[jhasert]

Corn shelling started in Western, KY around the 15th of August this year. I took some picture at Garnett Farms of Hopkinsville, KY this week. The Garnetts planted just over 10,000 acres of corn this year.

This fall they are running thre Bullet Rotor John Deere 9860 STS combines on 1293 heads. The support team includes three 2006 John Deere 9220's on Kinze 1050 grain carts and 13 semi trucks.

This field is 1,600 acres of corn.

Here the same field in wheat back in 2003. It takes 6 combines to bring in the wheat harvest.

This field averaged 170 bu.

 

[placeholder]

what kind of headers are those on the combines during wheat harvest in that picture? They look like AGCO brand headers...

 

[dphinton2003]

I think that he once said they were AGCO stripper headers. Great pics, I expect we can see more in the October TTT?

 

[larry]

Do you have any other harvesting pictures or other field activities that do not include this particular farming operation? I am familiar with it and the word impressive is certainly not the first word that comes to mind when thinking of it, nor does quality job and efficiency. There are many other quality farming operations in the "Hop-town" area of far greater interest and progression. Try heading towards Hickman, KY and get a shot of the two 590R's that replaced the three 2388's. One of them is doing the corn crop that the three 2388's did. Now that's impressive, less cost and greater efficiency.

 

[greene60]

Re: Shelling Corn in KY

Jay, thanks again for theses great pictures from the Garnett farms.Are they running all rotary machines,and are those 8 row heads or 12 row heads.Thanks Roger.

 

[8820titan2]

Quote:Do you have any other harvesting pictures or other field activities that do not include this particular farming operation? I am familiar with it and the word impressive is certainly not the first word that comes to mind when thinking of it, nor does quality job and efficiency. There are many other quality farming operations in the "Hop-town" area of far greater interest and progression. Try heading towards Hickman, KY and get a shot of the two 590R's that replaced the three 2388's. One of them is doing the corn crop that the three 2388's did. Now that's impressive, less cost and greater efficiency.

Muddy, who might you be referring to in Hickman? Where do they operate? Upper or lower bottoms?

 

[headacker]

those pictures are wild ,very impressive,10,ooo acres of corn and all that equipment and operators.huge investment. i hope them a good ,safe harvest.

 

[younggun]

This may be a stupid question, but from reading this thread it sounds like there are very large operations in this area. What in the world has lead to this, cheap rent, knowone else wants to farm? Think i'll move to kentucky, shelling corn in august would be better then in the snow!

 

[roundbaler]

Quote:Do you have any other harvesting pictures or other field activities that do not include this particular farming operation? I am familiar with it and the word impressive is certainly not the first word that comes to mind when thinking of it, nor does quality job and efficiency. There are many other quality farming operations in the "Hop-town" area of far greater interest and progression. Try heading towards Hickman, KY and get a shot of the two 590R's that replaced the three 2388's. One of them is doing the corn crop that the three 2388's did. Now that's impressive, less cost and greater efficiency.

So.....just because you are familiar with harvesting corn you expect everyone else in the world will be?

I am from Scotland and the nearest I get to corn is corn ob the cob or a tin of sweetcorn from ASDA(WAL-MART)

It sure would be good if you would have the appreciation to let other folk see the pics without moaning!

- Gordon

 

[casefarmer]

1 combine replaced 3 combines????

Heck no matter the brand.....thats probably the dumbist comment ive read yet......


don't get too offended but seriously thats a lil far fetched

 

[headacker]

by the way what would the moisture of the corn be?corn harvest in the august heat with the a/c on . i'll never see that up here eh.

 

[larry]

Their name is Sangar Farms. Go find out for yourself!

 

[casefarmer]

Do you guys like the new side air intake (for lack of better term)

a local guy has a deere and last year really complained about cleaning out air filters every day or 2

Can't tell you what year but its got a rotor so its fairly new

just curious

not trying to start something i just find that design interesting

 

[8820titan2]

Quote:This may be a stupid question, but from reading this thread it sounds like there are very large operations in this area. What in the world has lead to this, cheap rent, knowone else wants to farm? Think i'll move to kentucky, shelling corn in august would be better then in the snow!

Well, since I live in Western Ky., I think that I will comment on this. I live around Fulton, Ky. about 20 miles east of the Mississippi river and Hickman, Ky. Farmers around here seem to not care about what it takes to be the top farmer(or most talked about). Keepin' up with the Jones' is more the phrase that you probably are familiar with. One farming operation farms around 20,000 acres here in W. Ky and in W. Tenn. and then another 10 -15,000 acres in Louisiana and Arkansas. What are they trying to prove? I am not sure, but little guys like my family are really being hurt by those that seem to have to 'one up' the next farmer. Earlier this year they traded for 7 or 8 NEW bullet rotor 9760 and 9860's. New grain heads, tractors, sprayers, new planters, etc... One day their top hand was in the Deere store where I worked at the time, and I asked him how many planters they had. He said 17. With several DB bars in the 60' range, I think I remember him saying 5 of them. Not sure. Could be wrong. But they have to have lots of equipment to cover that much ground. Not that they couldn't do it with less, but the ground they farm could be 50 miles or more apart. So there is a great deal of travel time involved around here. More equipment = less travel time.

