INDUSTRY NEWS

What does it cost you to own and operate agricultural machinery for crop production?  Should you own the equipment or seek a custom operator for oone or more field operations?

What should you charge someone else to have your people and your machine conduct field operations on their farm, and vice versa?  These questions definitely need answers as you put a final wrapping on the 2011 growing season and evaluate your cost of production for grains and forages produced.

Here are the Top 10 most-viewed articles that ran in Progressive Forage Grower or Progressive Forage Grower e-newsletters during the past year.

1. Western alfalfa hay situation and outlook
Dairies in the six western states of California, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Utah and Arizona produce around 38 percent of the U.S. milk supply. Dairies in these states consume approximately 65 percent of the alfalfa hay produced in the seven western states.

In the past 27 months some dairies in the West have only seen six to seven months of profitability, some a few more months depending on their operation.

The USDA crop progress report released May 23, 2011 shows 79 percent of the corn acres planted in the top 18 states versus 92 percent in 2010, well behind the 2006-2010 average of 87 percent.

With wet fields and delays in planting, only 45 percent of the corn has emerged versus 69 percent in 2010.

The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) has revised its popular standard for agricultural machinery management data.

The revised standard, ASAE D497.7, Agricultural Machinery Management Data, simplifies fuel consumption equations. This standard is used in conjunction with ASAE EP496.3, Agricultural Machinery Management; to report typical tractor values for tractor performance, implement power requirements, repair and maintenance costs, depreciation, fuel and oil use, reliability for field operation, probable working days, and timeliness coefficients as measure by experiment, modeling or survey.

Rick Hanshew
Bakersfield, California
Southwest Territory Manager
Reinke Manufacturing

The following articles were Progressive Forage Grower's Top 10 most-well read articles in 2010. Is one of your favorites missing from the list?  Leave a comment below!

1. A custom harvester and his big box
2. Use wrapping as a management tool
3. How to use organic fertilizers and herbicides in pastures
4. New John Deere chopper proves itself in friendly competition
5. Growers make comp-“hay”-tition fun
6. Conservation tillage silage corn production expanding in California’s San Joaquin Valley
7. Forage sorghum: A versatile option
8. Feed the soil to feed your crop
9. Custom cutters weigh in on triticale silage
10. Multi-species grazing can improve utilization of pastures