Fertilizer

[Northbound]

Big farmers around my home farm will flat out tell you they don't care much about harvest. What they care about is how much liquid manure they can dump, repeated corn plantings im told they can dump more manure per acre and there by have more cows. Can buy more feed, but limited by manure disposal. This is same reason I lease my tillable land to a small young farmer (beef not dairy) who has more concern about the land than the manure

 

[BuckSutherland]

If it's a dairy farm they have a huge need for alfalfa. Seems strange that a dairy farm would do corn on corn for more than 2 years.

The modern dairies can get by without alfalfa. I know of farms that have been continuous corn for decades. I am thinking of going back to all corn on corn. I did it for about 5 seasons in a row. Soybeans are really hard on fertility and they take about 3x as much pesticide as corn. Corn also builds organic matter quickly.

The reason dairies do so much corn is 1) they need the tonnage that corn provides 2)they need a place to put the manure 3) They need a crop that will use up the fertility provided by manure (nitrogen) 4) corn fields close to the dairy reduce hauling silage and manure application cost. 5) Establishing and maintaining a good stand of alfalfa the last 10 year has been a COMPLETE bitch, and damn near impossible. I have seen more UGLY look alfalfa the last 5-10 years than the previous 30. 4, 6, 10 inch rains and winterkill have been very hard on alfalfa. I wouldnt want to grow the crap for as expensive as it is either. A lot less failures with corn.

The dairies likely have a manure management plan that they are following. They CAN NOT apply all they want. They are only allowed to apply a certain level of nutrients.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

The modern dairies can get by without alfalfa. I know of farms that have been continuous corn for decades. I am thinking of going back to all corn on corn. I did it for about 5 seasons in a row. Soybeans are really hard on fertility and they take about 3x as much pesticide as corn. Corn also builds organic matter quickly.

The reason dairies do so much corn is 1) they need the tonnage that corn provides 2)they need a place to put the manure 3) They need a crop that will use up the fertility provided by manure (nitrogen) 4) corn fields close to the dairy reduce hauling silage and manure application cost. 5) Establishing and maintaining a good stand of alfalfa the last 10 year has been a COMPLETE bitch, and damn near impossible. I have seen more UGLY look alfalfa the last 5-10 years than the previous 30. 4, 6, 10 inch rains and winterkill have been very hard on alfalfa. I wouldnt want to grow the crap for as expensive as it is either. A lot less failures with corn.

The dairies likely have a manure management plan that they are following. They CAN NOT apply all they want. They are only allowed to apply a certain level of nutrients.

Farming is just like food plotting. What people do in one area is almost completely different than another.