fertilizer question

[WTA]

I have 12 acres of Giant bermuda hayfields and 10 acres of Alfalfa here in hot and dry West Texas. I have to irrigate all the time which is no big deal and I don't mind paying for that but fertilizer prices have gotten way out of hand this year so I began looking for another company to buy from.

I came across a site selling a brand called grasshopper fertilizer. It's a dry bagged fertilizer that is mixed in a spray tank and sprayed on the fields and he recommends and uses it on his bermuda hay fields. It sounds similar to something like miracle grow in a way.
I am leaning heavily towards buying a pallet full of it, which will get me and my neighbor at least through the entire year but I've just never heard of anything like this stuff and wanted to ask you alls opinions on it first.

The website is Welcome to The Sharp Ranch

To me it looks like a great deal and it has all of the chemicals we typically need according to our soil samples. It's just a lot different from spraying or spreading regular old urea or other forms of nitrogen we normally do here.

So what does everyone think about it? worth it or not? Thanks.

 

[LoneCowboy]

IMO, from looking at the website
it's a scam

they claim it's twice as effective as regular 30-10-10 (even though that's what the numbers mean, 30lbs of nitrogen per 100lbs applied, but they say 1 bag per two acres. You simply can't get 30lbs of nitrogen per acres out of 25lbs of mix. math doesn't work.

here's the key part: "Pasture: 5 to 15 lbs per acre, every 15 days"

hmm, that doesn't save much off applying real fertilizer once in the spring and putting it into the soil.

 

[WTA]

I hadn't thought of it that way.

I do wish I could get away with only one application of fertilizer in the spring though.
Going strictly by our soil and plant analysis I have to put out 90 pounds nitrogen in the early spring durring greenup then 60 pounds per acre after each cutting as soon as the hay is off the ground. I cut every 28 days and usually get 5-6 cuttings off the bermuda so that's a lot of nitrogen!

I'm glad our alfalfa doesn't require nitrogen. That fertilizer is much cheaper!

 

[LoneCowboy]

that's a lot of nitrogen. (or some poor soil)

can you do a grass/alfalfa mix? and let the legumes feed some nitrogen back into the soil? (I realize you're in texas and it works different here, but just throwing ideas out).

 

[MLinOleMiss]

WTA,
Any chicken farmers around your area? Lots of nitrogen in chicken litter.

 

[RobJ]

IMO, from looking at the website
it's a scam

they claim it's twice as effective as regular 30-10-10 (even though that's what the numbers mean, 30lbs of nitrogen per 100lbs applied, but they say 1 bag per two acres. You simply can't get 30lbs of nitrogen per acres out of 25lbs of mix. math doesn't work.

here's the key part: "Pasture: 5 to 15 lbs per acre, every 15 days"

hmm, that doesn't save much off applying real fertilizer once in the spring and putting it into the soil.

Liquid is going to be a little different. Plants will react the next day or so. It'll get right into the plant, no watering, and it won't sit in the ground waiting for water or be washed away by a hard rain.

Worse case is he could try it on a couple acres and compare the costs and output vs. regular fertilizer. Also factor in the cost if irrigation if there is less if that.

Good Luck,
Rob

 

[Blagadan]

My neighbour started using chicken poop as fertiliser this year. Smells bad for a week or two (sweaty feet), but after that it's not too bad. A lot of my neighbours are complaining about it. I dont know if he will be using chicken litter next year.
Regarding your question, Granular fert is the best way to go by far, a slow release is much better than a quick hit liquid application. I tried liquid fert last year but I was not satisfied with it. I went back to granular this year even though its almost twice the price it was last year...

 

[jimg]

I hadn't thought of it that way.

I do wish I could get away with only one application of fertilizer in the spring though.
Going strictly by our soil and plant analysis I have to put out 90 pounds nitrogen in the early spring durring greenup then 60 pounds per acre after each cutting as soon as the hay is off the ground. I cut every 28 days and usually get 5-6 cuttings off the bermuda so that's a lot of nitrogen!

I'm glad our alfalfa doesn't require nitrogen. That fertilizer is much cheaper!

It is a lot and one of the reasons I decided not to grow Bermuda. OTOH you dont have to put down that much N either. Will the $$ spent on N give a profit in whatever youre producing (hay or animal carcass)? It would be interesting to know what youre DM tonnage id w/ 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% less N after each cut and at green up. Have you tried that? You could set aside 5ac for this sort of experiment. Might be real helpful in the end.

 

[4720 OWNER]

Chicken poop fresh on a field is awful. Compost it a year or even 6 mo will help lots and still give the N boost without burning. Or have mixed it with horse or cattle to balance out.

 

[WTA]

I have never really calculated tonage, just bales. Our front pasture is 7 acres and I use it for testing some.
Typically with 32-0-0 dry fertilizer, as per the labs recommendations and applying 60 pounds per acre, I get between 400 and 500 bales every 28 days. They run 60 pounds a piece. Our max so far on that 7 acre field has been 640 bales one time last summer when we had received about 12 inches of rain on one month. That's extremely rare. I've only gotten 1 inch so far this year.

I've tried liquid before here too but it was just urea I think and was 46-0-0 if I remember right. I still applied it at the 60 pounds per acre rate. Our yields were always considerably lower because I am guessing it evaporated off before the sprinkler could soak it in. It normally takes me 4 days to work the big gun around that field.

They claim this fertilizer I found on the net doesn't require watering in and that is one of the big things that caught my eye.
I wish e had pictures of his bermuda fields growing like I do of mine though. I'd love to see how it looks. This is mine right before the best cutting I've had ever on it.

We have about 50 chickens. The grass is a lot greener where they normally graze, that's for sure. There is a corner of my alfalfa field where they spend a lot of time too and it grows like you wouldn't believe even with them grazing it.
I don't feed my chickens in the warm months so they just free range.