If it's cold where you live, what are you heating with and what is it costing?

[ovrszd]

I suspect they won't be all that happy. Like I said, with inputs going through the roof and fuel cost, lots of farmers will go **** up this next year. I imagine Tractor House will have a gob of listings. I use 46 granulated urea and it's almost tripled in price and 28 liquid has doubled if, you can actually get it.

Yeah the fuel cost will leave a mark this coming year.

They will finish harvest Tuesday. They have already pulled men off the harvest crew and have them knifing Anhydrous. Partly to get that expense on a profitable year. Partly to offset any further price increase.

 

[Jstpssng]

Don't know if they still do it, but as of 10 years ago the forest service sold permits to take wood from national forest land. It had to be dead and on the ground. They were cheap, $25 or so. What I would do was go to where there'd been a logging operation the previous winter and take the treetops, branches, etc. Technically you were limited to 2 or 3 cords, but the ranger told me no one cares if you take more...just make sure you have the permit with you...fines were steep for taking it without a permit.
It's been quite a while since there's been any activity in the WMNF within a reasonable driving distance so I haven't bothered since the 00s, plus now many/most loggers chip all the slash.
Once upon a time there was a similar program for state forests.

When I worked for Georgia-Pacific they would have one weekend every year where people could buy a permit to cut firewood for a nominal price, which we would scale as they were leaving. I saw all manner of methods used with varying results. Some would use their pickup to drag trees out, sometimes doing more damage to their vehicle than the wood was worth. Yet two brothers brought an old twin cylinder JD, I forget the model. All that they cut was rock maple.

They felt that our recreational liability laws would cover them; and the weekend gave the honest people a chance to get some firewood, since other people were doing it anyways.

 

[JasperFrank]

This place seems like a good one to remind folks to clean the fan system if they have a forced air system for their wood stove. Checked mine yesterday, and it was a mess; filled up with dog hair.

Our Local National Forest area still issues permits for firewood. This is in western central oregon.

Willamette National Forest - Forest Products Permits

 

[ddbackhoe]

Heating oil has dropped $0.95 in a week. Down to $3.90 here in CT. Was over $5 a few weeks ago.

In my part of Md. $5.55 this morning

 

[jyoutz]

In my part of Md. $5.55 this morning

I’m having dinner in Amarillo Texas. Just filled my truck with diesel at $4.58 at Luv’s on the interstate. .30 cheaper in town away from interstate.

 

[npalen]

I live, most days, in our sunroom built on the south side of our ranch style home in NCKS. Using a 12KBTU Lennox mini split unit to heat and cool the 12' x 14' (168 sqft) room with lots of glass and two outside doors. Figured it up a while back and over the last couple years we've averaged @$20/month not including lighting etc and based on $0.12/kw for power.

 

[5030]

Yeah the fuel cost will leave a mark this coming year.

They will finish harvest Tuesday. They have already pulled men off the harvest crew and have them knifing Anhydrous. Partly to get that expense on a profitable year. Partly to offset any further price increase.

Very few row crop growers here use AN anymore because of the inherent dangers. They mostly use either 28 or 46 now. I don't understand knifing in AN now as the AN converts to N in about 2 weeks and then liberates itself from the soil in about 30 days. To me, that seems like a total waste. Sure they aren't knifing in liquid manure?

 

[gasman1075]

Propane has around 91,000+/- btu per gallon,
#2 fuel oil has 138,600 btu per gallon.
So considerably less heat per gallon of propane.
That said high efficiency propane furnaces are available that are more efficient then the high efficiency oil burners.

low sulfur fuel oil varies between 118,200 btu / gallon to 128,000 btu / gallon. At 92% efficiency it makes LP more competitive. Especially since it is domestically produced and readily available. And much cheaper than #2 if you own your own LP tank.

 

[ovrszd]

Very few row crop growers here use AN anymore because of the inherent dangers. They mostly use either 28 or 46 now. I don't understand knifing in AN now as the AN converts to N in about 2 weeks and then liberates itself from the soil in about 30 days. To me, that seems like a total waste. Sure they aren't knifing in liquid manure?

Yeah, I'm sure. Hard to mistake a liquid manure tank.

Maybe soil type would make a difference? Everyone here uses AN. Everyone that has the resources applies it in the Fall.

 

[5030]

So far this year, I've consumed 0 gallons propane and about 30 sacks of hardwood pellets along with about 500 pounds of off grade seed corn. Keep the house at 70 and the shop at 65 and I'm roasting pellets I purchased last year. Of course, due to inflation, the price of hardwood pellets has went up, just like everything else. Least my corn is free.