag students are from basic production info like # of plants per acre, fertilizer and other input rates, input prices... etc for their family operations.

How much did you know about the management of your family's operation when you were 20?

Joel
WIU Agriculture

BTW 3-6 gallons of diesel per acre is about the range that I have seen in Ag Mechanics bulletins.

Edited by jbgruver 2/22/2012 15:50

TylerDurden

Posted 2/22/2012 16:06 (#2244838 - in reply to #2244819)
Subject: RE: But how would you have answered this question when you were 20???

A lot of guys seem greener at 30 after going to college than a lot of 25 yr olds with experience. They are able to tell you all about the species of the tree and its characteristics by one leaf but still can't see the forest for the trees.

Heavy Ground

Posted 2/22/2012 16:21 (#2244858 - in reply to #2244838)
Subject: RE: But how would you have answered this question when you were 20???

Im 21, in my head I estimated between 5-7 gallons for conventional tillage including harvest. I had to add up each pass in my head, wouldn't have been able to give a instant answer.

I can see why it bothers you when a college student says 75 gallons per acre lol.

Pfarms

Posted 2/22/2012 16:33 (#2244869 - in reply to #2244819)
Subject: Involvement

EC MN - Hour North of 'The Cities'

Depends how involved a son/daughter is in the operation, and what their true reasons are for continuing their education in ag classes. I wouldn't doubt that a certain percentage are doing it to get back to the farm to make some bank growing $6 corn, not realizing it was below $4 in 2010 and margins don't change much. But there has to be some students in your class that should know the answers to the general questions of production ag and find agriculture more interesting than just a way of making a buck.

At 20 I was going to college and coming home about every weekend to farm (fall/spring). Probably not my wisest choice, but I wanted to farm. I even had a part time gig working for a farmer during the week. All through high school the farm was first and fun was second, with a few exceptions. While in high school, I was involved with knowing general per acre costs and other expenses along with soil test analysis, fertilizer recs, etc.

My sister, on the otehr hand, is 2 years younger than I and doesn't really dig farming. Can't blame her for it, it's her decision and she is taking a different path that will probably be more stable in terms of income. I know of a few 'farm kids' who grew up on the farm, but have decided that returning to help run the show isn't what will float their boat, but would still have a good idea of how to run a farm.

hinfarm

Posted 2/22/2012 17:14 (#2244916 - in reply to #2244819)
Subject: RE: But how would you have answered this question when you were 20???

Amherst WI

jbgruver - 2/22/2012 14:49

I am regularly surprised/concerned by how disconnected most of my production ag students are from basic production info like # of plants per acre, fertilizer and other input rates, input prices... etc for their family operations.

How much did you know about the management of your family's operation when you were 20?

Joel
WIU Agriculture

BTW 3-6 gallons of diesel per acre is about the range that I have seen in Ag Mechanics bulletins.

I would say 4-5 per acre for me here. That includes irrigating with one diesel motor as well.

At 20 I would have had an idea since I was already farming then.

Don't think it is just AG kids that are disconnected from the real world. Some of the people that are in the "cubes" at some of these companies don't have a clue about what they are selling. Sure they might have been in "sales" or "marketing" before but their sales experience was running a pet food store and now they are a real estate agent or their marketing experience was with an insurance company and now they are trying to sell compact tractors.

It seems like employers are looking more at the letters that go behind the name or the paper that goes on the wall instead of "does this person really know what they are doing?"

Edited by hinfarm 2/22/2012 17:16

garvo

Posted 2/22/2012 17:39 (#2244964 - in reply to #2244819)
Subject: RE: But how would you have answered this question when you were 20???

western iowa,by Denison

kinda a unfair question ,but probably new more at 16 -when I go through the history of our family corporation,i can tell every thing that happened from age 14 on,and the price of fuel was dirt cheap-maybe 30cents a gallon.
Was in the farm op class of 1979-and looking back most of the instructors were clueless-not to mention some bad advice from bankers and etc.Sat in on Neil Harl's class and thought the most knowledgable person was the shop class student teacher-out of 259 students I think 10 ended up farming-I'm 1 of them-they told me-3professors i would never make it?

When ever I had a common since approach it was shot down?We had a instructor that asked the same questions,when he asked what our fuel consupmtion was I explained to him that we picked earcorn and that we saved more fuel then the average farmer used just by not having to dry corn-He said it wasn't practical on a 600 acre farm,I then asked him if it was on 1000 acres because at the time we where pickin 1000 acres of earcorn!
I'm kinda surprised how many agriculture professors are disconnected-not implying anything to you Joel-just a 1979 ag-op farm kid that would never make it!

kggonzo

Posted 2/22/2012 19:30 (#2245210 - in reply to #2244819)
Subject: RE: But how would you have answered this question when you were 20???

