TC's 08 wheat harvest.

[topcropper]

Started sorghum harvest on Friday. Have 1100 tonnes off. Great weather for harvest, going really well, and should average 6.5 tonnes per hectare. Prices not too bad. Must take the camera with me and get some shots. Hoping for more hot dry weather, another month of it.

See ya's.

 

[Dazz]

I've got mates in the farming game, and they are all better than you, and they all reckon that all farms are going to drop by 30-40% this year.

I reckon you are a hopeless farmer topcropper. Time will tell.

I'm hoping to buy a farm maybe next year, once they have dropped by 40%. Just hawk around waiting for the suckers to sell. Sounds like you have well and truly over-extended yourself.

I spoke to my banking mates, and they know way more about farming than you do. They've been teaching me. I'm nearly a guru.

Anyway, that's what I reckon - and I'm gonna keep on writing this drivel until you get wheely wheely snappy and then stop posting, cos this farm thread sux and no-one is getting anything from it anyways.

Just my thoughts.

 

[topcropper]

Good one Dazz.

I've got mates in the farming game, and they are all better than you, .

Is this one of your mates..??

Wives come in handy sometimes..
Handy as a counterweight for a three wheeled tractor.

See ya's.

 

[Sunfish]

I spoke to my banking mates, and they know way more about farming than you do.

And the average farmer would be a better banker than some overpaid fools lately.

 

[jaycee]

Good one Dazz.






Is this one of your mates..?

Actually, put the missing wheel back on, and minus the wife, that looks like my uncle's tractor. The one he gave me a lift on the back of with my luggage to the next town so I could catch a bus back to the city in 04

 

[topcropper]

day 8 of sorghum harvest.

We got a shower of rain this morning. So I was up at 5.30 am in the pitch dark to put everything away or tarp up. Of course, by the time all was done the rain was finished. The bit of rain wet the grain and ment we couldn't start harvest till 2 pm.

We are up to day 8 of sorghum harvest. We have 2,100 tonnes off. The crop should conservatively yield 6.5 tonnes per hectare, and maybe more, so that should add up to over 6000 tonnes.

We made bugger all profit from the wheat, however we will do nicely from the sorghum. It's currently worth $180 per tonne. So, including the 1,500 tonnes we sold at near the top of the bubble last year at $260 per tonne, we should average $200 per tonne.

6.5 tonnes per hectare times $200 equals $1,300 per hectare.
Cost $800 per hectare to grow.
Equals $500 per hectare profit.

Very nice.

Some photos of the sorghum harvest today,.....

This photo shows us puting some grain into our 800 tonne silo. We have 3,000 tonnes of our own storage, plus 1,000 tonnes on the farm we lease, so a total of 4,000 tonnes storage. That means we have to get rid of over 2,000 tonnes that we can't store.

This years crop cost an absolute fortune to grow, as we bought all the inputs at peak bubble prices. Fertilizer for this years crops cost $400 per hectare alone! Fertilizer has since halved. So has roundup, our two biggest cost inputs. Next years crops will drop to about $500 per hectare costs.

At 6.5 tonnes per hectare, it is a little better yield than average. The season was very kind, and we had a lot of rain from November to Feb. The only tough period was the two weeks around the tragic Victorian bushfires when it got very hot and dry. Other than that it was an almost perfect summer cropping season.

See ya's.

 

[kinga4610]

Hate to be the bearer of bad news TC but Urea has just gone up around $50/t in the last fortnight and news is Roundup is about to go up too. Even if roundup goes up 5 - 10% on its current price ($130/drum) that is still a far cry from what you would have paid for it this past season. Anyway we all have our fingers crossed that fertiliser and chemical prices stay somewhere around there current prices and not the prices you all had to pay in the last 12 months.

Anyway hope you fill all those bins, sell the grain and then fill them again.

Kinga

 

[topcropper]

I priced urea at $650 a tonne a few weeks ago, and I've been buying roundup CT at $6.50/L in thousand litre shuttles the last few weeks.

Do you think prices will go up much? Spose everything will go up if oil goes up. Might go and buy some stuff?



Has it been a good summer in Kingaroy..??


See ya's.

 

[The Y-man]

TC, favor to ask - can you get a photo from the captain's seat of your mighty machines?

Cheers,

The Y-man

 

[topcropper]

TC, favor to ask - can you get a photo from the captain's seat of your mighty machines?

Cheers,

The Y-man

What, the harvester..??

Well, that's a bit flippen hard, cause the old man won't let me drive it in the day, only once it's dark as the old bugger can't see too well at night.

It's great fun driving that thing. Especially when it's your own crop coming into the bin and you've worked 12 months to get it and it's all gone well. At 300 tonne a day, that's 60k a day pouring in. Gotta love that eh?

I'll see what I can do.


See ya's.

 

[Dazz]

that's 60k a day pouring in

At USD $ 100 / bbl, that's like owning one oil well producing 420 bbls per day.

Nice if it's in your backyard !!!


BTW - magic photos topcropper - you really make the thread come alive with those shots of yours. I'm impressed. Thanks for taking the time to post them.

