One corn burner's experience growing corn
From Cornburning
People who have a small hunk of land always ask, if I have the land, why not grow my own fuel. It is more work and more expense than you would think.
From the forum thread written by the user River Rat: [Growing Your Own Corn]
Posted:Fri Apr 06, 2007 6:13 pm
With the recent spike in corn prices, and the future looking like it may continue to be $3+, I decided to try and grow my own corn for next season. This is something that I've had in the back of my mind since deciding on a corn stove, as my rough numbers have my cost at around $1.80-$2.00 per bushel. That, and I thought it would be fun to get some old implements and play a little.
My initial discussions with my wife and father were rather constructive, as they both seemed at least reasonably enthusiastic about it. I think my wife was convinced from a financial standpoint (as long as there is no physical labor for her). My dad appreciated the financial aspects too, but, as he farmed with Gramps (old school style - they never had any no-till stuff for example) up until about 1980, I think he is excited about returning to his roots a bit. No doubt, I will be leaning on him pretty heavy for expertise. That goes for a couple of friends that farm too. To say the least, I'm a little green when it comes farming, but I'm learning more every day.
I already have the tractor, a 430 Case, and my goal was to get everything I needed for around $1000. So far I've managed:
Dearborn 2 bottom plow - $225 150 bushel gravity wagon - $170 John Deere 1A sheller - $25 Dole model 300 moisture tester - $7.50 one bag of DeKalb Roundup Ready seed - $free$
And today, Dad called me and said that he found a 6' disc and 4 row John Deere planter (both working) for $150!!
Grand Total - $577.50
I've still got to find a small sprayer (which I needed for my place anyway), and maybe an ear corn picker. Right now, the plan is to hand pick the corn in the fall, as I only have about 1.5 acres that I'm willing to devote to this project. I know, it'll be a lot of work, but nothing compared to cutting, loading, splitting, stacking, hauling, and finally stacking again firewood, which I spent most of my childhood doing. Also, I'm considering planting on 20" rows to try and maximize yield from less ground. If I do that, an ear picker isn't going to work well.
If I go with 30" rows, I'm hoping for at least 100 bu/acre. That'll give me 150 bushel, or 8400 pounds of corn for the season. It may not take care of all of my fuel needs, but it will be the lion's share. If I get better yield than that, I'm set for next winter.
I've gone on long enough to bore everyone with every little detail in my head. Let me know what you think, as I said, this is all new to me.
Posted:Sat Apr 07, 2007 11:24 am
Well, Dad and I went to look at the disc and planter today.
The disc is about 6.5 foot wide, 3 point mount Dearborn, so it matches my plow (not that it's important). It appears to be in really good shape, all four gangs turn, it seems reasonably tight, and not rusted too bad.
The planter is a JD 490 four row, includes hydraulics, and I didn't see anything rusted solid, everything appeared to be free. The guy removed the seed cans to store them inside so they wouldn't rust out, which I've seen a lot of while searching.
With this latest deal, I'm far enough under the original budget that I'm thinking about trying to find a picker to pull behind the Case. There is a New Idea 325 (I think) just south of me, but I need to find out what they want for it. Will wait and see. I don't have any problem with picking this fall by hand.
I'm looking forward to the new experience. I don't think I'll ever be totally self sufficient, but I like the idea of being closer to it. Now, if I could boost my yield a bit and start making my own ethanol, I'd just about be set.......
Posted:Mon Apr 23, 2007 7:41 pm
Just an update.........I've got everything plowed, and so far I've disked three times. May have to hit it a couple more times, as I didn't really start getting the hang of the plow until about half way through - there is still some chunks of sod, but it has been breaking up pretty well. I still need to get a soil test done soon. With the rain this week, maybe I'll get some time to work on the planter. Hoping to be planted by at least May 15.
Right now the planter is set at 40", will go to 36" without any modifications. I think I can get it down to 30" though. I'm still toying with the idea of 20" rows. If I go that route, I'll leave it at 40" and double plant it. Any suggestions? Thanks.
Posted:Tue Apr 24, 2007 4:44 pm
stingthieves wrote:
BEFORE YOU PLANT
Line up the guy(s) that will be harvesting - that will determine your planting row space.
In fact - ask them to custom plant also - their equipment will likely be far superior to yours and the marriage with fall harvest will be made. His planter may also fertilize - might even apply the atrizine or what ever politically correct voo doo it done for weeds this year!
Right now, I am planning to harvest the corn myself with my own two hands. The field is too small to get any modern day large scale machinery in there and I don't want to be removing fence. If this doesn't work out, I may want to run a couple head of livestock in there in the future. The whole field is maybe 1.5 acres, and I only have 1.25 of that plowed.
If I can't get my planter running, I have access to a 2 row that is 30" and there won't be any question, it'll be 30".
Posted:Tue Apr 24, 2007 8:08 pm
I expect that about November I may have a different opinion, but it looks like I'm going to try it....
When you talk about total population, does that mean that no matter what row width I use, I shouldn't exceed 20-30,000 per acre? I've been reading some about farmers that enter a yield competition each year, and they're population is usually in the range of 50-55,000 and their yield is in the range of 300-350 bu/acre. Of course, I don't think I'll ever see that, but I'm curious as to what they are doing because I'm trying to get a much as I can from only a little ground. With such a small plot, I've got the time to be a little OCD with it. Laughing Is there any way that I can push it to say, 40K? Or am I just asking for trouble?