Northeast Nebraska and Candelaria Philippines

jbgruver - 2/22/2012 15:49

I am regularly surprised/concerned by how disconnected most of my production ag students are from basic production info like # of plants per acre, fertilizer and other input rates, input prices... etc for their family operations.

How much did you know about the management of your family's operation when you were 20?

Joel
WIU Agriculture

BTW 3-6 gallons of diesel per acre is about the range that I have seen in Ag Mechanics bulletins.

I'm afraid that if they don't know # of plants per acre, or can't even make an educated guess on fuel usage per acre that no amount of college is going to help them.

cib

Posted 2/22/2012 19:32 (#2245214 - in reply to #2244819)
Subject: RE: But how would you have answered this question when you were 20???

Chester, GA and Griffith, IN

A lot of people don't know, they can tell you how much their fuel bill was last year but don't have a break down.

ChrisA

Posted 2/23/2012 09:41 (#2246388 - in reply to #2244819)
Subject: I knew a case of quarts of Miller Highlife cost $8.88 at the Keg Shop

Iowa County, IA

At 20 I didn't have a care in the world about farm fuel. A case of Busch Lite was $9.99 though. Now I run about 4.5 gallons per acre.

EDIT: I should clarify that the 4.5 gallons is diesel fuel

Chris

Edited by ChrisA 2/23/2012 09:43

Tommy

Posted 2/23/2012 14:05 (#2246804 - in reply to #2244819)
Subject: RE: They are in school to be taught

Iowa

I think that's why they are in school. If I would have known the answers to everything, I wouldn't have gone to school.

1) Some on here (not you, you're a teacher) that bash college grads for knowing nothing are afraid of education and trying to feel better about their lack of it--just sour grapes. Yes, the real world is worth a tremendous amount--for sure more than school--but when an educated person becomes "real-world savvy" he is hard to beat--he doesn't reach a plateau because of lack of education.

2) I rented my first land at 14, dad worked in town, no one to ask anything, I had to go to school. Banker agreed to loan me $1200 for a tractor if I promised to stay in school. Then as my business grew and I wanted to quit school, banker threatened to call my loan if I did--I have often told him I wish he would have made me get my MBA!!!

3) I like the answer that I just fill up the barrels when empty--most honest answer yet!

Nothing wrong with teaching gallons of fuel per acre and plant pop'n, but it changes and what you teach them will become outdated anyway. Better to learn business principles. If I had the opportunity to start over, I'd not even get an ag degree--I'd get a business degree and take a few crop and livestock "basic" classes as electives. Technical stuff is always changing, and such knowledge has a short useful life. Fundamental principles are useful for a lifetime!

BTW, I use 4.7 gal/a (5 year average) to the bins or neighborhood elevator off of the combine. I track fuel to deliver out of bins separately as it depends on where we decide to go. That way I can tract the real economic net "profit" of accepting a further-away bid.

Tommy

Posted 2/23/2012 14:06 (#2246807 - in reply to #2244819)
Subject: nt

Iowa

nt

Edited by Tommy 2/23/2012 14:08

Pfarms

Posted 2/22/2012 15:39 (#2244812 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: Some numbers...

EC MN - Hour North of 'The Cities'

One pass strip till = 1/2 of a gal (coulter machine and air cart)

Two pass strip till = 3/4 of a gal (coulter machine and air cart)

Planter = 1/4 of a gal

Roller = 1/4 of a gal

Spraying = 1/4 of a gal per pass

Sidedress = 1/4 of a gal

Combine = 1 gal (probably could be slightly higher for corn than beans, but not by alot)

Trucking from farm to buyer = 3.5 gal for corn and 1.25 gal for beans

Corn = 6 gal per acre (not including hauling from field to farm, tractor and auger cart or tender fuel)

Soybeans = 3.5 gal per acre (not including hauling from field to farm, tractor and auger cart or tender fuel)

And yes, when I was 20 I would have a pretty good idea of what it would take for fuel per acre.

dgv959

Posted 2/22/2012 17:50 (#2244982 - in reply to #2244812)
Subject: Spraying=1/4 gal per pass? ..

