Gentlemen . . . start your engines . . .

[Maple Leaf Angus]

You Southern Gentlemen getting your corn planters greased up yet?

What are you hearing about nitrogen prices now that you are getting closer to planting time? Lotsa horror stories here. The local co-op got an order from head office to stop any more sales at $500/tonne (2205 lbs.) for urea. Apparently there is a new but not improved price coming into effect.

Scary times.

 

[Mike]

You Southern Gentlemen getting your corn planters greased up yet?

What are you hearing about nitrogen prices now that you are getting closer to planting time? Lotsa horror stories here. The local co-op got an order from head office to stop any more sales at $500/tonne (2205 lbs.) for urea. Apparently there is a new but not improved price coming into effect.

Scary times.

Is there seed available up there? The Co-op here will not sell to any first time corn planters because they are claiming a shortage of seed.

They have also gone up to $150+ per bag!

Nitrogen is scary here too. Urea is over $400 bucks per ton and still rising.

 

[Maple Leaf Angus]

Seed could be an issue. Our Pioneer dealer said that they had a fungal problem in their seed fields last summer and suffered reduced yields as a results.

Combine that with greater demand and "Houston, we have a problem". He was hoping that their winter seed production in the southern hemisphere would come online in time for our planting season.

The supply is O.K., he said, but one might not get all of the variety(s) of his choice.

Think I'll plant beans and more hay! Contrary opinion!

 

[Manitoba_Rancher]

Im hearing the same thing about UREA here as well. Prices are skyrocketing and and lots of the dealers have stopped booking it because they cant get prices from the manufactors of it.

 

[Denny]

I have a quote for RR Seedcorn at $90 per bag 90 day

also have a 85 and 88 day ay $111 per bag

Fertilizer is quoted at starter 30-20-60-12 $271.49 per ton

Urea top dress 46-0-0-0 $380.00 per ton

 

[Mike]

I have a quote for RR Seedcorn at $90 per bag 90 day

also have a 85 and 88 day ay $111 per bag

Fertilizer is quoted at starter 30-20-60-12 $271.49 per ton

Urea top dress 46-0-0-0 $380.00 per ton

Those are good prices Denny. You need to remove the cows and plant fenceline to fenceline! :lol: :lol:

 

[Denny]

I have a quote for RR Seedcorn at $90 per bag 90 day

also have a 85 and 88 day ay $111 per bag

Fertilizer is quoted at starter 30-20-60-12 $271.49 per ton

Urea top dress 46-0-0-0 $380.00 per ton

Those are good prices Denny. You need to remove the cows and plant fenceline to fenceline! :lol: :lol:

I'll get right on that.

I also have a quote on Diesel at 1.89 for #2 I need to take a 1000 gallons for that price.I sold a couple bulls today so I guess my money is spent already.

 

[Anonymous]

I had breakfast the other morning with my Pioneer seed rep-- He said the main office had called him a few days before and told him he had one day to sell the Roundup Ready corn seed alloted to him- or they would take the rest of the allotment from him as they needed it in other areas.....

He said after a hectic day of calling and running down all his old customers he had his entire allotment sold......Would have nothing available for new customers....

 

[DaleK]

MLA we booked our urea 2 weeks ago at $440, by the end of that week it was at $500. They've been told $700 for April bookings by their supplier

 

[Bill]

MLA we booked our urea 2 weeks ago at $440, by the end of that week it was at $500. They've been told $700 for April bookings by their supplier

Compare that along with fuel prices to what Denny has quoted.

 

[Maple Leaf Angus]

MLA we booked our urea 2 weeks ago at $440, by the end of that week it was at $500. They've been told $700 for April bookings by their supplier

So if a fella doesn't have his nitrogen/starter fertilizer booked and with land rents where they are for this coming this spring, $4.00 corn is no more profitable than $3.00 was last year. Funny how it seems to work out.

Around this area, land rent ranges from $135 -$175/acre. We can count on 125-150 bu. corn. Last year it was a record crop with yields up to 200 bu. for the first time ever. We had 25% more heat units than normal.