(Editor's note: 20 to 30k population per acre - Higher populations will require more fertilizer - it also will deplete the land for future crops)
Posted:Sat Aug 11, 2007 8:35 pm
Just figured I'd let everyone know, so far, so good!! We have had perfect weather in these parts this year, and the corn is looking good. Most everything has at least two good sized ears - of course, one is bigger, but the small ones are not too shabby.
Went to an auction with Dad today to look at a New Idea one row picker. Boy, was that thing pristine! Ended up going for almost twice what I was willing to spend, though. Will look at a couple more soon as the sheer volume of hand picking this mess is starting to worry me a little......
Still need to retrofit the sheller with an electric motor and build guards for it. I'm thinking of setting it up so that the screener is under it. That way, I can shell and screen and the same time. Right now, the plan is to shell 35 bushel at a time throughout the winter. I do not have enough storage for both the ears and shelled corn. I'm planning to use the 150 bu. wagon to store the ears, and the 35 bu. combine hopper to transport to the house (I still need to mount that on an axle too)......
Posted:Wed Sep 19, 2007 10:39 am
As an update, I now have a picker!! New Idea 311 two row, needed another $300 worth of parts, but last Sunday I got it fixed up (for now) and running. Monday night picked about a quarter of the field and filled the gravity wagon!
So, last night I built a makeshift crib on the floor of the barn. The mice will sure be happy about that at least until the cats find out.........
Got a little rain last night, so I may wait a couple of days before I pick any more. I want to put sideboards on the wagon anyway.
Posted:Fri Sep 21, 2007 7:18 pm
tallcorn wrote:
Be safe around that corn picker. Always shut it down to work on it, unplug it, etc. Corn pickers were, and still are, notorious pickers of hands, arms and legs. Crying or Very sad
Nice going with picking corn in the ear and cribbing it. You will have some dry corn.
I am absolutely being careful around all of this old equipment. When we brought the picker home, my daughters both came out to see the new junk that Daddy and Grampa brought home this time. Dad and I both immediately told them to not be anywhere around when I was running the picker. Once we showed them what a whirling dervish of steel it was, I think they got it. I'm still in awe of it to tell the truth......
I'm hoping to not have to crib much more of the corn though. Too much business end of a shovel for my taste. I'm going to try to pick up a 200 bushel barge wagon this weekend to hold the rest of the corn. Dad gave me an idea to further dry it out in the wagon - perforated drain pipe in the bottom with an elbow to get it above the top of the corn. I can even force air into it if I have to.
Yes, that is Minneapolis Moline. I've been told that it is the grain hopper from an old combine.
And, yes, I like the chrome wheels too. When I got it done, I was thinking "this has to be the only corn wagon on 32" BFG tires and chrome wagon wheels!!!" But they were free, so that's what the design was built around. I've got a grand total of one dollar (for the hopper at auction), about $5 worth of welding rod, and about ten hours labor into it. Everything else is just junk (as my wife would say) that I've collected the last few years.
I picked up a hoist wagon Saturday that holds about 200 bushel and finished picking Saturday afternoon. Now I just have to get the kids in the field to find what I ran over. It looks like I'll have as much corn as I had hoped for. As long as I figured correctly as to what I'll need, I should be good for the winter. If not, at least I'll have 180+ bushel that I won't have to pay $3/bu for!
Another user writes:
That is correct RR! That is indeed the grain hopper from an old Moline combine. In our part of the country there were not too many of them but for a few years in the 50's or early 60's these combines were manufactured for Moline by another company. My dad, a Moline dealer in that day, told me all about them a few days ago. A part of history you have there!
Posted:Tue Sep 25, 2007 10:40 am
HMVE wrote:
Have you figured your cost of production yet?
I know you got your seed free. How much did you have to spend on fertilizer and chemical? The Equipment should last a long time so you can spread that out 10 years or so unless you get the itch for a new Johndeer combine.
The Labor was free too right? Looks like you had alot of fun.
I've got about $80 in fertilizer, $30 in Roundup, and I'm ballpark guessing $60 in gas for the tractor. That's $170 total. If I get 170 bushels (which it looks like I will) that's $1 a bushel. Next year, my fertilizer will be more, and I figure I'll be in the $2 a bushel range. Even if corn drops back down to $2, I'll probably continue to grow my own. It's been a lot of fun, and my winter heat bill will be prepaid that way.
At this point, I've got about $1000 wrapped up in equipment. If I decide to quit, I can easily get that back plus some if I sell everything.
Posted:Sat Oct 06, 2007 9:53 pm
Dad brought the sheller today!! Very Happy That thing eats through corn like nobody's business!! Here are some pics.......
This is the drive side of the sheller - you can see the gearbox and belt drive
This is the flywheel side - as the sheller did not have a hand wheel when I bought it, we improvised with a belt pulley from some odd combine (probably a New Idea Uni). You can also see 3 out of the 4 new mouse patrols....
Posted:Tue Oct 09, 2007 10:35 am
Been done for around 2 weeks now, moisture was checking at 14-15%. Checks about 13% now, as the corn continues to dry on the ear. So far, it burns well with the new board in the AE.
The final results:
