Anyone grow their own corn?

[Jeremy6500]

Hi,
I was curious if anyone grows their own corn to burn and if the $$ savings is sizable? I have 5 acres and according to my research about 1.5 acres of corn would be enough to heat my house all winter with my USSC 6500.

Kind of an interesting thought.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Did you bother to take into account, one the equipment needed to fit the soil, plant the seed, fertilize the plants, cultivate the plants to keep invasive weeds under control, harvest the kernels, dry the crop, store the crop and then transport it to the heat source? Bet you didn't. Lot more to burning corn than tossing out some seed and watching it grow. Besides, seed corn costs about 300 bucks a bag and 46 is running 19 a bag for 50 pounds and that don't include the pesticides and herbicides, presently, depending on the strain, time to harvest from planting and what it's coated with.

Interesting thought but not a practical thought.

Yes, I grow corn and not on on 5 acres either. I own the tillage equipment, the planting equipment but not the harvesting equipment and I sell all of it to another farmer who takes it off, chisels the ground and discs it and in trade for the crop, I get free non germ seed corn to roast.

I have about half a million in tractors and implements. Not something a person with 5 acres and a desire to 'grow their own. can get into.

Finally, 5 acres isn't nearly enough space to turn equipment in and actually have any viable crop to combine.

Pipe dreams are just that.

 

[Jeremy6500]

Did you bother to take into account, one the equipment needed to fit the soil, plant the seed, fertilize the plants, cultivate the plants to keep invasive weeds under control, harvest the kernels, dry the crop, store the crop and then transport it to the heat source? Bet you didn't. Lot more to burning corn than tossing out some seed and watching it grow. Besides, seed corn costs about 300 bucks a bag and 46 is running 19 a bag for 50 pounds and that don't include the pesticides and herbicides, presently, depending on the strain, time to harvest from planting and what it's coated with.

Interesting thought but not a practical thought.

Yes, I grow corn and not on on 5 acres either. I own the tillage equipment, the planting equipment but not the harvesting equipment and I sell all of it to another farmer who takes it off, chisels the ground and discs it and in trade for the crop, I get free non germ seed corn to roast.

I have about half a million in tractors and implements. Not something a person with 5 acres and a desire to 'grow their own. can get into.

Finally, 5 acres isn't nearly enough space to turn equipment in and actually have any viable crop to combine.

Pipe dreams are just that.

Thank you for your input. I did consider the items you listed. I do have a small 22hp Kubota and they make pto driven planters, shellers etc for tractors my size.
Probably not something I would get in to any time soon, if ever. I was just curious how it worked out $ wise from anyone who does it.

 

[SciGuy]

Hi,
I was curious if anyone grows their own corn to burn and if the $$ savings is sizable? I have 5 acres and according to my research about 1.5 acres of corn would be enough to heat my house all winter with my USSC 6500.

Kind of an interesting thought.

I'd put the idea in the same category of someone who enjoys eating bacon thinking that raising hogs would be a good way to save money on bacon or as Flip said " a pipe dream".

 

[SidecarFlip]

22 horsepower Kubota is a toy tractor. Minimum you need for tillage is 90 pto and even that is marginal. You'd be better off using a rototiller and a hand rake....

 

[Jeremy6500]

22 horsepower Kubota is a toy tractor. Minimum you need for tillage is 90 pto and even that is marginal. You'd be better off using a rototiller and a hand rake....

Well that would be no fun!!

 

[SidecarFlip]

I'd put the idea in the same category of someone who enjoys eating bacon thinking that raising hogs would be a good way to save money on bacon or as Flip said " a pipe dream".

Got a hog farm north of me a bit and sure am glad prevailing winds blow south to north here. Hog farms stink.

Puts me in mind of the backyard chicken thing. People in the city want to raise chickens of course they have no way of getting rid of the chicken manure, have no respect for their neighbors who have to smell it and listen to them squawking all the time. Of course backyard chickens do provide a good food source for coyotes.

Been a couple attempts in the town west of me to get a backyard chicken ordinance passed. It always fails of course.

We have beef cattle but we are a working farm and we practice animal husbandry for profit, not a hobby and no chickens here either though I will admit chicken droppings are good garden fertilizer with an application of ag lime to counter the acidity.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Well that would be no fun!!

Row cropping as well as farming isn't fun and never has been. It's all work It's a job, nothing more.

 

[Lordtimothy200]

I checked into it a while back. Honestly it would not make fiscal sense to do but if you like to fiddle with things it would be a fun project. 1 to 2 acres of corn means you can use some pretty small equipment. This was my thought, pick up a 2 row pull behind picker/sheller fairly cheap (parts maybe a problem) and would need a tractor with around 50hp. 4 row planter ect.

If I had less things going on, I just think it would be fun to do. Time and money not worth it, but everyone needs a hobby right?

 

[jetsam]

Even farmers don't grow their own corn anymore.

When I was a kid, I knew lots of farmers (including both sets of grandparents) who owned their land and equipment, fed their families, and made a living on their crops and cattle (most years).

Nowadays banks own the land, the equipment, and often the houses the farmers live in. We teach kids about the near-slavery conditions that sharecroppers endured a hundred years ago. It's hard not to see parallels with what we've done to the people who make our food today.

Every time the weather gives us a bad harvest or two, somebody borrows against his land to get him through to next year, and soon that land is either being farmed by hourly wage earners or it's being paved...

(Sorry to drop in and get heavy, Iowa people are contractually obliged to comment in threads with "corn" in the title!)

 

[Jeremy6500]

Thanks for the feedback. I enjoy doing that kind of stuff, so I was wondering if it made any sense to.

Looks like the only corn I will be growing will be the sweet corn in my garden.

 

[SpaceBus]

Even farmers don't grow their own corn anymore.

When I was a kid, I knew lots of farmers (including both sets of grandparents) who owned their land and equipment, fed their families, and made a living on their crops and cattle (most years).

Nowadays banks own the land, the equipment, and often the houses the farmers live in. We teach kids about the near-slavery conditions that sharecroppers endured a hundred years ago. It's hard not to see parallels with what we've done to the people who make our food today.

Every time the weather gives us a bad harvest or two, somebody borrows against his land to get him through to next year, and soon that land is either being farmed by hourly wage earners or it's being paved...

(Sorry to drop in and get heavy, Iowa people are contractually obliged to comment in threads with "corn" in the title!)

Farming used to be a way to attain wealth, now it is a poverty job.

 

[rickwai]

Does your land adjoin a existing farm field? If so cash rent the ground to the farmer and take payment in dried corn. Farmers are all about trading. My dad bought a 5 acre lot a few yrs back and the farmer came in and round upped the mowed grass and drilled the corn right in once grass died. It was the best looking crop that year!

 

[Jeremy6500]

Does your land adjoin a existing farm field? If so cash rent the ground to the farmer and take payment in dried corn. Farmers are all about trading. My dad bought a 5 acre lot a few yrs back and the farmer came in and round upped the mowed grass and drilled the corn right in once grass died. It was the best looking crop that year!

I am right next to a field. They grew soybeans this past year. Thing is I don't want to make all my land a crop. Gotta save some land for the 4wheeler and other fun stuff.

 

[rickwai]

Then it is a "pay to play"

 

[SidecarFlip]

Farming used to be a way to attain wealth, now it is a poverty job.

Not quite though the worn out adage applies... 'Farm until you go broke'.... I always turn a profit, every year. Some years are better than others and 'We' own all the land we farm on, no one else, not even the bank. All paid off and has been. All we pay is the RE taxes but then everyone pays RE taxes, have to keep the government in cash right? Last year was a tough year for us but still turned a profit.

I I was to be a Tennant on the land, working for the 'man', I'd sell out and forget about farming. Not happening here. Never will.

