West Central Iowa | JAnderson - 9/21/2023 19:21
Get a $15k versatile 4wd, $15k air seeder, $30-50k SP sprayer, and a $30-50k combine setup and roll.
An affordable sprayer is a printing press for money. 2-3 passes on the soys, canola could be 4 passes, wheat could be 5-6. So figure 4,000 acres sprayed at $8/ac is a $32,000 custom spraying bill plus you wouldn’t get wholesale prices on chemical.
If you can hire out a custom combine reasonable they can actually make you money. A good combine operator can make/save $15/ac over a steering wheel holder.
Edit: Everyone is talking about planters. For what you are planting there is literally no reason to own a planter, it’s an added and unnecessary expense. 1000ac with an old flexi coil 5000 would be a cake walk. Get a solid game plan/cash flow/budget and roll. $60k for the big 3 things I listed (4wd/air seeder/SP sprayer) is only $60/ac over one year on the 1k/ac. There are guys with much higher machinery cost/ac then that.
I agree with this, and don’t think you have to plant every crop starting out. Not sure if you are talking winter wheat, but would rotate that with soybeans/canola if it suits your area to spread work load. If the opportunity is there I would jump on it, don’t do some ease in thing that might let the opportunity get away. Get crop insurance, budget for expenses in way that keeps you somewhat protected in the event of a crop failure. You can gross less than your crop insurance guarantee, grain quality and moisture can get you, in addition to marketing. I am assuming you are in a fairly high risk area, I would give different advice on good ground in Iowa, where aiming for near record yields may work more times than not. |
First time farmer
