Crazy Day

It's two more crazy days here before the rain hits again. More beans and corn are gone. The fertilizer man was real happy to see me this morning with checkbook in hand, too happy in fact.

I have some fields that call for 200 MAP and 200 Potash plus ammonium sulfate, zinc and boron and you get $200 per acre in dry fertilizer in these fields! That's a lot of money to me but I own them so I will never meet my yield goals if I don't follow my soil test recommendations.

I did a good job probing those fields and feel confident with the recommendations. The farm I spread 2 tons of high calcium lime on last fall actually went DOWN a little in pH which means little to me but calcium level went up and I had a good crop on it. It is there and will be released the more I farm it the next few years.

Think about it, if I spread the materials on top they only moved an inch or two in the profile. If I am probing 12 inches deep, the product amount is diluted in my sample. I would have to probe 3 inches deep to find the product applied and the data wouldn't mean much to me. I have done that before and only do it when I am looking for stratification of nutrients. I know I have them here as I did it that way. Each crop will get more of that product as the soil chemistry changes with the biology.

The phone is ringing off the hook so I will try to write more later. Please post comments and questions. I will be so glad when election day is over tomorrow so I don't have to sort good calls from bad.

Ed

Gratitude

It's Sunday and a great time to list my gratitudes.

We have been talking farms all week so I am happy to be a land owner and still have the health and interest to farm it. We had a real trying year in Ohio but God took something bad and made something really good from it.

Local farmers are happy to have this break in the weather to hit the harvesting hard. More soybeans are gone each day and hopefully one of these days we will be done. I would be very happy to have that last farm harvested before the next rain.

It is windy and sunny and the temperature and humidity are less than 100. The fans have been running on the bins ever since that happened Thursday. This means we are getting more natural drying of the crops left in the field and every point of moisture lost in corn means another 10 cents or so profit from not having to dry it or take the dock which is higher.

I am very blessed with my wife and family. I am happy that Becky and her young family is in there new home as the church and other movers help them get everything situated. The little girls as we call them have a new black lab puppy they named Stella. I am sure Sable can't wait to meet her!

We are blessed with all have health and income during troubling times when so many don't have one or the other or both. We pray for those people and trust things will turn around for them quickly.

An old dear friend passed away on Matt's birthday Thursday and I met him because of Matt's pending birth in 1976. We were looking for a church home and found it at Marathon United Methodist Church. He is the third close friend from that church that I have lost in the last 10 years.

If Bill isn't in Heaven, most of us don't have a chance as they say. I can tell you he is there, waiting for the rest of us. I remember when he helped the pastor baptize the two boys in the creek beside his house. We cooked many pancake and sausage breakfasts Easter Sunday over the years and all sorts of fun activities. He is sorely missed, no doubt, but left a legacy of belief and works to prove it.

I have great gratitude for everything and no remorse about anything. That's a real good place to be on a sunny Sunday.

I don't like the time change but I don't make the rules, I just try to follow them.

Have a great day and a good week all,

Ed Winkle

Soil Sampling

Before I bid on a piece of land to buy or rent, I really want soil test data. Soil testing is not exact but it is the best tool we have to start raising crops and gardens. Very few people I know do this though before they bid and you would be shocked by the amount of farmers and gardeners who never soil test.

Keep sampling easy. You can do it with a good spade or shovel. The basic concept is to take a representative sample or slice of soil in several spots in the garden and I like about one sample per acre in a field as a starting point. Slice down to plow depth or 6-8 inches deep and put that slice in a clean bucket. You can pry the soil over easier with a spade to get your thin slice.

An easier and more accepted way is to buy or borrow a soil probe. Probes come in many styles but they take a one inch or so round core as deep as you push the probe into the ground. The probe I am using now you can buy from Gempler's or other supply stores for about $100. It is stainless steel, takes 12 inch deep samples and has a foot peg to help you get those last few inches of tighter soil.

If I sampled 40 acres I have 25-40 probes of soil in the bucket. I air dry them if they are damp like they are here today and then crumble each core into loose soil. Thoroughly mix the soil which is generally darker near the top and lighter colored near the bottom. Fill the soil sample bag to the fill line and carefully mark the bag to match the paperwork you send in.

Most labs give the kits away to get your business. Mine comes in boxes of 100 sample bags and recording sheets from Midwest Labs in Omaha, Nebraska. You can call or order online or take it to your lab if it is nearby like Spectrum Analytic here in Washington Court House, Ohio.

