The Cross Section, Volume 33, Number 3, March 1987 Page: 2
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Page 2 THE CROSS SECTION March 1987
FERTILITY ...
continued from page 1
your cost of production by 15 cents
a pound.
"I believe we can raise our yields
through very timely management -s
a properly balanced fertility program,
water management and crop
rotation."
Developing a Game Plan
Henson describes other ways he
keeps his operation profitable. "At
the start of every year I sit down and
develop a game plan with realistic
goals in mind. I consider manage-
ment, fertility and water manage-
ment, and realistic yield goals. Once
I've committed myself to a game
plan, I'm going to have to stick with
it from day one."
He notes that all farmers need to
do a better job of educating their
bankers. Henson suggests that when
producers go see their bankers to
obtain their 1987 operational loans,
the bankers may suggest that the
producer cut his budgets. Henson
says, in doing so, producers may cut
their production potential; and when
producers look at their land
preparation and fertilizer costs, that's
often where the budget cutting
starts.
"It might be better that we have
a good long talk with our banker and
try to get him to approach farming
with a more positive attitude."
Henson suggests that farmers should
try to convince their bankers that
they need to lower the cost of each
unit of production by increasing
yields, rather than trying to minimize"I noticed a drop in yields from
virtually the early sixties." He also
says that at that time the more water
he put on cotton the more yield it
would make.
For a while Thomas concentrated
on adding water and rotating crops.
"In 1983 I planted cotton behind
grain sorghum. The cotton looked
good until about the first of July and
then began to turn yellow and just
quit growing. We poured the water
to it where we do have water (most
of my land is dryland), but the best
we could do was about three-
quarters of a bale per acre. That was
very disappointing to me. At that
time, I decided I was going to get
involved in a fertilizer program of
some sort." Thomas says he noticed
the good crops that some of his
neighbors who had a good fertilityfertilizer in pre-plant and coming
back later with a second application.
But because of the problems we have
in June trying to get a crop to grow,
we've opted for a single fertilizer
application."
Thomas uses a dry fertilizer to hold
down costs. The way Thomas figures
it, he can apply his fertilizer and save
about $4.50 an acre in application
costs.
Thomas followed the recommen-
dations of a soil test in 1984 when he
first went into the program. The yield
goal was 625 pounds of cotton per
acre on irrigated land and 500
pounds per acre on dryland. The
recommendation suggested about
220 pounds per acre of a dry fertilizer
combination of 28 pounds of
nitrogen, 14 pounds of phosphorus
and 7 pounds of potassium. He alsofertilizer. "It's been working out well
for us. We like to take bids, and it's
saved us quite a bit of money.
Methvin believes that proper land
preparation prior to planting is very
important in his farming operation.
He explains, "We flat break the land
or chisel it or deep plow it every
year." Next on his agenda is his
fertility program. "We have been
using dry fertilizer ever since we
started.
"Before we fertilize, we take soil
samples. We hadn't taken soil
samples until the last few years."
Methvin says that the analysis of the
soil samples with the fertilizer
recommendations gives him a reason
to feel a little bit better about the
money he's spending on fertilizer. He
adds that the analysis provides him
with information on what kind and
how much fertilizer he needs to
apply for his yield goals. He targets
the fertilizer application for a 500
pound per acre cotton yield, provided
he has adequate irrigation water
available to support the crop. He
adjusts the fertilizer rate down if he
does not have enough irrigation
water to get over a field quickly.
Methvin continues, "The last few
years the fertilizer blend we've been
using is 32 pounds of nitrogen, 23
pounds of phosphorus and no
potassium per 100 pounds of
fertilizer. Where we have the water
and can get over the field in a couple
of weeks or a few days longer than
that, we'll put down 150 pounds of
dry fertilizer. Where we're under a
little bit more limited water or
dryland, we've been going with a
100 pound per acre fertilizer rate."
On his irrigated land Methvin side"I Think If You Irrigate, You
Should Balance Your Fertilizer Program
With Your Water Capabilities."
Monty Hensona loss.
The Proof is in the Yield
The yields Henson obtains on his
farms seem to bear out his ideas. "I
think that fertilizer is really cost
effective," he says. He notes that he
pre-plant fertilized two rows and
skipped two rows in deep sand one
year. He planted the fertilized rows
to cotton, but lost the cotton to hail.
He replanted the field solid in grain
sorghum. The two rows of grain
sorghum without fertilizer on them
weren't worth harvesting, he says.
