We have reached the end of Year 2, and have made some very dynamic decisions.
First of all, we plowed the hayfield. Last year, our huge hayfield made us so much hay and so much silage, we had plenty for this year and maybe even next. We pulled all the hay and silage grass off of it for year 2 and there was so much, we put it all into storage, but it will last us a few years at our current setup. We decided to plow up the grass and use the field as an arable field. We will buy a smaller field for making hay in year three, most likely. I have my eye on a grass field just beside our farm priced around $200,000. The hayfield we had was so large, I really didn't like making that much hay. With the number of Holsteins growing, though, we will go through a lot more than we are currently using.
Second, the Great Plains 18.2 meter spreader is a deceptive decepticon. It says it needs 280 hp, or thereabouts, so I rented it and the Claas 870, with 295hp and wides+wheel weights. It couldn't pull it. I rented the Claas 930, with around 350 hp, and still couldn't pull it. I then rented the Claas 960, with 445 hp and wide tires, which pulled it just fine, but almost 150 hp more than was needed per specifications. In total we spent nearly $60,000 in leasing costs as we arrived at our conclusion. The store just said tough luck, we lease you what you tell us you want, and the specs of the planter are per the manufacturer.
Lastly, in my growing rage at the horsepower problems, I finished planting and realized I had planted the field with soybeans. It is Late Summer, fellow farmers: These aren’t going to grow. Now I was staring at the field wondering if I just wait and see what grows, against all the odds of farming ever, or go lease a cultivator, the planter, and the tractor, all over again and re-do it. We wanted to plant Wheat, which can be planted before winter.
The estimated sale price in the newspapers for soybeans was totally off. It was estimated at in early summer, we could sell the soybeans for around $2.1/liter. When early summer arrived the prices were at 1.90/liter. Me, being frugal, waited throughout the day for the extra $0.20. Instead of going up, the price dropped to $1.8/liter. We sold then, knowing that we had been bamboozled. Instead of making the estimated $433,000, we only made $360,000. This $50,000 difference will show up as a loss on our income statement. Coupled with the $50,000 in leasing costs, we started to have a bad time.
We are starting to see there might be an issue pairing the Claas Xerion with the Paralink Hoe Drill. The Xerion only has 50 more horsepower than it says it requires, and if the same problem exists that we discovered above, we will be out even more money. We might have to buy one of the massive tractors like the Quadtrac or the 9RX. Those are really scaring me as they cost so much, I don’t really know how I would ever afford them. If you remember, we’ve sold our seeder and are waiting to buy the Paralink.
We will have to rent a setup for the Year 3 planting cycle again. I wasn’t ready to reseed the failed soybeans, nor other two fields that we harvested, because the Canola sold in early winter, and I was hoping to buy the new drill setup with the sales. Then, when I had sold the Canola, I had about 1 million in cash, but I wasn’t ready to go spend it all on that setup, I needed to see if there was a cheaper, more efficient way. These clams didn’t come easy. In the end we decided to wait to buy the setup and instead spend some of the money on the new hayfield, the Claas Sinus Wheel Loader, for around 120,000, and on a multi-fruit silo for about $100,000. I’m not really sure I like the new silo, but more on it later.
Seeder problem: The reason we don’t really want to buy a smaller setup is because we are trying to go no-till and build crop health via cover crops. The amount of seeding this requires would make any smaller seeders un-worthwhile. I think what we will do is lease the exact setup for Year 3 we will buy for Year 4. Hopefully by then we will have enough to buy it without a loan, or with a much smaller loan. The lease fees will probably be around $70,000, while depreciation would be close to $200,000 for the first year. Also, I had worked out that the Claas Xerion would be cheaper than 2 tractors and two seeders, but now I have to see if this changes with a horsepower requirement of 600+. I will work this problem out next spring.
On a good note, we started a horse facility where we can house horses. We had to build a barn to hold hay, straw and oats. I was surprised that none of the existing structures surrounding the horse enclosure were usable. Building your own is a very tricky business here in the UK. You don’t just throw up an old barn, you gotta find a tiny place it will fit and make it look natural. There are very few places to build here. We also bought a restored Massey Ferguson and a loader attachment.
The first horse we are housing belongs to my 2-year old. He watches a lot of Spirit on Netflix, so naturally his horse is named that too. I don’t give him any discounts just because he’s 2, so we are making around $1,200/day. Not sure where he works, but as long as he pays the rent…”
Planting trees with seasons is a very slow process. On our first day on the farm we planted 60 saplings for the future in the sheep pasture. I don’t really like sheep, but we needed to make the space it took up profitable, so we planted a forest around the outside of it, leaving the middle open in case someday I want to get sheep (will never happen). At the end of year 2, they are just in their second gowth stage, so we know it will be awhile until we can harvest them. With the current cash problems we are having, this won’t be a bad thing.