I use Midwest as it uses the same chemical extraction method my former lab did, the ammonium acetate extraction. Most labs use Mehlich III extraction now but I prefer the older method. It costs $12 instead of $6 but the information is a little more exact. Either one is fine. The main thing is do it because it helps you budget and raise better crops!

This week might be the last week we have to get this done in decent weather so get it done, now. If you use Midwest, just write down my account number 11085, HyMark Consulting LLC and I will get a copy of the report. You can call or email me and we can discuss the results.

If a farm needs $200 per acre in lime and fertilizer over those that need $100 worth per acre, it makes a big difference in you budget and your expected yield. "Don't guess, soil test!"

Ed

Insurance

Before we get into insurance today, I have a report on the expected increase in land taxes in the county due to reappraisal. It looks like my assessment of taxes going up on farmland due to reappraisal was right on.

Insurance has been an important part of our farm operation. When we bought this place in 2004, I had my lifelong company Nationwide assess the property and recommend a policy that seemed what we wanted but was very expensive. The quote was so high I asked around to see who the neighbors used and I was recommended to Ron Trusty at Trusty Insurance in Wilmington.

He came to our farm and walked the property and came up with an even better policy at about half the quote from Nationwide. Upon further verification, we decided to buy our policy from Ron Trusty. It was a good move.

We had a tornado hit our farm on Good Friday of 2006. It lifted the garage off the pad and destroyed it and most of the barn doors and damage the roofs. I spent the entire summer cleaning up from that storm and working with the contractors who put each piece back into place. It was very tedious work but the property came out in even better shape than before the storm. Ron came the morning after the tornado and assured us everything would be OK and after several months, it was. You don't repair that kind of damage in a week or two.

Then in September of 2008 Hurricane Ike blew through the Ohio Valley and we had similar damage to the tornado. This time it was easier as I found better contractors but the damage total was about the same, over $30,000 each time. Ohio Mutual Insurance paid every penny through the work of our agent, Ron Trusty. I was so impressed I even gave my crop insurance business to him.

Nationwide had insured me since I was 18 so it was a big move for me but it was the right thing to do. Every time I see one of those catchy Nationwide is on your side commercials I am glad it is Trusty on my side. The man earns hisname.

Look at the picture. Tornados are strange storms. See how the garage is pushed in but See Rock City wasn't touched.

The moral of the story is to insure your property carefully. Know who you are dealing with. Compare prices and service and beware the big companies where you can fall through the crack. That happened to me with Nationwide when I was nearly killed by a dump truck on the Norwood Lateral in 1994. My truck was not totaled out and was never the same that day I bought it and was driving it home.

I have written on these stories in the past so don't be afraid to go dig in my archives. I have been finding some amazing stuff myself!

Tomorrow we need to go over soil sampling again before you buy or rent that farm.

Ed

Taxes

Wouldn't you know I would write a story about buying your first farm and I get a tax notice that day saying "your property has been reappraised and your taxes are going up!"

How can that be after the record housing market value slide the last two years? Well, maybe it is and maybe it isn't.

The statements said our farmstead has gone down in value in the reappraisal, but our land values have went up! Actually they were both very close to the same, within 5% but the big question is CAUV value. The CAUV land value more than doubled since the last appraisal.

My Ohio readers and farm owners and buyers might want to read that link to our Clinton County Auditors statement on CAUV as our taxation on farmland is surely going up, it looks to be over double the last bill we paid if I read this correctly.

How much will this affect our tax bill? I don't know yet. I can call the Auditor's office or attend one of the five informational meetings around the county this month. One landlord warned me of this months ago, so he must have gotten his notice earlier.

Our taxation on this valuation is low compared to other states but even when taxes are "low" and then double, it brings a red flag warning. If you don't pay those taxes and get in arears too far, the land will eventually be sold at sheriff's sale at the courthouse to pay the taxes.

That reminds me of our family's tenant farm that had been past down to the grandson and his cousins, aunts and uncles and he had to file bankruptcy on apartment buildings he owned. To satisfy his debt, the home farm was going to be sold at sheriff's sale, even though he just had partial ownership in it. Our family was able to work with the other heirs and buy it outright before it sold at auction.

It is clear that housing values have went down but agricultural land prices have went up, even sky rocketed in some states. They have not in economically depressed states like Ohio.

Another thing has always been clear, death and taxes. Setting up ownership in a new purchase like a farm and getting your estate in order afterwards to meet your goals after you are gone is very important. Many people miss that and it is evident in this community as one farm family is going through it after the death of the father and the unexpected death of one of the sons.

Tomorrow we need to talk about insurance. "Keep the cards and letters flowing." I do appreciate the comments, emails and phone calls.

