Cost ratio, then and now

[Northvale PA]

Many years ago the ratio was it took 1 farm acre of crop to feed the horse needed for the farm, right? I realize there was equipment too. But how many acres of crop does it take to pay a years cost for todays tractor, combine, planter, sprayer, tillage, etc? The ratio must be massively increased.

 

[rustred]

Well when u got 3-4 million dollars of farming equipment or more. I sure cant even imagine how much land u need to pay for it , plus decades of time. Farming income is just not there. Never mind the fertilizer costs also. Everybody got their fists in our end product and we cant even control the prices of our goods. Soon as harvest hits the grain prices drop way down. Big farmers operate on volume but I cant see it myself nor do I even want to try it and dont think any farmer can make a go of things buying all new. So the ratio is so massively increased I cant even try to guess on it. When it gets dark I quit most times other than harvest. But them guys pretty much need to go around the clock is another thing.

 

[redforlife]

Technically, you are comparing apples to oranges a little bit here. If you are just going to compare the expense of the horse feed, then you really should only compare it to the fuel burnt in a tractor, and not all the other stuff you are mentioning here.

 

[JMOR]

(quoted from post at 20:15:11 10/03/23) Many years ago the ratio was it took 1 farm acre of crop to feed the horse needed for the farm, right? I realize there was equipment too. But how many acres of crop does it take to pay a years cost for todays tractor, combine, planter, sprayer, tillage, etc? The ratio must be massively increased.

n my opinion/situation, the ag tax exemption is the greatest benefit I get from the farming operation. Far more than the profit from crop plus animal sales.

 

[Bruce from Can.]

The cost of production is really not what you are driving at. And I dont think anyone that farmed with horses could ever have fed their horse from one acre. A horse would require one acre of hood pasture during the summer months, probably eat a ton of oats every year, and that would take another acre or two. Plus 2-3 acres of hay and straw bedding. My father farmed with horses until he bought his first tractor in 1948, and told me the hay they grew was for the horses primarily not for cattle. The cattle either ate silage, turnips, second quality hay not deemed good enough for the work horses andstraw or pasture and milking cows got a grain ration. My dad told me that he could keep far more cattle and hogs once he didnt have to devote so much land , work and feed to his 4
work horses.

 

[jon f mn]

Cost per acre is less on the scale that the big machines are used. So if you figure how many horses and man hours it would take to farm 4,000 acres and the feed to feed them, modern farm machinery is less per are farmed. At least it was in the 90s when I last knew the figures.

 

[Texasmark]

Well said bro. I recently got my tax notice from the county and raw land has moved up to $20k/acre.

 

[moresmoke]

The gross income from about 60 acres of corn will pay the note on a new combine and header.

 

[caterpillar guy]

Well our prices for product is adjustable in a fe ways not used by most smaller farmers or they don't make use of it if it is. By watching prices you can sell as far out as 2 years ahead of the crop so you could sell grain for 2025 at this time if you wanted to. Not saying that the market is beneficial for this all the time though it would have been for the last couple years. Then if you had been looking when the Russian Ukarainin deal started you could have sold wheat for in the 10-12 dollar range for about a week or so then again later for about 8-10 for about 60 months to a year after that started. Corn and beans have been in a up priced range for about the same time. IT has now all evaporated out of the market now. IS it risky yes it is can it make some good profits yes it can. Can it break you yes it can. IF your crop and market is wheat what would it hhurt to locked in a portion of those prices none yet I will bet a lot of folks didn't want to chance the risk. NOw where I might not be able to get wheat in to fill a contract I shied away for that reason. I have used and locked in some of those corn and bean prices in the past and do contract some grain sometimes as far out as 2 years. As for inputs some years it pays to look at the prices. Last year the price was about 3-500 per tone more for Potash in the fall than it was this spring so no advantage there this time. I am going to look at some potash this fall for part of my needs. Lime also is cheap fertilizer when it is all tied up in the soil with poor PH levels. Lime will release it as it sweetens the ground for the areas that need that program. Then a Believe a lot of this new big equipment is just leased so if you were to go after the lease is up and no new lease you would find big empty sheds.

 

[ss55]

Around 1900 I think the guideline in Iowa was around 25 percent of a farm's land would be dedicated to feeding, pasturing and bedding draft horses for a year. That sounds high, but a 160 acre farm might require four to six draft horses of different sizes and age. Keep in mind this was before hybrid seed, commercial fertilizers and chemical weed control, so corn yields were only around 30 bushels per acre. Hay and oats provided most of the feed for horses. During Winter frozen ground and snow cover limited pasture grazing to only seven months of the year. Five months of feed had to be stored to sustain the horses during the off season even if they were not being worked hard during those months.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

My neighbor farms 4000 acres.
That supports many pieces of John Deere equipment, grain bins, grain dryer, 2 JD combines, many JD tractors, 5 pole barns.
Plus he hires most of the work done. He just manages the operation.

 

[rustred]

exactly , i want to see some one farm 60 acres of corn and pay one new combine payment. ya gross sales but still. thats one big bunch of payments on a 1 1/2 million dollar combine. and dont think them payments are that small.my dad famed with horses also.

 

[rustred]

ya well u got to keep in mind many of these farmers are not starting from scratch... its all hand me down and inherited. there is no way in heck you can farm going out and buying all new machinery starting from scratch. not going to happen. you will be sunk before you start.

 

[MarkB_MI]

But how many acres can you farm with a single horse? Not many.

 

[dhermesc]

My younger brother heard that 20 years ago when he started - he now farms a couple thousand acres with modern (not new) equipment. He sure as **** didn't inherit anything and my older brothers made sure there was no equipment was handed down to anyone but them. His starting point was an old F150 and an IH 1066. For the first 8 years he worked in town and farmed at night and put in 100 hour work weeks while sharing a trailer house with 3 of his buddies. He still has the 1066, but it only runs a grain arguer now.

He hit hard patch two years ago when his son was injured in football and he needed help with his hay business. I took a week's vacation and figured out real quick how he has what he has. During daylight the baler and swather never stopped. When it got too dewy at night the field equipment stopped and the trucks hauling hay hit the fields and the roads. First day I vowed to keep up with him - my third day without sleeping in my bed and only changing clothes once I had to take a break. Slept 8 hours and came back and he asked me WTH I went. Next three days where like the first three days only he never took a break like I took to go home. I was never so happy to go back to my office. And his son was working similar hours when he wasn't in school or football. Made me kind of ashamed at what I had considered a long week at work.