An hour south of here,and even just a bit east, it is up to $200. This is land that can be normally expected to produce 140-160 Bu. corn.

What is rent doing over your way, DaleK?

 

[Denny]

Land that will produce 100 buschel corn here rents for $25 an acre but it goes up quickley as you go south of here.Were at the line to where we have frost eary and the corn does'nt dry down so were basically a silage area.With the right corn and conditions we can combine it but if it needs drying it does'nt pay.

 

[DaleK]

MLA we booked our urea 2 weeks ago at $440, by the end of that week it was at $500. They've been told $700 for April bookings by their supplier

So if a fella doesn't have his nitrogen/starter fertilizer booked and with land rents where they are for this coming this spring, $4.00 corn is no more profitable than $3.00 was last year. Funny how it seems to work out.

Around this area, land rent ranges from $135 -$175/acre. We can count on 125-150 bu. corn. Last year it was a record crop with yields up to 200 bu. for the first time ever. We had 25% more heat units than normal.

An hour south of here,and even just a bit east, it is up to $200. This is land that can be normally expected to produce 140-160 Bu. corn.

What is rent doing over your way, DaleK?

MLA the average on the land we rent this year will be about $34, that's up from last year because we just took on another 70 at $40. Our 5 year average yield is 118 bushels. Our rent varies from 0 to $50. I would say high 30s is probably average for the area. Not a lot of demand in the area, dairy is moving out, beef is dead in the water and we haven't traditionally been a cash crop area. Most of the sales are going to hobby horses/wildlife habitat.

Talked to a friend from tomato country down in Kent/Essex who says a couple of guys are bidding $330 for corn ground for spring.

 

[Jason]

What does high moisture corn do in the ethanol situation? Can they use it?

 

[IL Rancher]

I don't know about high moisture corn and dry mill ethanol plants or wet mill for that matter...

Ground around here was pushing the 190 an acre mark and now we are hearing 250-300 on some places.. If prices stay high on row crops the famers will bid all the rental ground up the point where the margin is nothing again.. Than one year the bottom will drop out on the market and a lot of guys are going to be SOL. We are 200 bushl+ corn ground around here with normal moisture.. Irigated will do even better but on a lot of ground drainiage is more of an issue than moisture... Hay ground was plowed this fall around here and some barn yard calving yards are empty..

 

[Northern Rancher]

Geez Dale at that low a rental couldn't you rent it and do better grazing it. I haven't bought an ounce of fertilizer in fifteen years-don't miss it a bit.

 

[Maple Leaf Angus]

Talked to a friend from tomato country down in Kent/Essex who says a couple of guys are bidding $330 for corn ground for spring.

Good grief man, that's just crazy. Not long ago, they were paying less than that for tomato ground down there.

Sounds like the farmers in your part of the province haven't been bitten by the "spend-myself-poor" bug. Good for them. Corn should work for you at those rates.

I also like Northern Rancher's suggestion. With rent and land costs where they are in our area, it is starting to make cow-calf pretty tight. Especially if one has no marginal land to winter them on.

Jason - we have an alcohol plant and a starch plant or two not so far from us and they were taking wet corn at one time. I don't know if they still do or not. They have to take the moisture back up from dry anyway to process it.

The only catch was that they deducted the full drying charge off of the payment at delivery. No one seemed to be able to get it into the processor's heads that they shouldn't be doing that. Gouging, perhaps?

 

[DaleK]

There's more and more grazing going on, but not a lot of large parcels. Most of the rental land is in 30-40 acre parcels with nothing else close by and a lot of fencing needing to be done. Have a friend who has about 140 pairs grazing on mostly rented land but he has them spread over at least 10 properties in a 6 or 7 mile radius.
Also the freezer beef business here is populated with people looking for tax writeoffs selling sides of beef in the paper for $1.75 and even less cut, wrapped and delivered.

Just to give you an idea of the landscape, this is our home farm, which is one of the most cleared properties in the area. Count the spaces between the trees.