Washington, IA

I can spray 400 acres with 30 gal with my tractor/1000 gal trailer sprayer. That's .075 gal/ac

Pfarms

Posted 2/22/2012 20:11 (#2245300 - in reply to #2244982)
Subject: Rounded up...

EC MN - Hour North of 'The Cities'

Probably closer to a tenth, but used .25 for easier figuring.

dgramenz

Posted 2/22/2012 23:14 (#2245806 - in reply to #2245300)
Subject: RE: Rounded up...

SW Illinois

Our Case burns about .25 gal/acre. That's twice as much as our old sprayer, but getting done faster is worth something, too.

Oliver1

Posted 2/24/2012 07:28 (#2248166 - in reply to #2244812)
Subject: RE: What combine...

Alton, Ia

do you run that will do 1 gpa? and at what yields?

rebuilder

Posted 2/22/2012 15:53 (#2244824 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: RE: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Bourbon,Indiana

A)
Here is what has been used "here" for the past few years.

570 acre corn/bean rotation in 100% no-till. Add on 180 acres custom harvest (combine uses the most juice) to equal approx. 750 harvest acres.

Also to consider, I do all my own spraying (avg three trips), and my own fertilizer spreading. Many farms have that custom applied which can skew the results.

This does not include trucking.

gallons diesel

2005- 2100
2006- 2294
2007- 1486
2008-1860
2009- 2175
2010- 1500
2011- 1660

Answer B)

No. Old man did not involve me with the expenses unless I spilled it on the ground. Then I knew to the penny what it was worth!

With that said I knew we used a lot less than the neighbors in our no-till system, as the fuel man seldom visited us. Just kept driving by to the neighbors, LOL!

Edited by rebuilder 2/22/2012 15:58

laurent lorre

Posted 2/22/2012 16:00 (#2244832 - in reply to #2244824)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

near Orleans, France

100% no-till including drill sprayings spreadings havesting mowing edges , etc drilling cover crops on 60% of the farm hauling grain from field to bins, loading and hauling from bins to elevator 7 miles away in winter 90 % of the fields 1 mile from the farm, 10% 10 miles away 3.6 to 3.7 gal/acre not including grain dryer when i was student i remember to learn that the average diesel use in conventionnal was around 10 to 11 gal/acre (conventionnal is mold board plow here)

Edited by laurent lorre 2/22/2012 16:09

tim4870

Posted 2/22/2012 16:00 (#2244833 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Southern MN

In a no-till operation, roughly about 3-4 gallons per acre to plant and harvest a corn/soybean crop. This does not include hauling it to market.

At the age of 20, I would not have known this answer. At that time in life, it was Dad's concern about how much things cost, and my concern was just getting all the work done. Everybody in a farm operation needs to keep in the back of their mind how to cut costs, but not everyone needs to have all the numbers in their heads all the time.

Of the students in your class that you say are from farms, I calculate the average farm size being about 1400 acres. That's a lot larger than my operation and knowing how much diesel fuel is burned probably takes more than remembering how many times a year the diesel delivery truck stops out and how much is delivered each time. Add in other activities that burn the diesel such as hogs, cattle, haying, etc... and knowing how much is spent per acre to raise a crop would be even more difficult.

farming247

Posted 2/22/2012 16:05 (#2244837 - in reply to #2244833)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

western mn

about 4.5 gallons an acre here(thats figuring just red fuel). we have no livestalk and a 50/50 corn -soybean ratio. conventional tillage, we do everything ourselves except spread fertalizer.

65SuperSport

Posted 2/22/2012 16:13 (#2244849 - in reply to #2244833)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Give em a break dude. It take's what it take's and no more. Tank run's out fill er up and go on. That is the way I did it when I was 20 and still do at 60. Alway's had the money to fill er up seem's like. 20 year's old, ought to have more on his mind than diesel fuel.!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chris22

Posted 2/22/2012 22:34 (#2245702 - in reply to #2244849)
Subject: Agreed!

Wisconsin

I don't feel it is necessary to know the gallons/acre to grow an acre of corn. Sure, maybe in my free time I would be interested in knowing, but does it really make any difference in how you will operate next year? Sure maybe you could switch to no-till if you feel you are spending a lot on fuel, but otherwise it will have no affect on the bottom line. I could feel that I could get a pretty close approximation of that 5-7 gallons/acre range off the top of my head but I am too busy figuring out more important numbers that will put me in the black or red. Just my 2 cents.

aray63

Posted 2/23/2012 15:00 (#2246872 - in reply to #2245702)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

barry county mi

My ag ed came from home and neighbors farms and extension in the 60s and early 70s once a week in late fall and winter after maybe 1&half hr class we played basketball till midnight dont know what that had to do with fuel but we had a very good instructer Mr. Leo Raptis probably spelled wrong. but great times anyway.thanks archie ps we did test plots and had farm tour and what not

jbgruver

Posted 2/22/2012 16:14 (#2244852 - in reply to #2244833)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

I didn't really expect any of the students to have an exact answer but I thought some might be able to quickly come up with a number in the right ball park.

