Fertilizer and lime... better to buy bulk and apply or hire it done?

[Oldoak]

What form of lime are you purchasing, anything other than pelletized lime (which is the most expensive), forget about spreading yourself.

 

[Fuddy1952]

I'm in Virginia and Southern States gives you a box, instructions to take samples all over that area (one box per pasture marked for intended crop). They send to Virginia Tech and get results in about a week. Mine came back a really thorough report, great across the board except a little high in nitrogen which was fine.

 

[Fuddy1952]

I'm in Virginia and Southern States gives you a box, instructions to take samples all over that area (one box per pasture marked for intended crop). They send to Virginia Tech and get results in about a week. Mine came back a really thorough report, great across the board except a little high in nitrogen which was fine.

I forgot to say testing was free. They sell fertilizer and spread it.

 

[Deerherd]

If you want a spreader to own that will handle seed/fertilizer and lime look at these: They come in different sizes. Broadcast Seeders Spreaders with 12 lbs. Capacity Kasco MFG

I buy lime in bulk and fertilizer bagged on pallets.

 

[japody]

Depends on how much lime you plan on putting down. A few tons, not so much trouble to apply yourself. We had 100 tons applied. No way would I consider doing it myself. It was 5 dump truck loads. They dumped it in one spot, brought out a loader and two spreader trucks with balloon tires. They took about 3 hours using GPS data which applied it precisely as needed.

 

[Dadnatron]

My local County Extension processes all soil tests we want without charge. I tested 30 spots last year, and everything was great except for some minor K and P levels on 2 small areas. I just suspect that I'll need to be boosting some as I take hay off.

I've been burned the last year, on timing for custom work. This put me behind in planting and ultimately, my stand was dinged pretty heavily I believe, by the frost last fall. I could have done it myself, had I the equipment. I now have both a planter and sprayer, so 2 out of 3 are addressed. The only thing which is not, is spreader. I'll contact the local suppliers and see whether they offer the use of a spreader. If so, then the answer is solved. (although that still leaves me at the mercy of the 'list')

If you WERE to purchase something (used... I can't afford a new machine for such limited acreage.) What size would you choose for a JD 5100e MFWD on mild rolling hills? I'm not really sure what size my tractor can comfortably handle vs would be worthwhile.

 

[leeave96]

We have lime spread - just to much volume for us to handle. All fertilizer (via bags) is spread with a Lely 3pt spreader. We like to spread our own as we can lay it down evenly and know our coverage is good, including corners and odd shaped fields. As to GPS, once you're experienced, you can spot your tire tracks, or spot a tree or fence post to make a straight line and sometimes we just drip a little piece of TP as we go along, I call it TPS...

The amount of acreage you have might make bag fertilizer get old quickly, but if you have a front end loader, you can probably manage the bulk bags into your spreader. We'll get there one of these days.

With regards to soil tests, be SURE to specify expected hay yield, i.e. tons per acre, so you don't sell you self short on fertilizer or over fertilize.

Good luck!

 

[Dadnatron]

When I say bagged, I mean in about 1000-1500lb bags. This is how SW Ag actually does their own. I saw the owner out filling a truck in the parking lot on Sunday. He just had a forklift and multiple bags laying in the parking lot.

 

[adimice]

Last week I bought 20 bags of 19-19-19, 1000 # for $15.00 per bag at our local southern states co-op, $300.00. Couple days later I went to the bulk plant and got 1200# of 50-30-50 for $196.00. Lime I can only spread pelleted and it comes in 40#bags. A new spreader cost $450, so no more waiting for poultry litter or the Co-Op to come and spread it. I like doing things myself.

 

[DJ54]

Here a local feed mill sells bulk fertilizer, that is in bins. They rent, or let guys use the spreaders, probably according to how much you buy. Being I only need 800 lbs. a year, to keep mine up to snuff, Barry let's me get it out of the bins, at bulk prices. So $75 bulk prices, vs. nearly $600 from a local co-op in bags is worth 30 minutes of shoveling. I spread mine with a cone spreader. EZ PZ to back the spreader up to the truck, and lower it, and pour into it. I use old plastic feed bags to haul the fertilizer. About 60 lbs. per bag. Beats shoveling into the spreader.

For Lime, I'm 40 miles from a quarry, and one load on my 1 ton dump is enough to cover my hay field. This application is normally good for 4-5 years. I bought a small fertilizer/lime spreader exactly like pictured below, about 20 years ago, for $250. I just use it to spread lime. Holds right at 1500 lbs. I pull it with one of the Farmall Super C's, it's just right for them. I dump it on the ground, and load the spreader with my little Bobcat. 2 years ago, I hand spread 4 tons of lime. The little spreaders hopper was just too bad of shape, to work. After slinging 4 tons of lime by hand, I decided it was worth rebuilding that winter. It's all rebuilt, and ready for the next time I need lime spread. Well worth the $250.00 worth of sheet steel, bearings, gear box, & paddle wheel to fix it back up. Soil tests just done, show I'm good for this year. Small spreaders like this are used on golf courses, so they should be relatively easy to find, if you know where to look. I saw one in about as poor of condition mine was before rebuilding sell at a farm auction about 18 months ago, for right at $400.00. If a person can do the work themselves, that's still a cheap spreader, in my book.

The extension agent here, and the guy I get fertilizer off of both told me & my buddy pelleted lime is good if you need it now, and why they call it quick lime. But, it is pretty much good for only one year. I can buy Ag lime at the quarry for around $9-$10 per ton, and I can spread it at my leisure, if the weather is right.

Here, they recommend fertilizing hay after first cutting. I learned the hard way one year when we had a wet Spring, like this one. I applied half the recommended amount in April. It rained until mid-June. Rye grass was as high as the fenders on the IH 656 row crop. Timothy that tall too, with 9" tops. And red clover was over 4' long. I say long, because it laid down, then started growing back up again. I had to mow in first gear, and at times, pull the TA back to go slow enough to get it through the old 990 MoCo. At times, the reel was literally pulling the Rye Grass out by the roots, before the cutter bar got to it. I had to ted it 4 times, to get it dry enough to roll up. I got 38, 580 lb. round bales off of 4.5 acres.

Last year, my extension agent gave me the amounts of N,P,K, removed from the soil, for every ton of hay harvested. It was in a phone conversation, and I didn't have anything to write it down on. I had him put it on a paper, to send along with my soil analysis, so I'd have something to reference to. On my ground, each ton of hay produced per acre, per cutting removes 13 lbs. of (P) Phosphorous, and 50 lbs. of (K) potassium/potash. The hay field tested low in P and K this year, and needs 100 lbs of P, and 120 lbs. of K on top of the amount listed above, when I see how much I get off first cutting. He, and the University of Kentucky where the soil samples were done, suggest 30 lbs. of N, to give it a little kick, to get going again for 2nd, and 3rd cutting. I'll spread half the amount after first cutting, then the other half, after second cutting.