Sprayer Question

[Barry Bowen]

Around here contracting out will put you at the end of the list for getting anything done. Local out fitts will not even look at spraying hay until the beans are done with the round up in July. If you want your stuff done around here in a timely fashion you have to be able to do it your self. It may well be different where you are.

Also the coop is selling you potash, this is potsiumchloride! Chlorine is used to kill all kinds of bacteria and different organism. K also bonds much more water to itself in the plant as compared to calcium which is what your plants really need. This is why you crops look great in the field, but take for ever to dry down and shrivel up to nothing once they are dry. Keep buying that potash, the salesman is counting on you to make his retirement golden, no mater what is does to your land and crops.

Sorry for the little rant, but I got *****ed by those folks for the last time in 2008, and finally payed that bill off in May of 2011. There are plenty of alternatives that work very well out there if you want to find them and use them.

 

[D7E]

Around here contracting out will put you at the end of the list for getting anything done. Local out fitts will not even look at spraying hay until the beans are done with the round up in July. If you want your stuff done around here in a timely fashion you have to be able to do it your self.

Absoluteley and even having more acres does'nt help as most outfits have a "Prefferred list" that will jump ahead of you . And Sometimes employing the contractor with the $200'000 sprayer does'nt ensure a good job , often you are still at the mercy of a college kid at the wheel in his summer job . I have seen a lot of crops damaged from poor aggitation,wrong mixes,poor washing out . Obviously not all of them but experienced many!
Regardless of size most guys keep their own sprayer even if only for emergencies.

 

[AKfish]

Around here contracting out will put you at the end of the list for getting anything done. Local out fitts will not even look at spraying hay until the beans are done with the round up in July. If you want your stuff done around here in a timely fashion you have to be able to do it your self. It may well be different where you are.

I don't think it matters where you live.... if you CAN do it yourself - DO it!

Or you'll be waiting... and gettting p!ssed.... and then it might not be done right anyways!

AKfish

 

[AKfish]

One other thing about soil tests, they are not truely accurate. The labs dry the sample and grind it very fine. This can release elements in the lab that are not available in the soil. Tests over the years can show trends in the amount of nutrients in the soil, but your plant growth is a better indicator than the numbers. The number of worms is a great indicator as to how your calcium is doing in the soil.

I can show you fields that have had 10 ton of lime in one shot. Common ag science says I killed my field doing this, but come see it. These 10 ton test strips on the lime are the highest producing parts of the fields to this day, three years after the application. I was where you are now just 13 years ago. If I can learn it, you can too.

Ten tons.... on how many acres? There are fields on Kodiak Island that research indicates would need up to 14 tons per acre of lime (very, very acid) in order that the N, P, K would be available for uptake by Timothy hay. Nonetheless, it was also determined that it was not "cost effective" to apply that much lime, etc. as the grower could not recoup the expense... - in his lifetime!

I need to add lime to my hay ground, too. Maybe just a ton/acre or so. But, at $424/ton it's gonna have to be on the 5-year plan at the very least!!!!

AKfish

 

[Barry Bowen]

AKfish,

Location is everything. There is a paper mill in Spring Grove, PA, just about 10 miles away. As part of the paper making process they have to make their own caustic soda, and the byproduct is a beautiful wet lime, calcium carbonate, passes 98% through a 325 mesh screen. Price picked up, $2 per ton, and then usually about 6-7 per ton to have it trucked down. $2 per ton to rent the spreader for wet lime, and my tractor time and fuel to spread. I figure it costs me about $14 a ton on the field. This is why I can do test strips like this, and over the last 3 years I have done at least 6 ton to the acre on all the grasses, and 10 ton on the alfalfa. The alfalfa gets 1 ton per year from here on out as alfalfa is a calcium pig if it is available. Available calcium is finally getting up into the 5000 pounds per acre range. I figure in a few more years I will have to start on the calcium maintenace rates of about a ton per acre per year, or two tons every other year doing half the ground each year. High calcium also makes a huge difference in how the hay dries and keeps, but that is a whole other subject.

 

[foreman Etexas]

Heres a pic of my new sprayer just been spraying weeds this year and it will have paid for itself next year.I can spray different pastures when I feel like it now. 300gal.21ft boom

 

[AKfish]

I like it! Good lookin' sprayer. 'Cept that Artic Cat ain't gonna run it... unless there's a "hidden" pto somewhere!

Might burn a belt or two pulling 300 gallons up any kind of hill, too!

AKfish

 

[foreman Etexas]

I like it! Good lookin' sprayer. 'Cept that Artic Cat ain't gonna run it... unless there's a "hidden" pto somewhere!

Might burn a belt or two pulling 300 gallons up any kind of hill, too!

AKfish

:laughing:was for picture only!

 

[AKfish]

I know... just HAD to say somethin'!

AKfish