Do you think you would have thought 50 gal/a was a reasonable sounding # when you were 20?

********************

Earlier in the class I mentioned that Native Americans planted about 4000 hills of corn per acre with a few plants per hill and asked how that compared to the corn populations planted on their farms.

very few had any idea :-<

Joel
WIU Agriculture

Edited by jbgruver 2/22/2012 16:15

65SuperSport

Posted 2/22/2012 16:21 (#2244857 - in reply to #2244852)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Lol, nope I think I would have noticed that. cause I started writing the check's at 12 year's old. I am thinking that your farm kid's have done very little farming no matter how big a spread they have come off of. Scary, ain't it.

runningtowin

Posted 2/22/2012 17:25 (#2244938 - in reply to #2244852)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

east central nebraska

jbgruver - 2/22/2012 15:14

I didn't really expect any of the students to have an exact answer but I thought some might be able to quickly come up with a number in the right ball park.

Do you think you would have thought 50 gal/a was a reasonable sounding # when you were 20?

********************

Earlier in the class I mentioned that Native Americans planted about 4000 hills of corn per acre with a few plants per hill and asked how that compared to the corn populations planted on their farms.

very few had any idea :-<
It surprises me, however I was married at that age ( yes, married at age 19- by choice mind you- yeah I know, what was I thinking ) and farming. I would say when I was in high school most of my fellow farm kids would have known plant pop. and relative amount of fert. on corn, but fuel used/acre and herbicide rates not so much. The more I think about your question could it stem from the fact that today's students have had such an easy path in life ( cell phones, google for answers to anything , quiet cabs full of bells and whistles, no real want for anything) that the need for problem solving or even thinking what it takes to make things happen in life, has not ben necessary for them yet ?
Joel
WIU Agriculture

Hayinhere

Posted 2/22/2012 16:53 (#2244886 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: RE: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Central NE

Two.

.5 planting no till
.2 spraying the first time
.2 spraying the second time
1.1 harvesting.

field dry.

This does not include my pick up for scouting.

9670guy

Posted 2/22/2012 17:06 (#2244903 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

NW IL

Around 7 gals acre
Yes I would have known at 20, harvested my 1st crop when I was 17.

bob1968

Posted 2/22/2012 17:15 (#2244917 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: RE: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

I didn't know till you posed the question and it looks like around 19 gpa which includes tractors, combine, trucks, and irrigation but not dryer fuel. I use a lot of manure which must be hauled in, spread, and incorporated. Also do all my own spraying. Only thing I hire is aerial application. Operation includes some hay and cattle which add to the fuel use. I've always been one to watch the tank and order more fuel when the tank gets low. Guess I'll have to ask the wife if I can get new equipment since mine seems to be so inefficient. I bet my fertilizer bill is alot lower than most.

As a 20 year old I wouldn't know fuel use and really didn't and don't know with any precision as a 40 + year old. I know I should but don't know where I'd make any major changes.

mennoboy

Posted 2/22/2012 17:19 (#2244923 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: RE: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Rivers, MB

Small grains farm in Western Canada. Wheat, canola, peas, sunflowers, oats. No tillage but do band fertilizer in fall with narrow knives.

Last year, we used roughly 5 US gallons/ac. that includes hauling to market. Also includes fuel for excavator/dozer that we used just on our own farm to improve land. All spraying done ourselves.

At 20, probably wouldn't have known exact #. For that matter, my brother and dad wouldn't know the exact # either and they farm with me. At 20, I would have know that 50 ga/ac is extreme. Mental math would say 50 ga/ac x 4 L/ga x 80 cents/litre = $160 / ac. Doesn't pass the smell test!

Most farm kids at that age unless they are actually farming some acres on their own will be more familiar with the operational side of farming and not the economics. not necessarily a bad thing.