The rent for acreage I have heard can be from $100 to $145-$150 per acre. THIS ISN'T IOWA OR ILLINOIS FLAT GROUND WHERE YOU CAN SEE FOR MILES AND MILES. Hills, hollers, bottoms, creeks, 20 acre patches, etc......

Another operation around here farms 10-15,000 acres. A customer came in the store one day that lives across the road from these guys and rents his land to them. He said that he was told that the local Ag credit cut off their loans(maxed out), the local country bank cut them off(same reason), and now they have to go 40 miles away to get operating money from some other loan institution. That's ridiculous to say the least. Swapping, trading, buying, renting, ....... just to keep up or pass the next guy.

My brother told me yesterday that a guy he sits next to at church has around 50 acres in CRP that will come out in Jan. 2008 and he said that he asked him about possibly renting it. He said that he's already been asked by 3 or 4 already. Competition is stiff around here.



That's just 2 of them that I mentioned. There are PLENTY more around here. If you aren't farming 5, 6, 7 thousand acres or more, your a small timer. Everybody seems to be trying to stay ahead of that avalanche. A drought would nip a bunch in the rear pretty hard. REAL HARD.

 

[8820titan2]

Quote:by the way what would the moisture of the corn be?corn harvest in the august heat with the a/c on . i'll never see that up here eh.

These guys around here that are that large have to start early. Too much acreage and lots of down time due to weather, traveling to field to field, early beans, etc....

I have heard that some are shelling corn testing in the upper 20's in moisture.

 

[8820titan2]

The reason why corn is being harvested now is because it was planted in mid-March. Probably when you northern guys still had snow on the ground.

It still gets cold and may turn off real cold and snow during March, but that's the risk you take when you farm that many acres over miles and miles of area that you have to travel to get to.

 

[cxdriver]

This are nice pics. these are great. How long they harvest on 10.000 acres off corn . I many days (good days without rain)?

Bye

 

[combiness]

Quote:


That's just 2 of them that I mentioned. There are PLENTY more around here. If you aren't farming 5, 6, 7 thousand acres or more, your a small timer. Everybody seems to be trying to stay ahead of that avalanche. A drought would nip a bunch in the rear pretty hard. REAL HARD.



Well, 8820, you know the old proverb, the bigger they are--the harder they fall. LOL! I can see this happening to them easily. In fact, according to 60 Minutes and 20/20, back in the 1980's, at least 4 such BTO's were featured along with their sob stories about losing their farms.

Oh brother!

For one thing, these FARMERS had more combines than most professional custom harvesters! Yes, they tried to farm at least half the county, too.

I'm sorry if this offends some here, but I honestly just can't feel sorry for mismanagement on such a grandiose magnitude! Family or not, that is NOT what I call an average farmer. I'd have much rather seen these TV news magazines feature those like ourselves or whom we work for, explaining why they may be struggling to just keep their farms going.

In all, I've only seen maybe 3 farmers actually go out of business due to utter failure. In 30 years, most farmers I have known, have either voluntarily retired or sold out or passed away. I have not personally known any real BTO's, either.

 

[8820titan2]

Quote:Hickman,Ky sanger farms money so old george washington is blonde and wearing t-shirts, they owne most of there land and it is some of the best.Reams farms these guys do a good job peolpe come too them and ask them too farm their ground,they are good people.In wky there are alot of good farmers,davis bro,mathis and gill,reams farms and sanger farms all good people.yea they are big but they TCB. ps they did trade 3 2388 for 2 590's and yes 1 590 cutting all the corn,the farm in tn they owne (wright estate about 1300ac in 1 block) has yields of over 200bpa nonigrated,wish i owned it. rob

I would add Triple G farms to that list that you mentioned. They farm between 12 and 15 thousand and mostly all owned. Bought 1000 acres of timber land last year and clearing every acre. Yes, 1000 acres. Heard that they have laid everything on the ground already. There are plenty of big farmers in the area.

 

[cowgirlchaser]

I know what your talking about. There are guys around here that have went big time more than once. Buy all new equipment, bigger equipment, pay big rent, buy more ground. Running on a shoestring. Then Wham a bad dry year hits. Next you see pretty semis hauling the equipment back to the dealer, and big farm auctions. Before the guy is done there is somebody knocking on the door to rent the ground. Seen it happen alot. Big farmers are impressive, but when they are not managed right they are a disaster waiting to happen. Here today gone tomorrow. There are 3-4 or more farmers I know of around here that have went bankrupt more than once. Then they wait a few years then there they are again.

I want to get bigger to but don't want to be one of those fly by night farmers. I want to do it right. Its not worth it to me to risk losing everything to impress others. New equipment and alot of ground is nice. If it don't make money and your just turning over dollars why do it.

I'd like to buy back my uncles part of the farm but I'm not risking everything to do it. He's been gone of the farm for 20+ years. While me and my father have been here busting our a**es off to keep things going . Grandpa's will however says he gets half. So he got 280 acres of tillable ground with 100 acres of woods. Never cared about the farm till Grandpa died. Now hes right there with his hand out. We could buy it and make payments for the next 30 years but a couple real bad years and bam. He only wants $9,000 an acre. Around 3.3 million. Guess what its probably sold. Got a full price offer on the table no questions asked. He just had a add in the local paper for about 2 months. No Realtor, no big advertisement. Just a little 1"x1" ad in the classifieds. Estate just got settled 1 month ago. The prospective buyer is a farmer. Buying up everything he can get his hands on.