This decision tool has been created to help producers budget for corn and soybean production in 2008. To navigate through the tool, please click on the tabs below. Be sure to review the "Instructions" page for important information about these budgets.
This publication is based on the stockpiling decision-aid distributed in 2007. Results from this publication are based on agronomic and economic conditions currently present in Kentucky.
A response guide table is provided to help the user choose the appropriate response rate to nitrogen given the local soil and climatic conditions. This year all three response levels (low, medium, and high) are evaluated as there is considerable variation in soil moisture conditions throughout the state. Use caution when choosing the response rate as it has a significant impact on the results, and possibly contact Lloyd Murdock, Garry Lacefield, or Greg Schwab to get an up-to-date assessment for your part of the state.
As an important note, nitrogen prices are extremely volatile right now. I’ve called over a half-dozen suppliers throughout the state and prices have ranged from $.80-$1.12 per unit of N. In some cases ammonium nitrate is cheaper than urea. So stress that you should shop around this year and get quotes before deciding whether to apply nitrogen in August.
Prospects for 2008 appear to be somewhat limited, assuming you can find N between $.80-1.00 per unit. For mostly-pure fescue stands, hay prices will need to reach $75/ton before nitrogen applications will pay assuming a high response rate, and $100/ton before nitrogen application will pay with a medium response rate. There are few instances were nitrogen applications will pay on fescue-clover stands given current prices.
Since the summer of 2007, the Livestock Risk Protection (LRP) Insurance program has been available to Kentucky cattle producers. Due to recent volatility in the cattle market, interest in price risk protection has increased. Traditionally, livestock producers have used either forward contracts or futures/options trading to manage this price risk. LRP insurance provides another option that producers can now use to do this. The purpose of this publication is to familiarize the reader with how the LRP insurance program works and compare it with other feeder cattle price risk management options. A case example is included to show how this insurance program works in a real-life situation.
Custom rates for grains, hay, and other types of farm machinery operations. These custom rates are based on reported rates from surveys in Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Iowa, and Kansas. The rates calculated here are averages for these states and are adjusted to account for changes in fuel price, machinery costs, and wages from the time of the reported surveys. (Revised June 2008 because of increased fuel prices.)
The purpose of this publication is to help landowners evaluate if corn productio would be profitable relative to hay or pasture on a portion or their land.
There are two main sections in this publication: 1) “Agronomic Basics of Spring Nitrogen Fertilization”, and 2) “Potential Profitability of Spring Nitrogen Applications”. The first section provides basic guidance and information for applying nitrogen to hayfields in the spring. The second section describes the methods used to determine the profitability of applying nitrogen to spring hayfields, discusses assumptions used in this determination, and provides a summary of the potential profitability given various price scenarios. Three prices for nitrogen and five prices for hay are evaluated as well as multiple nitrogen response rates for tall fescue and orchardgrass hayfields.
2008 Kentucky Tobacco Production Guide.
Kenny Seebold (ed), Bob Pierce (co-ed), Greg Halich, Laura Powers, Willl Snell, Andy Bailey, J.D. Green, Gary Palmer, etc..
January, 2008.
(Adobe Acrobat format.)
This is an Inter-departmental Extension publication in the College of Agriculture at the University of Kentucky. Articles are contributed by people in the following departments: Plant Pathology, Plant and Soil Sciences, Agricultural Economics, Entomology, and Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering.
One opportunity that Kentucky cattle farmers have in reducing their hay demand is to apply nitrogen to select pastures and stockpile for fall and winter grazing. By increasing the total pasture production during this time period, the amount of hay required will be reduced. The challenge is to determine this optimal point given the economic and agronomic conditions present this summer.
This decision-aid has been constructed to help burley tobacco producers decide if irrigation would prove profitable in during drought-years. It takes into account potential crop insurance payments, yields for both irrigated and non-irrigated tobacco, and other production related variables. It can be used in both situations where farmers have their own irrigation equipment or where a custom irrigation provider would have to be hired.”
“This decision-aid has been constructed to help dark-cured tobacco producers decide if irrigation would prove profitable in during drought-years. It takes into account potential crop insurance payments, yields for both irrigated and non-irrigated tobacco, and other production related variables. It can be used in both situations where farmers have their own irrigation equipment or where a custom irrigation provider would have to be hired.”
A descriptive summary of results based on the “Wheat Damage Decision Aid” below. Designed to help producers evaluate whether they should keep freeze damaged wheat stands or replant to corn or full-season soybeans
High grain prices in 2007 are providing new opportunities for Kentucky farmers. One of these opportunities is the production of corn on ground that has primarily been used for hay or pasture. This publication is designed to help these producers evaluate if planting corn on sod ground would prove profitable in 2007.
The purpose of this publication is to help producers evaluate their options between planting corn and soybeans in 2007. Multiple budget scenarios are used to help producers identify the situations under which continuous corn (defined here as two or more years) may be profitable.