Edit: crunched numbers a little closer 4.3 ga/ac of diesel and 0.5 ga/ac of gas (pickups, grain trucks/swather,auger engines, quads etc)

Edited by mennoboy 2/22/2012 17:38

HMAN

Posted 2/22/2012 17:21 (#2244924 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: RE: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

No-Till 3 Gallon acre

Flat Rascal

Posted 2/22/2012 17:38 (#2244958 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Central Kansas

I think I knew when I was 20 because we burn 6 gallons/acre and the tractor burns 6 gallons/hour so I remember we spend about an hour on every acre. It appears now I was harvesting with the tractor too. I am also a numbers-spreadsheet guy.

D6Joe

Posted 2/22/2012 18:34 (#2245075 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

east central ND

Total farm use with trucking to town, auger tractor, gas for the loader tractor and yard mower came up to 4.9 gal / ac.

I was suprised at some of the no till guys useing as much as they do. We do have a couple of full quarter feilds, and a few 80's down to some 15 ac fields. The 946 Versy is fairly easy on fuel with a 40' feild cult, 30' chisel plow or the 32' diamond disc. Planting and spraying are very easy on fuel, and most of the trucking is only 5 miles to the elevator.

Crop Walker

Posted 2/22/2012 18:39 (#2245083 - in reply to #2245075)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Central Ontario

Another interesting exercise is to figure out how much fuel or dollars you burn in your pickup on an acre basis.
I bet on many operation it is a similiar amount as we use combining an acre of crop.

9670guy

Posted 2/22/2012 18:52 (#2245116 - in reply to #2245083)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

NW IL

1/2 gal for pickup

Illinifarm

Posted 2/22/2012 19:22 (#2245184 - in reply to #2245075)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Your 946 Versatile will pull a 30' Chisel?

D6Joe

Posted 2/23/2012 08:46 (#2246239 - in reply to #2245184)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

east central ND

A real regular chisel plow. Not a ripper, not a disc ripper, not a mulch ripper, not a mulch tiller, or a disc chisel. Just a regular 30' with 12" spacing running 8" deep with 2" spikes and heavy harrow, going about 6 mph or so. Most guys around here would pull a 33' or 35' with the same tractor.

The terminology is differnt up hear I suppose, so I looked up JD's on line primary tillage catalog, and they call a chisel plow just like I do, no deep shanks or disc blades. I have a Summers, but in JD's model numbers it would be like a 2410.

NEILFarmer

Posted 2/22/2012 18:41 (#2245088 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Morris, IL

I am 20 and i could sit here and start telling you what each field uses for fuel and what each individual pass across the field uses, i could name years when fuel use was up or or down. I know the felling Joel, i'm in classes at local community college, knowing my location you could probably guess where. Most guys wouldn't have any idea on fuel use, seed cost, fertilizer, stuff like that i think about daily. I thought if i would have went to bigger school, ISU, WIU, or UofI things would have been different but i guess not.

Last year i even tried figuring what mowing tractor cost per income acre but someone filled a tractor and didn't keep track about half way through and i quit keeping track.

And in response to you question to paul above, everything. Everything my grandfather (farm owner) or dad knows about farm i know and since about 5 years ago grandpa is going backwards, i have to teach him stuff and remind him things.

Edited by NEILFarmer 2/22/2012 19:08

littlejohn

Posted 2/22/2012 18:48 (#2245098 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: RE: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Anybody ever figure how much oil it takes to make a gallon of herbicide?

jbgruver

Posted 2/22/2012 20:20 (#2245339 - in reply to #2245098)
Subject: RE: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

In a different class, I have students use the energy calculator described in the article at the following link to estimate the energy required to grow corn on their farms.

http://cornandsoybeandigest.com/how-be-energy-miser

This calculator (which should be attached) includes direct energy consumption and some indirect energy (e.g., the energy required to manufacture fertilizer)

The calculator includes some tables of energy costs for other ag chemicals like herbicides.

check it out and let me know if you have any questions.

Joel
WIU Agriculture

loran

Posted 2/22/2012 18:53 (#2245117 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: RE: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

West Union, IOWA FLOLO Farm 52175

When I was 20, it was a lot harder to figure it on a per acre basis.... Because of livestock.

