Farmers Putting in Long Hours on Winter Work
By GARRET MATHEWS, Courier & Press staff writer 464-7527 or mathewsg@courierpress.com
What does the wise farmer do during the winter months to best prepare for the growing season?
“Pick the brains of your seed provider and farm equipment dealers,” suggests Dennis Epplin, crop educator from the University of Illinois who is based in Mount Vernon.
Fertilizer and markets
“Put nitrogen on your winter wheat,” says Steve Scates, whose family works 14,000 acres around Shawneetown, Ill. “We also attend meetings and get outlook updates from universities and private companies.”
“Farmers are watching the grain markets closely for pricing opportunities, not only for the crop they just harvested but for 2008 and even 2009 crops,” says Jon Neufelder, the Posey County, Ind., farm extension educator.
They agree this is the time of year to clean grain bins, get prices for pesticides and determine the optimum crop mix between grain and soybeans.
“Winter is a very slow time for the unwise farmer, and a very busy time for the wise farmer,” says Ruth Hambleton, extension educator from the University of Illinois, who is also based in Mount Vernon.
Mark Seib, his brother, Wayne, and their father, Alfred, maintain a 2,500-acre farm in Posey County.
“Right now, we’re hauling grain we harvested last year that we had been keeping in cribs,” says the 49-year-old Seib, a past president of the Indiana Soybean Alliance. “We’ve got 110,000 bushels of corn and a typical semitrailer load is about 1,000 bushels, so we’ve still got some work to do.”
Hambleton says farmers spend the off-season reviewing soil tests and catching up with paperwork that deals with land-usage regulations.
“Farmers will combine their marketing plans with an appropriate crop insurance product to reduce any risk of a bad production year in 2008, and inability to deliver on contracts they made.”
At 70, Scates is the oldest member of the 12-member family consortium that oversees their Gallatin County, Ill., farm.
“In the winter, we spend a lot of time reviewing prices at the Chicago Board of Trade to get an idea of the yield we can expect at the forward price.”
Buying the farm
Neufelder says some farmers use the break in the action to decide if they want to rent another farm or two, or perhaps buy a farm.
Randy Hagan has 4,000 acres around Waverly, Ky. His three full- time employees are busy making repairs on all the farm’s spring- planting equipment.
“They’ve finished with the tractors so it’s down to the planters and seeders,” says the 50-year-old Hagan.
He recently attended the Union County Grain Day and sat in on programs outlining the paperwork that must be carried in on-road vehicles to satisfy the state Department of Transportation.
“The first thing we do after the harvest is take the combines to the shop and rebuild them. You want to have this finished by the end of the year so you can start in with your other stuff.”
Hagan has looked at GPS equipment over the winter and is considering installing the units on his sprayers and fertilizer applicators. He’s been told the savings can be up to 10 percent per acre.
“One costs around $5,000 and that includes the satellite hookup. It helps control overlap, and it’s important to cut down on waste when you consider that anhydrous (ammonia) is running about $600 a ton.”
Jim Head, 77, of Shawneetown, Ill., used to spend the winter worrying about his 280 acres.
“Now I rent it all out. I tell them what crops to plant and they do all the work. I get a one-third share and don’t have to raise my hand. Best deal I ever made.”
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