This keeps this interesting!

Ed Winkle

Buying Your First Farm

How many of you own your own farm? That would be an interesting statistic of my readership. One of you emailed that you want to own a farm and another emailed saying you bought one!

I wanted to own farm land since I was a child. We were tenant farmers so ownership seemed a long ways away. It was for me, Age 54 before we bought our first real farm! I can tell you the feeling of ownership is priceless compared from looking at the outside in.

A farm has been described as anything from an acre to 25 acres in some states. Most governments consider a tract of 10 acres or more as large enough to meet CAUV, or Current Agricultural Use Valuation, or $2500 or more farm income per year.

To me, 50 acres is a farm. 100 is larger, 200 acres is large enough for some diversity between fields and crops and livestock. Everyone has their own opinion.

Once you have decided you want to own a farm, how do you do it? Of course it takes money so $50,000 saved may not be enough to get you started. Our bank and many banks require 50% cash on bare land so 100 acres at $5,000 an acre would require $250,00 in cash or assets the bank can take a lien on for the loan.

Then figure your payment-$250,000 at 5% interest for example, on a fixed 30 years lowan is a lot of money. Taxes and insurance adds some cost but are negligible to me compared to the payment. I have to pay the payment first and I have to pay the real estate taxes second.

To be more exact, if I borrow $250,000 at 5% interest amortized over 30 years, annual payments would be around $16922 principle and interest. Total interest paid over the life time of the loan would be $238,770 or $7959 average per year. Total principal paid would be $250,000 or $8333 average per year.(Thanks, RS)

You probably can't rent that ground for $40,000 acre a year in my example but you can rent it for half that amount. If you are old or young, the payment is doable in today's economics. The difference in my situation is the cost of ownership, investing in something that is going to retain its value or increase over time. It is a good business decision for me today but remember that a five percent margin of profit is traditional in agriculture. "They aren't making any more of it" but you don't want to buy in a bubble, either.

I don't think we are in a permanent bubble where prices will stay deflated for a long period of time but I don't know either. Land was "cheap" when I started in 1971 but few had money to buy. The numbers have changed but the situation hasn't. Not that many people have the money or inclination to invest in land now but enough do that we have seen record high farmland prices in Illinois and Iowa, the two prime farmland states.

We have friends who have first right of refusal on 160 acres at $9100 per acre. It is prime farm ground, some of the best in the world and rents are as high as $400 per acre in that area. Because they are lifelong farmers and have little debt, they can borrow the needed funds at less than 4% interest. They will probably never get this chance to buy land adjacent to theirs. Thankfully, farmland is not quite that high in Ohio.

The main thing is to do your homework and build a network of people you trust. That includes your banker, a real estate agent, perhaps a consultant like myself who can help you sort out the right property for you.

Finding that property is the challenging but exciting part for me. We looked hard for two years before we bought this farm and now it is our home. Location, buildings and soil were important to us and we found the right combination for us. Great location, good soil and good buildings that needed some repair.

I am very excited for our two readers and it brings back the good memories of the past seven years here in Martinsville.

Comments and email are appreciated as we all work to help each other in our common interest, the farm.

I am thankful I am where I am but wish I could have started a little sooner like our two readers. I will be sharing more about our experiences over the coming days.

Best Wishes,

Ed Winkle

61 days

There are only 61 days left to this year! What a year it has been too, with rainfall and consecutive 90 degree days tied or broken. I think most of us want to put this year behind us but we aren't ready for winter, either.

Some people shelled corn yesterday and others cut soybeans. It was plenty damp for either operation with beans around 15% and most corn well over 21%. Everyone recognizes though our chance of getting a good harvest streak is reducing every day and soon winter will be here.

I am still hoping for a good week of Indian summer but every week that looks like it has some rain thrown in. Maybe that is the best we will get.

One of my young friends told me the zinc he priced was high so I mentioned he might post it on Crop Talk and sure enough another friend sold him some product at an affordable price he couldn't find in his neighborhood.

Like most soil test results I have read this fall he need, P, K, S, Zn, Mn and B on his fields. 300 lbs of these blended nutrients is about $110 per acre in my neighborhood and that is total spread, not total nutrients. That 33-52-60-21-1Zn-1Mn-1B for me, for nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, sulfur and the 3 micro nutrients.

Those fall seeded radishes are getting some size and storing all of those valuable nutrients. I wish I had them on every acre but I don't.

We had trick or treaters and guests last night and another full day. Today looks like another full day so I better get working on it.

Have a great day and God's Blessings to you all.

Ed Winkle