Now,without livestock..... 5 gallon per acre would be plenty(including road fuel to end user)

3 biggest users.... Combine,tractor on StripTill bar,& then the semis

matt burgener

Posted 2/22/2012 19:03 (#2245147 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Moweaqua, IL

4.5 gallons per acre. Strip-till corn, mostly. Harvest is the biggest user.

ahay68979

Posted 2/22/2012 19:15 (#2245174 - in reply to #2245147)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Saronville NE

I know how many gallons I used last year, but inlcluding custom hay, planting, and harvest plus livestock, if I put it against my own acres, I would be at 22.5 gal to the acre. Truthfully I dont really keep track, I just filler up when it needs it. I am actually surprised it is that low for most guys. Heck the swather we just got rid of burned 1 gal to the acre alone. So take that times 4 cuttings Im at 4 gal just for swathing, no baling, no raking no moving bales off the field.

Edited by ahay68979 2/22/2012 19:16

midmomike

Posted 2/22/2012 19:10 (#2245163 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

audrain county missouri

About 5-6 gal/a.....when I was twenty i would guess between 10 and 12 gal/a but that was a long time ago and we just had gas tractors and 2 row equipment

puff33m

Posted 2/22/2012 19:17 (#2245177 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: RE: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

N FLA

I had never been on a farm when I took soils 105, they called it.

Thud

Posted 2/22/2012 19:29 (#2245203 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Near-north Ontario, French River

The kid that answered 75gals per acre may not have been too far off depending on what is produced on the farm. I can see a processing tomato farm easily exceeding that number. Figure 2-3 tillage passes, a pass for form beds, a pass to plant, couple of cultivations, multiple sprayer passes, diesel powered irrigation pumps. Toss in a harvest that may only cover 5-10acres a day and involve4-6 tractors,a large harvester ( running WOT at 1mph) multiple trucks ( 2-3 per acre harvested) followed by post harvest tillage etc etc and you could easily surpass 75gal per acre.

t rock

Posted 2/22/2012 19:47 (#2245245 - in reply to #2245203)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Tablerock Ranch eastern Wa

9 to11 gallons in hay with the wind at our back, the corn and wheat were a nice savings on fuel and time in 2011, the trucking was another 8 gallons on the hay and trucking our high moisture corn 90 miles was close to 10 gal 12,698 gallons of red last year and close to that in road fuel, @ 20 i was driving nails and dreaming of farming someday," back then i couldn't spell farmer " and now i are one"

DB Tracks

Posted 2/22/2012 19:36 (#2245223 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Camp Douglas Wi. 40miles nw of wi. dells

We do full tillage & full for the semis hauling back to the bins 4.53 gals diesel per acre. In 1974 rented my first farm Dad had me keep track of the fuel. I molbored plowed, disc 2 times, planted, sprayed, cultivted 2 times, sidedressed anyd & picked it with a mounted picker with a sheller unit on the back. 8 gals of gas as we had gas tractors at the time. I was 22 years old then.

tillage-director

Posted 2/22/2012 20:01 (#2245275 - in reply to #2245223)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Central MN

I remember when I was 20 I used to do all the fall tillage for my cousin. Basically he would give me a couple tubes of grease, some shear bolts, and tell me to get it done. I could tell you exactly how much time I spent on each feild and roughly how much fuel I burned. I used to figure about 200 gallons would do 80-100 acres depending on the feild or about 2 to 2.5 an acre. Didn't ever pay attention to the rest of it because I was the tillage guy!

tigger

Posted 2/22/2012 20:01 (#2245274 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: RE: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Iowa

I'm using just over four gallons per acre with mostly corn on corn. That gets the corn grown and put into the bin. Yes, I would have known about what it took at 20 as well. Numbers like that got several test runs in term projects for several different classes. I might not have had a quick number off the top of my head at the time because I would have been too caught up in trying to decide if it was something like 4.07 gallons or 4.08 gallons. Later I learned the rest of the world would pass me by if I was to keep spending so much time splitting hairs.

I wanted to farm for a living. Most people were not very optomistic about farming at the time. What things were going to cost and the variability of outcomes was very much on my mind at age 20. I think several of my peers were the same in those regards.

cz4586

Posted 2/22/2012 20:03 (#2245279 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: RE: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

NE Indiana

1) We burn around 3 gallons/acre. 100% no-till
2) When I was 20, 0 gallons/acre of diesel, we were all gas then! But more to the point, yes, I knew exactly how much gas we were burning. Dad brought us into the farm on shares. We paid a percent of the expenses and got a percent of the income. So we knew what we were spending.