Other fertilized land has shown
consistently good results as well. A
dryland farm Henson operates has
produced 400 pounds per acre of
cotton five out of the last six years.
On some irrigated land, Henson has
been able to maintain an average of
a bale and a half for the last three
years. Henson rented another farm
with a proven yield of 325 pounds of
cotton per acre. After fertilizing, he
improved the yield to 745 pounds per
acre and probably increased the net
returns per acre by $200, he says. He
notes that he only paid $40 per acre
for fertilizer.
Water's No Substitute for Fertilizer
Another farmer, Kelly Thomas of
Woodrow, also obtains increased
yields from a soil fertility program.program had been producing. The
most notable thing, according to
Thomas, was that they had good
yields while his yields just kept
tapering off.
Once he started a fertility program,
Thomas noticed immediate results.
In 1983, his 1,240 acres of cotton to
which no fertilizer had been applied
yielded 375 pounds per acre. But in
1984, he fertilized 1,030 acres of
cotton at a cost of $25 per acre. That
raised his yield to 515 pounds per
acre. In 1985, his cotton yield
increased a little more to 532 pounds
per acre. Thomas' net return, using
an average of 55 cents per pound on
cotton, increased about $50 an acre
in 1984 and returned more than $60
per acre in 1985.
"I was quite impressed with that
because about 70 percent of my land
is dryland," comments Thomas.
The remaining 30 percent of
Thomas' land is what he calls semi-
irrigated. He only has enough water
for a pre-plant irrigation and a
summer irrigation if conditions are
good. He applies fertilizer in January
or February prior to cutting stalks
and winter plowing. He has used
several methods to plow in the
fertilizer.
"This year because of the good
moisture we're just lightly chiselling
it and applying Treflan at the same
time," notes Thomas. "I broadcast
and use a single application pre-
plant. My reason for this is just
because of the shortage of time that
we have in the month of June for a
split application. I certainly see the
merit of chiselling part of youradded one-half pound of manganese
and one pound of zinc per acre to this
mixture. His fertilizer cost was about
$21.50 per acre.
Thomas notes that fertilizer helps
maturity. "To me the number one
problem that we have in increasing
our yields on the South Plains is
maturity. I know that fertilizer does
help maturity, and anything that we
can do to help that situation is
worthwhile to me."
"The worst thing is to do nothing,"
Thomas states.
Thomas farms about 2,200 acres,
consisting mostly of cotton with
some grain sorghum around the
Slide-Woodrow area in Lubbock
County. He has been farming since
1965.
Bids Hold Fertility Costs Down
Greg Methvin, who farms 1,200
acres on his own and also works land
with his father, has always included
a fertility program in his farming
operation.
"I picked up on what my dad was
doing. It was working for him and it's
worked real well for me too," says
Methvin.
Farming since 1979, Methvin
utilizes dry fertilizer in his cotton and
grain sorghum farming operation.
"We try to farm for maximum
production. That's just the approach
we take. We'll vary the amounts of
fertilizer we'll use depending on the
amount of available irrigation water,
and on dryland we'll use lesser
amounts of fertilizer."
Methvin adds that in the past few
years he has been taking bids for hisdresses 60 units of anhydrous
ammonia in the furrow in June and
July before the crop starts blooming
and fruiting.
"We've fertilized every year,"
Methvin says. A block he farms south
of Levelland under limited irrigation
has about 650 gallons of water per
minute available to irrigate 400 acres.
"That's pretty thin, but when we can
get some help from the rain, it's
benefited us quite a bit." In 1984,
Methvin notes that the 400 acres
made about a bale and a quarter to
the acre. As a comparison, in 1985,
which was a pretty dry year, he says
the same field made nearly a bale to
the acre. "In 1986, we had quite a bit
of rain as everybody knows, and that
field made about 750 pounds of
cotton to the acre."
Carry-Over Effects
In addition, residual fertilizer
buildup has helped Methvin. "I feel
we're benefiting some from carry-
over. We haven't ever quit fertilizing;
and, therefore I believe that we
benefit a little bit more since we've
had a consistent program."
He explains, "My dad has a place
that he's been farming for 20 years.
He's got a lot of water that he can put
down - five inches every 12 hours
- and he gets over the field in 18
continued on page 4 ... CROP YIELDST HE CR O SS S EC T I ON
March 1987
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High Plains Underground Water Conservation District No. 1 (Tex.). The Cross Section, Volume 33, Number 3, March 1987, periodical, March 1987; Lubbock, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1533144/m1/2/?q=%22~1%22~1&rotate=90: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.