fertilizer

[cowboydoc]

I've had quite a few emails asking me about fertizlizing pastures so I thought I'd post here and let everyone know what I thought. Your best bet is to fertilize right now while the weather is pretty wet. The best to use is just the dry fertilizer that is in the pelleted form. You can even leave your livestock on with no problems. Ideally you would like to put your fertilizer down and then have it rain in the next few days.

As far as mixture goes get a soil sample. Alot of soil only needs nitrogen and doesn't need P/K. It will come in a ratio of the three. My pastures all I need is nitrogen. So I just get a 40/0/0 mix. If you don't want to soil test I would do a 40/40/40 mix. Remember though the nitrogen is the cheapest component. If you don't need the P/K then don't get it.

As far as buying call one of your local coop's. They will give you a per ton price and it should be between $170 and 230/ ton on the nitrogen only. It all depends on how much you buy. It will be quite a bit more if you need P/K. Usually the more you buy the cheaper it is. Call around too because it will vary quite a bit. They will fill a hopper for you which you can just drag around your pasture with a tractor or a pickup. You just set the amt. you want per acre on the back of the hopper and you are ready to go. Figure at 40 units that will be about 87 kbs. per acre. Don't go above 50 units though because you have a bigger chance of burning your pasture. Also don't go with liquid no matter what anyone tells you this time of year as it will burn your pasture as well. The time to do liquid is in the fall, winter, or spring after all growth has stopped. Even then I don't like to do it that way as you lose some of it. Putting it on dry right when the grass is coming up will do wonders. Just make sure you apply when there is some rain in the forecast.

That's all I can think of for now. If any of you that emailed have other questions just email me again.

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

Richard:
Have you had any hassle getting 40-0-0? Our supplier here has begged us not to order that, but to get urea or some KP content. Turns out he has to report any 40-0-0 sales, and in fact my wife had to fill out a form to buy the last bag we used on the manure/compost pile. There was even a suggestion that 40-0-0 was going to be ordered off the market, although the seller's comment is the only mention I've seen of that.

 

[cowboydoc]

No problem to get it at all here Charlie. I just called and ordered some last week. I don't know why they would say that to you. Around here it's all separate and then they mix it according to what you need for your pasture or your crops. Are you buying it from a farm supplier or more of a landscape and lawn supplier?

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

It's a local farm supply store. If we were getting pasture sized loads, we'd order it in bulk, spread by truck, so it would always be controlled by the licensed applicator. It is only in by-the-bag sales, I guess, that they are paranoid.

 

[cowboydoc]

Yea if it's in the bag I can see where they probably don't want to do it. The way I get it is by the ton and they just mix it right there however I need it and then put it in a big cart, they call it a hopper buggy, that can haul it by the ton. If you're doing pastures that's the best way to do it. I'll take some pics of the one I use so you can see it.

 

[JoeR]

Richard,

Buying by the ton make sense for larger parcels, but is there a breakover point in which you would go from buying by the ton, to buying by the bag? If you owned 10 acres would bag fertilizer be more cost effective since you would not have to hire/rent larger equipment to move tons of fertilizer? Overall, what do you think is the limiting factor?

Thanks,

Joe

 

[bubenberg]

charlie,have you tried lesco, i just bought a pallet of 30-0-0?

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

Hans: Bowens, our local store, sold it, but complained that they had to report the sale to some agency. It was about a month after 9/11, but even then it seemed bizarre that they made my wife fill out a form to buy fertilizer.

 

[cowboydoc]

Charlie,
You can get the buggy for 10 acres. I just got some for one of my friends that has exactly 10 acres. We got about 900 lbs. for his acreage. It took about 20 minutes to spread it with the buggy. It has a 50 foot spread. It's so easy to do it that way. You just call, say how much you want, go over and pick it up with your pickup, hook it up to your tractor, spread it, and take the buggy back. At around $175 a ton you just can't beat it. He did his whole 10 acres for about $80 total. I would say if you had less than 5-7 acres it wouldn't be worth it but anything above that it would definitely be worth it.

 

[DocHeb]

Why report? Ammonium + diesel + blasting cap = Timothy McVeigh special.