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Aberdeen MS | Couple of reasons I slipped wheat back into the rotation.
I'm 100% solo on 600 acres. I'm the combine driver and the truck driver. Fall of the year with all in row crops I just ran out of time when I was still conventional till. I was either taking out 26%+ corn to beat freeze up or ripping frost. In 05 I still had 150 acres of corn standing with 8" of snow. That was the year that made up my mind. Physically, I can't sit in a seat for 16 - 20 hours a day like I used to when I trucked, my knees and hips won't let me anymore. Something need to change, either a complete different set of equipment to be timely, or spread the work load out to achieve something similar. I chose to add the wheat to break up the work load.
Using the wheat in rotation, I don't need the GMO for pest management. Bulk of my corn last year was smart stax. The refuge had a 12 bpa + yield advantage over the GMO straight across the farm. 16 bpa when comparing it the same parent genetics, Smart Stax vs RR only side by side.
I don't have that kind of of APH on corn or beans that you referred to. Just what I was left with when I took over the farm. My step dad didn't believe in soil sampling, so when the feed lot was still in operation, 40 acres got the brunt of of 1400 yd cement feedlot in the spring year after year. Another 40 got the "clean out" when the feedlot was upgraded to the concrete. That was 4 trips across the field with spreaders wheel track to wheel track as thick as it could be put on, and then 5 yrs of silage corn continuous after that. I'm still dealing with some of the deep compaction in that field as well as the out of balance nutrient situation of mismanaged manure handling.
I can push 70 bpa yield for spring wheat "here". My APH is a bit "north" of 60 since I started again. Add in $100/ac or so of straw, and my net isn't a whole lot different than 160 corn most years. I put a value of reduced fall time work, plus considering the interest cost reduction of borrowed money and the seed cost of not needing the GMO for RW in addition to the rest.
It's a program that works for me, but I know it doesn't work for many others. I still turn a "healthy" profit year after year so I'm satisfied.
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Dreaming on a Winter Morning