 

[rickwai]

Not quite though the worn out adage applies... 'Farm until you go broke'.... I always turn a profit, every year. Some years are better than others and 'We' own all the land we farm on, no one else, not even the bank. All paid off and has been. All we pay is the RE taxes but then everyone pays RE taxes, have to keep the government in cash right? Last year was a tough year for us but still turned a profit.

I I was to be a Tennant on the land, working for the 'man', I'd sell out and forget about farming. Not happening here. Never will.

Ground must not be as good as it is here. There are not many small farmers left in this area. Most farm big acreage. They seem to be doing quite well. You dont see equipment more than a few years old because they trade for bigger and better. Also there is systematic field tiling going on everywhere, which is expensive. They all have multiple decked out diesel pick up trucks ect. Plus with all the government benefits on top of it all they are doing just fine. A friend of mine farms approx. 2000 acres and the family owns about 1000 of it (paid for). They have several new diesel pick ups just so they dont have to unhook and rehook, and when they have kids it is no cost to then and they get WIC /food stamps for a certain amount of time afterwards all thru some kind of govnt farm bill. And they pay near nothing in prop taxes on farm ground. It would make sense that all commercial (income properties) should have the same tax rate as farm ground right? There farm ground is income property, but no they pay pennies compared to commercial property. I do swimming pool work for many farmers in the area. So the "poor farmer" is a thing of the past around my area...

 

[SidecarFlip]

Actually, the ground here is excellent sandy loam, why this area has intensive produce farms more than row cropping and as far as farmers owning newer equipment and driving late model trucks, keep in mind that most all of thaqt 'newer' equipment have payment books. Farmers in general tend to be pizz poor businessmen which is why they cannot survive a couple bad years and then the 'liquidation auctions' start. I've gotten some great deals on equipment at farm auctions in the past. Take a gander at Tractor House online and see for yourself.

One thing I never do is marry myself to a payment book. I pay cash or don't buy it.

Farm subsidies outstrip even welfare. Farmers cannot survive without welfare payments from the government. When the government pays a farmer not to plant, something is terribly wrong. Then there is crop insurance but that is another story for another time.

Farming is the number one industry around here. I get to watch what transpires all the time.

 

[rickwai]

Actually, the ground here is excellent sandy loam, why this area has intensive produce farms more than row cropping and as far as farmers owning newer equipment and driving late model trucks, keep in mind that most all of thaqt 'newer' equipment have payment books. Farmers in general tend to be pizz poor businessmen which is why they cannot survive a couple bad years and then the 'liquidation auctions' start. I've gotten some great deals on equipment at farm auctions in the past. Take a gander at Tractor House online and see for yourself.

One thing I never do is marry myself to a payment book. I pay cash or don't buy it.

Farm subsidies outstrip even welfare. Farmers cannot survive without welfare payments from the government. When the government pays a farmer not to plant, something is terribly wrong. Then there is crop insurance but that is another story for another time.

Farming is the number one industry around here. I get to watch what transpires all the time.

Im with you there. I own everything I have including my house. I hate payments.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Actually, you DON'T own it. If you don't pay the imposed taxes on your property, your county or municipality will subrogate against you and take it for delinquent taxes and sell it to someone else who will pay the freight.... The great American dream, owning your own home is a farce. Remember the government is the largest single employer in this country (Federal, state and local) that produces no tangible product (except hot air) and survives solely on the backs of taxpayers.

Nothing more than a huge Ponzi scheme that you (we all) finance with no recourse. Well there is a choice, don't pay the freight and you loose it. Me, I don't want to live under a bridge in a cardboard box. Don't think a biomass stove would work well in a cardboard box....

Maybe in reality it isn't so bad. Living in a cardboard box you can exist on government money and not be taxed at all for it... welfare.... Raise a family on ADC and have a Bridge card for food and necessities, get free handouts from various charity organizations too. Called playing the system and lots of people do it everyday.