Costs in growing barley?

Username John

Hello,

I met a neighbour the other day in the co-op and we got to talking...

He is planning on growing barley this year, but he will be getting a contractor to do all the work, maybe he will do the spraying himself... But the ploughing, harrowing, sowing, cutting, baling will all be done by a contractor.

I didn't want to ask too many questions around the financial side of it... But I would have thought it wouldn't be financially viable to do this?

I wanted to ask you guys what the figures would be like.
From googling, would you get 3 tons of barley / acre at around €150 per ton = €450
Not sure how much straw would be worth, 150 per acre?
So that's around €600 / acre
Are these figures realistic?

Out of this then there is seed, fertilser, spray and contractor costs. How much would these be, especially the contractor costs?

Just interested to hear your thoughts, as like I say, I know nothing about tillage, just interested in hearing how the numbers might stack up here...

Thanks.

simx

Username John wrote: »

Hello,

I met a neighbour the other day in the co-op and we got to talking...

He is planning on growing barley this year, but he will be getting a contractor to do all the work, maybe he will do the spraying himself... But the ploughing, harrowing, sowing, cutting, baling will all be done by a contractor.

I didn't want to ask too many questions around the financial side of it... But I would have thought it wouldn't be financially viable to do this?

I wanted to ask you guys what the figures would be like.
From googling, would you get 3 tons of barley / acre at around €150 per ton = €450
Not sure how much straw would be worth, 150 per acre?
So that's around €600 / acre
Are these figures realistic?

Out of this then there is seed, fertilser, spray and contractor costs. How much would these be, especially the contractor costs?

Just interested to hear your thoughts, as like I say, I know nothing about tillage, just interested in hearing how the numbers might stack up here...

Thanks.

Straw be about 8 to 10 bales/ac anyway then pay 3e to 4 e time bale

Manoffeeling

If he can pay the contractor, he would be a customer worth keeping. Without being negative or blunt, he is at a thing called nothing.

Username John

Manoffeeling wrote: »

If he can pay the contractor, he would be a customer worth keeping. Without being negative or blunt, he is at a thing called nothing.

Hello again ManofFeeling,

Thanks for response.
I kinda thought the same, but at the same time, I wanted to see what the numbers were...
So any idea of costs and returns?
Thanks.

Manoffeeling

Some bedtime reading for you. Good night.


http://www.teagasc.ie/publications/2012/1106/Crop_Costs&Returns2012.pdf

Username John

Manoffeeling wrote: »

Some bedtime reading for you. Good night.


http://www.teagasc.ie/publications/2012/1106/Crop_Costs&Returns2012.pdf

Ah, very good. That's what I was looking for.
Thanks.

blue5000

But on the other hand if he could use his homegrown barley (and straw) to replace bought in feed at approx 300e a ton the figures might stack up better, especially if it was land he couldn't graze with cows.
Yield per acre is the big variable. It costs the same to grow a bad crop as a good crop. Teagasc figures include costs for rolling and OP says farmer has a sprayer.

Username John

blue5000 wrote: »

But on the other hand if he could use his homegrown barley (and straw) to replace bought in feed at approx 300e a ton the figures might stack up better, especially if it was land he couldn't graze with cows.
Yield per acre is the big variable. It costs the same to grow a bad crop as a good crop. Teagasc figures include costs for rolling and OP says farmer has a sprayer.

Hi Blue,
Yeah, that's true, I hadn't thought of that...
Thanks.

nashmach

blue5000 wrote: »

But on the other hand if he could use his homegrown barley (and straw) to replace bought in feed at approx 300e a ton the figures might stack up better, especially if it was land he couldn't graze with cows.
Yield per acre is the big variable. It costs the same to grow a bad crop as a good crop. Teagasc figures include costs for rolling and OP says farmer has a sprayer.

You won't run a sprayer for nothing though if you own it

Farmer Pudsey

Even if keeping for own ration requirements he is at a hiding to nothing. The most effective storage method is crimping or treating. All of these cost money and as he will be paying full economic cost of production I cannot see any profit. Also what if rations are 230-260/tone next year.

A more feasible option would be to include in a reseeding option and make a top quality arable silage which would reduce his ration requirements. This is not as technically diffucult and he may be able to do alot of it himself.

He could ge ground disced or power harrowed, broadcast barley, chain harrow it well in, either broadcast or use a grass box for grass seed and roll. Using 4-5 stone of barley/ acre he could cut green at 13 weeks wilt for 24 hours and have a topclass forage and a reseeded field after.

Discing/ powerharrowing would be his only cost.

grazeaway

Farmer Pudsey wrote: »

Even if keeping for own ration requirements he is at a hiding to nothing. The most effective storage method is crimping or treating. All of these cost money and as he will be paying full economic cost of production I cannot see any profit. Also what if rations are 230-260/tone next year.

A more feasible option would be to include in a reseeding option and make a top quality arable silage which would reduce his ration requirements. This is not as technically diffucult and he may be able to do alot of it himself.

He could ge ground disced or power harrowed, broadcast barley, chain harrow it well in, either broadcast or use a grass box for grass seed and roll. Using 4-5 stone of barley/ acre he could cut green at 13 weeks wilt for 24 hours and have a topclass forage and a reseeded field after.

Discing/ powerharrowing would be his only cost.

this was what we did as part of our re-seeding routine when we had pit silage. The field was done in stages to allow it to be mixed with the grass silage when being put into the pit. Arable silage is not easily bale wrapped. Ocassinly we would let the barley grow on and cut it as corn. The resulting straw makes excellant feed and the grass will come up through the stubble.

mf240

grazeaway wrote: »

this was what we did as part of our re-seeding routine when we had pit silage. The field was done in stages to allow it to be mixed with the grass silage when being put into the pit. Arable silage is not easily bale wrapped. Ocassinly we would let the barley grow on and cut it as corn. The resulting straw makes excellant feed and the grass will come up through the stubble.

Any one ever sow peas and barley, we did a field last year and undersowed it with grass was a good crop. Put it in pit and covered it with ordinary grass.

The peas fix nitrogen and the crop of new grass was super thick and lush after.

Only problem is weed control is made difficult by the peas as most sprays will kill them.

Farmer Pudsey

grazeaway wrote: »

this was what we did as part of our re-seeding routine when we had pit silage. The field was done in stages to allow it to be mixed with the grass silage when being put into the pit. Arable silage is not easily bale wrapped. Ocassinly we would let the barley grow on and cut it as corn. The resulting straw makes excellant feed and the grass will come up through the stubble.

The trick is to wilt it if you cut the arable early at 13ish weeks all the feed value is between straw ans seed, the grass will then preserve the whole I use a inoculant with it only time an issue is if it is too wet.

mf240 wrote: »

Any one ever sow peas and barley, we did a field last year and undersowed it with grass was a good crop. Put it in pit and covered it with ordinary grass.

The peas fix nitrogen and the crop of new grass was super thick and lush after.

Only problem is weed control is made difficult by the peas as most sprays will kill them.

Weed control is an issue and also you have to be careful that you keep amount at 3-4 stone/acre or else you can get loss of grass. Super crop again cut at 13 weeks wilt and bale and use innoculant. Is reckoned to be 11.5ME and 16% protein . All you need is slurry and 1/2 bag of urea/acre till in, lime essential and no need for nitrogen for after grass.

DMAXMAN

Username John wrote: »

Hello,

I met a neighbour the other day in the co-op and we got to talking...

He is planning on growing barley this year, but he will be getting a contractor to do all the work, maybe he will do the spraying himself... But the ploughing, harrowing, sowing, cutting, baling will all be done by a contractor.

I didn't want to ask too many questions around the financial side of it... But I would have thought it wouldn't be financially viable to do this?

I wanted to ask you guys what the figures would be like.
From googling, would you get 3 tons of barley / acre at around €150 per ton = €450
Not sure how much straw would be worth, 150 per acre?
So that's around €600 / acre
Are these figures realistic?

Out of this then there is seed, fertilser, spray and contractor costs. How much would these be, especially the contractor costs?

Just interested to hear your thoughts, as like I say, I know nothing about tillage, just interested in hearing how the numbers might stack up here...

Thanks.

jus to give a rough idea of costs:seed 33/acre fert126/acre weed spray 15/acre,fungicide 45/acre machinery assuming owner does spraying140 excluding baling, baling 3 per bale at 10 bales/acre. lime interest misc costs 25 / acre. depending on grain price anything from 150 to 250 per ton. at the moment you can forward sell grain for next harvest @195 euros per ton approx.i think its viable if its your own land and wont leave you short of grass,especially if you are in a straw deficit area.if it wasnt why would any of us bother with tillage

hedgecutting eddie

We have all our own machinery and been offer 45 acres of ground prob suit spring barely b early ground all in stubble but needs to b all sprayed off , farmer wants to keep maps , wat cud i pay for rent so it wud leave some profit, or wud i b better off doin work for farmer only think he knows nothing about spraying fert when to sow etc