Feeder

Posted 2/22/2012 20:56 (#2245433 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: RE: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

South-East South Dakota

The 4 to 5 is probably pretty close. It costs more to chop silage, haul manure. When I haul by myself in the winter, I'll have 3 motors running at all time, not all driving. That would really skew the acres per gallon.

nwksmilo

Posted 2/22/2012 20:59 (#2245439 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Colby, KS

Not counting irrigation ~ 4 gallons per acre

Add in diesel powered irrigation ~ 6 gallons per acre per year

When I was 20 I would have known spot on.....was already full time farming.

jbgruver

Posted 2/22/2012 21:00 (#2245442 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: Thanks for all the interesting responses!!!

Wow... I didn't know that this was going to be such a popular topic :->.

I want to clarify one thing...

I have had lots of great students during my 5 years at WIU - including a few in my current Soil and Water Conservation class :-> :-> :->

some are already quite involved in farm management and others I expect will become good farmers when their dads/uncles/grandpas...etc.. are willing to let another hand on the wheel.

If you have younger relatives that work on the farm, I encourage you to talk with them about management decisions every chance you have and even let them make a few decisions:->

Joel
WIU Agriculture

Phred

Posted 2/22/2012 21:17 (#2245479 - in reply to #2245442)
Subject: RE: Thanks for all the interesting responses!!!

NE Mo

That may be a loaded question. Depending on the farm. No Till or conventional till, or strip till.
Either way, I budget one gallon per trip. Some equip will use less than a gallon, and some trip will use more. But a gallon per trip here is close

Duke

Posted 2/23/2012 08:46 (#2246238 - in reply to #2245442)
Subject: RE: Thanks for all the interesting responses!!!

Joel, Interesting topic. I grew up on a farm and went to WIU ag school and have been in the ag business ever since. Dr Robinson, Hoerner, Rogers, Roskamp were the professors when Macomb was my home. My son didn't grow up on the farm, didn't go to an ag school and is just starting out in the ag business. I feel he is better prepared to succeed in his career than I was when I started. I doubt if I knew what the fuel per acre number was when Iwas 20 and if there was a number given in lecture, how reliable it was. I might have been able to calculate the consumption rate at the Mill, Ritz or Moon thou.

The difference I see in today's students is a higher level of professional confidence. These students are better trained and prepared for todays challenges than I feel I was at 20. I would have loved to sit through one of your classes based on the presentations you have posted here.

Early in my career a company VP stated that our new hires were smarter than top management. The difference was the experience level that the top managers could draw on. From my personal observations this is still the case.

west illini

Posted 2/23/2012 00:24 (#2245928 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

striptill/notill3-4 gpa. I did know how much I was using when I was 20, because I was running the farm then. I hated making extra passes then so as to not have to call the fuel man too often. (Dad taught me that). But at the time, it was the way we knew how to farm. Learning new more efficient ways now.
A few falls ago, I had to order fuel again, and my wife asked " you need more fuel?" Made me think about things a bit differently,. That reality check made me step back a bit, and make every trip count.
edit to add. if I was conv till I would be using at least twice as much

Edited by west illini 2/23/2012 08:13

cotncrzy

Posted 2/23/2012 07:54 (#2246130 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: RE: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

PROSPECT, TENNESSEE

Dyed diesel.... 2.3 GPA, total fuel including, Gasoline for trucks...4.01 GPA. When I was 20 fuel was never thought about here,but now days it is a big factor.

Edited by cotncrzy 2/23/2012 07:57

Orfarmer

Posted 2/23/2012 08:03 (#2246148 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: RE: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Roanoke, IN

I fit in that age group and yes I know and have known since I was old enough to watch the meter spin. This is for organic production:
corn: 4.5 gal production, 3.25 marketing
beans: 4 gal production, 1 marketing
wheat: 3.25 production, 1.5 marketing

I'll maybe give them some undeserved credit. I have seen numbers that high or higher for the diesel fuel equivalent use of energy on farms. It is really just a way to express how much energy is used from all sources including fertilizer, equipment, drying, etc.

The funny (sad) thing is I bet these same students can rattle off sports statistics like there's no tomorrow. Good luck you have your work cut out for you!

jbgruver

Posted 2/23/2012 09:05 (#2246291 - in reply to #2246148)
Subject: RE: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Hi Andy,

I don't know if you noticed this message that I posted last night:
http://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=289052&mid=224...

When my students crunch the numbers for their corn production systems using the calculator attached to the above message, the per acre totals are normally 30-50 GDFE (gallons of diesel fuel equivalent) with N fertilizer and grain drying being the largest energy costs.

