Doing your own fertilizer?

Question

We farm about 1,100 acres of corn and soybeans and we buy our fertilizer from the local co-op and have it spread by them. I was looking at buying a tow behind spreader and meridian fertilizer hoppers. Would it be a good return on investment to spread our own? What are good spreaders? Any other options to hold fertilizer?

Answer

There are lots of things to consider.  What fertilizer types do you use, dry or liquid, or anhydrous too?  A big issue that comes into play for me is blending.   If you don't have the ability to blend, then if you have 3 products to spread at different rates, meaning 3 passes across the field, well, you get the point.   I put fertilizer into my grain cart one time and I thought to myself that maybe hiring it done is not so bad.   Any place with the paint gone really rusted fast!
I also had the coop deliver fertilizer to my strip till and drill.  Twice they delivered fertilizer to me with moisture in the system.  I stripped 80 acres with two rows plugged.   Drilled 100 plus acres with that should have covered 50, and just had another deal on a pull type spinner spreader.  The delivery boys said the spreader was ready, they ran the snow out of the conveyor.   nice start.  Told me it was ready and also that the pto slid.  They were standing there when they told me, I looked up and  and the snow plugged the discharge into the spinner, I needed a hammer to slide   the pto, and at the end of the load, I had to crawl into the spreader to clean out the rest because of snow chunks.....  They cost me money this year.  It could have been different people every time but the same company.   I can't help but think that these kind of goofs happen when they are custom applying and you never really know about them.  
   The problem with doing it on your own is it is not just a spreader you need.   Best of luck.  Do the math.

Answer

We do our own fertilizer. I call all the local dealers and see what price I can get. There’s been times that they send semi trucks to our place and we off load onto our semi trailer. Other times we go pick it up at there place. We run a new leader 2020 on a Tyler truck. We can variable rate with it which is a nice option but we don’t use it much.

Call your local dealers and see what they would charge for you to pick up a semi load at their location. That will tell you how quick you can make it pay.

Answer

Spreading your own fertilizer is one way to drive cost savings,. It's a great idea and I'm surprised more operations aren't doing it.  We bought our first rig with a neighbor and it worked very well.  It also opens up custom opportunities.  Skip the Meridian fertilizer hoppers and get a conveyor that slides under your grain trailer or end-dump.  I believe in buying equipment that has great local service.  *************, New Leader all make similar spreaders that work well.  Spend a day setting it up.  Getting the spreader level and material to hit the spinners correctly makes a huge difference on spread patterns.  Like mentioned before, get a spreader that will handle multiple products.

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For me it was over $100 per ton savings every time I priced it out.  I did wait until the river broker put in a blender to try it, wish I had started sooner.  1000 acre farm uses a lot of fertilizer!

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Why would you not spread your own if you only have 1,100 acres?  Most co-ops will lend you a spreader buggy free of charge.

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ADM doesn't offer that in every state or that is what they told me.  My local coop will direct ship but the savings isn't enough to build the infrastructure to handle it.

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If you are doing liquid then it’s an no brainer in my opinion/ our area. Being able to hedge or pre buy. On 2000 acres we were able to equip ourselves to striptill/ band liquid(home built) plus mid season sidedress( old cheap but Functional sprayer). And equip tender Equipment (poly tanks on 40ft flatbed trailers) including 3 16000 gallon bulk tanks (N32-0-0  P10-34-0 K 0-0-28). 1 year ROI. As for dry I can’t comment.

Answer

I always say "Do it yourself, then if something goes wrong at least you will know that and learn from it" Most of us are hoping to farm here for 20 more years. We shouldn't be operating like we're doing our last year. If we're not doing and growing there's trouble brewing!

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ADM sells direct to farmers and most retailers around here have a direct ship price and a retail price. Usually when I sold direct ship I marked it up $5-10 per ton over my cost and gave my customers the load numbers.  We are a unique market since river terminals are only about 10 miles away but I would assume more inland retailers would do the same if you’re willing to haul the product yourself.

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We have a Chandler all hyd drive buggy we do 2800 acres with and a conveyor to unload it of of semis

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*** makes a Great Spreader. Make sure you get a wide conveyor chain so you can spread Gyupsum and lime . Hydraulic drive so you can variable rate Make sure Tractor has enough hydraulic flow to run spreader  We payed for ours  in one year Saved 100.00 a ton getting fertilizer directly not to mention 7.50 per acre application fee

Answer

Our local coop charges about $6/acre to spread pre plant.  You can get an 8ton spreader paid for pretty quick on 1100 acres at that price, Especially if you get one configured to do your side dress (I.e. narrow high clearance tires). I’d recommend getting one that has a hydraulic driven belt that can be controlled from cab with a rate controller as an option or can have the rate controller added. Then you can do basic sub field zone spread if you want to.

Answer

We sell Farmer Direct Fertilizer to our customers in Southern Illinois.  We are close enough to the river where this market is continuing to grow as farmers are backhauling fertilizer off the river terminals after delivering grain.  No secret that retailers have a large markup on fertilzer to cover their overhead expense.  I have customers that have converted old hog buildings and store on the farm, need a permit to do so.  Others operate hand to mouth and conveyor directly off semis to their spreaders.  I'd suggest finding a fertilizer broker in your area to get a bid on farmer direct fertilizer vs. retail applied price and see what the saving could mean to your operation.

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Right now their is no premium from urea to 32%. If you have a sprayer run your nitrogen with that. If you are talking P and K I like to run it in the strip. If you decide to buy a spreader be wary of keeping a good pattern and spacing.

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I call all the brokers and get the best price. Then take that price to my coop and they will make me a deal and I get to use their spreader for free and they deliver it into the spreader.  With the difference in price, I can not afford to own everything and I get to use their employees. Good luck and have a great 2020.

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been trying to get FBN to be a broker for fertilizer.  seems like this would be a good fit.

Call (844) 200-FARM

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Doing your own fertilizer?

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