P.S. What does your old man think about his young whipper snapper taking photos of the operation and posting them on some new fangled website internet thingamingy jig ??

P.P.S. Are all farmer's wives as hot as that one ??

 

[topcropper]

P.S. What does your old man think about his young whipper snapper taking photos of the operation and posting them on some new fangled website internet thingamingy jig ??

The old man is pretty switched on regarding computers and the internet. A lot more than me.

As far as posting pictures on here and me chating to a bunch of mainly city people? He knows nothing about it. Either do any of my farm mates and I'm dreading if they find it one day,as they would probably have a good laugh and get stuck into me. [keep it to yourself eh Thorpie].

I'm not worried about some financial figures I may give out. Our tax is professionally done, and I believe if you make a lot of money then you shouldn't complain if you pay a lot of tax. Sometimes when we owe heaps, then we pay less tax. Currently we owe bugger all so we pay a lot.

See ya's.

 

[kinga4610]

Yes it has been quite a good summer in Kingaroy.

Still a fair bit of wheat and barley being moved out of silos to make way for sorghum and peanuts. I love this time of year when peanuts are being pulled from the ground. Although some wouldn't mind a small drop of rain to get their peanuts out. It's a great time of year to drop into a few paddocks and nab the odd raw peanut just before the threshers go in. The early corn crops have been headed. It seems there is an oversupply of grit corn this year so there are bargains to be had rather than buying straight feed corn. Also most of the sunflower crop is off and either been sold or a few crops still to find homes. Millet is also a good mover at the moment in the market.

Oats are currently being planted with barley and wheat a little later on. The main corn crop will come off around June (depending on the weather). So all in all, most farmers are doing well and should shake the drought problems they had over the past many years.

As for roundup - all the majors (Elders, CRT etc) are buying up now due to the impending price hike. Apparantly the tech price in the US has gone up so we can expect some increase very shortly. Roundup is not available now until 10th April so there will be a fair bit in rural stores somewhere.

Anyway good luck with the harvest, I always look forward to your posts. It's nice to here what is happening in the south.

Kinga

 

[topcropper]

The great harvest weather has come to an end. In eleven days we got off 2,900 tonnes, but only 100 tonnes today. We were washed out with a shower after lunch, and the weather has turned cold and miserable and looks like the story for the rest of the week at least.

Was great while it lasted. But I'm stuffed and happy to have a break.

See ya's.

 

[Sunfish]

But I'm stuffed and happy to have a break.

See ya's.

But I thought farmers were supermen. Human weaknesses?

 

[The Fence]

...and you were scrambling around in the early hours yesterday covering bins cause the rain surprised.... I heard about it.....didn't you hear the thunder...?

lol lol

 

[topcropper]

...and you were scrambling around in the early hours yesterday covering bins cause the rain surprised.... I heard about it.....didn't you hear the thunder...?

lol lol

Yes, yes, very funny.

We got going again late Friday, got 50 tonnes off before dark, there was not a sign of any rain coming, and at 4.30am, down it came. Luckily we did hear the thunder and had most stuff covered before it got wet.

Got the weekend off work anyway. Should get a go again tomorrow.

See ya's.

 

[topcropper]

The great harvest weather has come to an end. In eleven days we got off 2,900 tonnes, .

Yep, it came to an end alright! In eleven days we got off 2,900 tonnes. 3 weeks later we have off another 1,300 tonnes, for a total of 4,200. It's all since had to be dryed.

There has been some rain, a lot of drizzel, some fog. The winds have been constant south easterlies, laden with moisture from the coast. The grain just won't get down to below 13.5% naturally, so we have to dry it.

I just got back in from loading this B double truck with 40 tonnes of sorghum. I loaded another 2 last night. It's all going to Melbourne for chook feed. In the background is our 2 dryers. They do 22 tonnes at a time. They will take out about 1.25% of moisture an hour. This slows down the harvest heaps, and of course after some rain, you are knocked off for days.

In the far left background is some feed oats that our weaner cattle will go on over the winter. 12 hectares. We have a feed shortage in winter here, due to less rain and heavy frosts.

We have continued to sell the grain at $180 per tonne on farm. And the really good news is that the later plantings have increased in yield, so we should average 7 tonnes per hectare now. Great stuff. Basically, the earlier planted sorghum had a lot of yield cut from it over the early Feb heatwave, but the later plant was not as much effected.

Apparently southern areas are going to get some much needed rain tomorrow! Hope you southerners do get some. Must be your turn. I suspect our grain prices might be trading on a bit of a drought premium now, thanks to the continuing drought down south. Good rain down south may see that evaporate. Another reason to keep locking in the grain at reasonable prices.

See ya's.

 

[WinstonWolfe]

Interesting stuff TC.

I think you mentioned your land holdings are 1400 hectares all up.
How much of that is cropped in any one year?

 

[The Fence]

TC......And a good profile building for the cereals hey....!

WW...I'd hazard a guess and say most of it as there are two crops (summer & winter) a year in our parts...