Joel
WIU Agriculture

dublin8300

Posted 2/23/2012 10:32 (#2246493 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Dublin, MS

When I was in Soil and Water Management at Msu, I was doing good to understand the proffessor. We couldn't pronouce his name much less spell it.... S^!t rolls down hill and payday is on Friday, I knew that when I was twenty....

If i had to guess our would be around 8-11 gpa on mostly cotton with a few beans, 50% furrow irrigated, 10% pivot irrigated, depends on how dry the summers are.

dk77

Posted 2/23/2012 11:37 (#2246574 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

NW Iowa

Strip-till corn with Pluribus units, No-till beans, at least 2 sprayer passes, and harvest= 2.75-3.00 gal/acre the last 3 years. My total diesel, gas and oil cost per acre for the last 3 years has been $11.11, $11.31, $8.32. Prior to switching to strip-till, fuel use was over 5 gal/acre.

When I was 20, I had no idea how much fuel Dad was using. I wasn't involved with the farm at that time. I may have been able to come up with how many gallons of beer I was drinking per month.

mj_sker

Posted 2/23/2012 22:51 (#2247811 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

The Far East...of Nebraska.

Okay, I think this may be a little bit of an unrealistic expectation of a twenty year old. At 20 I was a grunt. I thought about football, beers, and girls. Farming was something I did in summers when I was home, and had done for a blue-collar job all my life. I was more interested in the tractors, combines, trucks, etc. I am definitely not a mechanic or a gearhead, but that is what stood out to me. Unfortunately I can't tell you enough about the inside of any of those machines. However, I can recognize a cover 2 corner in a millisecond, or identify a OLB blitz from a free safety's alignment. At twenty I had no life plans, and farming was a job that I worked. The same could be said of me in high school. I wasn't in FFA, lots of people probably had no idea I worked on the family farm. I played sports. Year round. I worked on the farm, then went to practice. I didn't take vo-ag classes, I took AP classes. We lived in town. I didn't live and breathe farming, I was a normal kid with little thought about things like diesel burned, etc. I had lots of questions related to yields, fertilizer, crop rotation, etc. while I was on the farm, but most of the guys on the farm wanted to talk to me about sports, which I happily obliged. I have to say I would have had zero clue how to answer that question. At twenty-one things started to change. I settled down. Met a girl. Worked a summer job at a cargill in a whole different farming atmosphere and I wanted to know everything and compare it to "back home." Still never took an ag class, went a different route with my degree. Don't regret it, I'm just lucky I can learn on here! My Dad talked to me about things, but he knew I was more interested in sports, so that's what we talked about. He taught me financials through the stock market rather than the farm. There was absolutely zero pressure to come back and farm, and now that's probably why I want to do exactly that.

1sprayer

Posted 2/23/2012 23:58 (#2247982 - in reply to #2247811)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

ontario

This post got me to thinking and I looked up some actual numbers. 31.4 us gallons per acre. I've always figured processing tomatoes fuel at 300 litres per acre (79gal) but never divided it over total acres. The only figure that I know for sure on the corn and bean side is combining soybeans takes 10 litres per acre.

2388

Posted 2/24/2012 09:32 (#2248399 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Eastern, IN

We are right on 2 gal/ac on field operations. No-till, some turbo till, no spraying and combining with an auger cart.

Ksfarm

Posted 2/25/2012 10:14 (#2250473 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: RE: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

North Central Kansas,

1) Thought I knew but when I checked I was a little surprised, thought it would be more. 2.8 gpa, all no-till, 2 tractors, combine, grain cart, 2 trucks, do my own spraying, planting, harvesting 2) at 20 didnt have a clue how much diesel it required to grow an acre of crops.

Wayne NC IL

Posted 2/25/2012 20:30 (#2251503 - in reply to #2244711)
Subject: Re: How much diesel do you burn per acre?

Ours is a corn/soybean farm. We use a rotation of 80% corn, 20% soybeans. Field operations consist of one pass with DMI Field Cultivator & Dmi crumbler, one pass with CIH 1200 planter, one pass with JD 6500 sprayer (two passes on the soybeans), one pass with the New Holland TR 99 combine and a grain cart, one pass with CIH turbo disk on the corn stalks, one pass with the DMI 530 ripper on the corn stalks. This took 5.5 gallons per acre in 2011, most of it was used with the turbo disk and ripper. The grain was hauled from the field directly to the local elevator, a distance of 4 to 10 miles one way, which added another 0.9 gallons per acre. Total fuel use was 6.4 gallons per acre in 2011. Our fertilizer and nitrogen were custom applied and not included in the 6.4 gallons per acre.

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