New to Farming

[FarmCatJenkins]

It is a relaxing game. I usually just tune everything out and throw on some music while I’m running my farm. Once you hit Seasons it gets to be a lot more fun

[jasonbarron]

I haven't had a chance (or the money) to use a hired worker yet, and I'm wondering how cost effective they are. For instance, I'm currently liming (hope that's a real word!) my own field and I noticed that there's a contract for harvesting soybeans in the field just next door with a sell point not too far away. Would it pencil out to have a hired hand go work the harvesting portion of the contract with my 300hp Massey-Ferguson Harvester w/36' header while I stayed focused on my own field? I'm running the game on the lowest speed which I assume is the most advantageous in a scenario where you have hired hourly workers.

[FarmCatJenkins]

You'll make money but not nearly as much. Plus you gotta think about how much time you're offloading the harvester. You should definitely install and learn Courseplay at some point. It's a total gamechanger. Farmer Klein has made some good tutorial videos on it too.

[jasonbarron]

You'll make money but not nearly as much. Plus you gotta think about how much time you're offloading the harvester. You should definitely install and learn Courseplay at some point. It's a total gamechanger. Farmer Klein has made some good tutorial videos on it too.

Where do I look up info on Courseplay? Is it a mod?

Edit: nvmd, I just found it on Youtube, looks great

[FarmCatJenkins]

https://github.com/Courseplay/courseplay

You need to download the zip and then zip the files yourself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCzKducV5To&t=6s

Farmer Klein explaining how to get it in your mod folder

[j_maybury]

Just google FS19 Courseplay and it should lead you to a GitHub for Courseplay, but be careful, the last time I downloaded the latest version of Courseplay it crashed the game but the older version that I had still worked fine, it is probably a conflict of other mods I have, and you may not get the same issue I have and it may work fine for you, but conflicts with mods is something you will want to avoid at this stage, Try it by all means but if your game crashes take it out, and wait for further updates, plus Courseplay is an all-new learning curve, you may want to walk before you can run, you may want to look at Farmer Klein's YouTube videos he has a section on Courseplay he is very informative.

[jasonbarron]

Copy that about learning to walk before running. There's a lot to learn here from a foundational perspective. Speaking of foundation, does it matter whether I weed when the weeds first show up, or can I wait until they reach the point where they can be sprayed before tackling them without hurting my crops? Also, I know I'm nowhere near this point yet, but should I rotate crops when it comes time to re-plant? My understanding of the concept is pretty vague, but I gather that it's a good idea to change up what type of plants grow in the soil because they use/deplete different nutrients?

[Illinois Farmer]

You can use a weeder to weed when they first come up. If they get too big, the weeder won't work and you will have to spray. Make sure you have narrow wheels on. Also, without seasons I don't think rotating crops matter. I usually did it anyways.

[FarmCatJenkins]

Crop rotation isn’t a factor until you hit Seasons. And weeds...man those base game weeds are something else. I never played with them in until I got to Seasons where they are drastically changed. But I think the only thing that will hurt your yield is if you don’t do anything about them

[Dairydeere]

https://image.giants-software.com/inde ... codes=true
This is the producitivty chart that shows how much net profit each Farming Simulator 19 crop produces. Keep in mind that different crops won't have seeding costs every time because some crops, like poplar, sugarcane, and grass, will regrow multiple times after planting. Hope this helps you make some decisions on farming!

[jasonbarron]

Thanks @Dairydeere, that'll be a big help. I'm kind of surprised to see potatoes up there so high on that chart. I'm currently in the middle of a contract using borrowed equipment to harvest a field of around 21 acres of them and boy oh boy is it a lot of work. Seems like there's no end to the little buggers! Glad to know they're worth it.

[FarmCatJenkins]

Potatoes = High Yield + High Insanity

[jasonbarron]

Potatoes = High Yield + High Insanity

I'll be dreaming about them tonight I'm sure.

[Phigo]

I haven't had a chance (or the money) to use a hired worker yet, and I'm wondering how cost effective they are. For instance, I'm currently liming (hope that's a real word!) my own field and I noticed that there's a contract for harvesting soybeans in the field just next door with a sell point not too far away. Would it pencil out to have a hired hand go work the harvesting portion of the contract with my 300hp Massey-Ferguson Harvester w/36' header while I stayed focused on my own field? I'm running the game on the lowest speed which I assume is the most advantageous in a scenario where you have hired hourly workers.

You will make some Profit if a hired helper does the Job. Not as much as you would by doing itself, but you will. You will get some Bonus crops of harvesting contracts. So be careful when unloading the tipper into the sellpoint. You can store some of the crops for yourself or sell them for a better Price (and to Mention: the sellpoint does not Register where the delivered crops are from. That means if you try to sell own soybeans in between a contract on that same sellpoint it will Register at soybeans off that contract).

I recommend to do contracts if you have the equipment and don't use it atm. Harvesting and fertilizing contracts are good Money to make.

The Costs for a hired worker is not linked to the gamespeed - it depends on the real time they do the work. That means for one hour in real-time it is much more Money you spend than on 15x but the Costs for one field is the same when the work is done.
You can even skip the night (not only with Seasons but also in the basegame). The contract field would not wither even if it takes 3 or 4 days to Harvest. All other fields will but not the contract field.

[jasonbarron]

Is there any way to calculate the bonus from a harvesting contract before hand by looking at crop type and acreage, or is it random?