EDMONTON – Farmers are advised to pay attention to the $100 an hour jobs and hire someone to do the $5 an hour jobs.
Brothers Brian and Darren Hefty, who farm in South Dakota, told the Farm Tech conference held in Edmonton Jan. 28-30 that spraying, seeding, scouting fields and harvesting are important jobs that can make or break a farm. Special attention needs to be paid those details.
On the other hand, farmers should hire someone for jobs such as mowing grass and painting fences.
Brian said finding the $100 an hour jobs requires creative thinking.
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“Believe it or not there are jobs on the farm that pay that well.”
Brian found one of those important jobs when he delved into how fungicides work.
They had used fungicides in the past on their 2,400 acre farm, but didn’t understand the importance of good spray coverage until Brian learned fungicides travel only in the xylem, a type of tube within the plant that the water moves through.
Movement in the xylem is upward, so it’s important that the spray reach the bottom of the plant canopy.
Before he learned how fungicides worked, he tried to use as little water as possible to reduce the hassle of water hauling.
Taking the time to learn how to use fungicides more effectively was a $100 an hour job.
Darren said dismissing a two or three bushel increase in yield as unimportant is wrong.
He showed how a 11/2 bu. increase in yield from using insecticide could translate into an extra $6,000 on 1,000 acres. That translates into a 200 percent increase in return on investment per acre.
“Don’t base a decision because it doesn’t sound like much up front. Follow through with the math,” he said.
“Instead of saying, ‘I’ll only gain two bu. an acre, run the numbers that look at the whole field.’ “
Fertilizer is the largest expense on the Heftys’ mainly corn and soybean farm. Last year, the brothers spent $500,000 on fertilizer. In 25 years the fertilizer bill could add up to $12.5 million.
With that kind of investment, Brian said it’s important to soil test and learn how to read and analyze the results. During the Farm Tech presentation, they pointed to analysis that showed potassium levels in the field.
When tissue samples taken through the year in the field came back, they showed potassium levels were low in the crop.
While the soil tests are important, Brian and Darren believe weekly tissue tests taken throughout the growing season are also important markers that help analyze and tweak their fertilizer program.
