thank you very much for this! What about 30 in corn and drill winter annuals at the end of june with the corn at the tallest stage you can possibly still get a drill in without knocking it down? Then the corn acts as a nurse crop to keep the heat off of it. Then when you cut the corn, your winter annual is very established and ready to get some late fall growing in. Then graze in the early spring before the cattleman's cool season pasture has a lot of growth.
I have had great luck on 30 inch corn going in at V3 with oats and a cover crop mix. That way when the corn canopies they're big enough to survive the lack of sunlight in the canopy. And then when the corn starts to dry down they start to take off
Glad you take the time and effort to do this experimenting. Very interesting to see different results. 60 eun pretty darn good. Be nice to walk when hunting also haha. Take care John
Thanks for taking the time to share. I like these videos. It would be interesting to see how much narrow rows and higher population would increase root mass for soil health and forage material (leaves and husk) even without a cover. My cows eat a lot of corn fodder all winter grazed and baled. I just supplement more protein. I realize it would be harder to measure those two things for sure. Thanks again.
Twin 60’s will be fun to see! Hopefully better yield than regular 60s. I would think 15” corn should yield more stover for grazing but would defeat the purpose of getting a cover crop growing? That looks like great yield either way, I am still waiting to combine mine, 1” of rain yesterday and I want to no till next spring so looks like I am going to have to wait until it freezes.
I had a 10 ac 60" trial in a 50 ac field. Yield was only 7% less but had same input costs. Since I have RTK, next year I am going to try twin row 6"-60" corn. I had 3 neighbors who tried twin row 8"-60" corn with a custom built planter but I don't know if they did any checks against 30". My cover crop is specifically designed for grazing with corn stalks and the cattle absolutely loved it! Definitely need a corn variety that responds to wide rows, more horizontal leaf structure. If you plant the same vertical leaf structure in 15" or 30" rows as the 60" rows it is not really a fair comparison.
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 I understand the limited growing season, as I live in western MN. I applied the cover crop seed with a spinner spreader and about 40# urea as a carrier at V-6. Limited success with sandy soils and very dry conditions but the U of M agronomist who came to look at it said where it was good the cover crop was about 2 ton /ac feed value.
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 ha, we consider willmar central MN. I farm south west of Willmar, between Canby and Madison 9 miles from SD border. I was trying a crop rotation of corn, soy, wheat with my field split into three. I had great success with the cover crop following wheat but didn't like the small fields and was tired of losing money growing wheat. When I first heard about 60" corn I was very intrigued about using it with cattle. Found out that a place in SD makes a cover crop blend of seed for grazing with wide row corn for gut health in cattle. The more I looked into it I was surprised to find there are more farmers doing this than I thought, and for quite some time.
thanks. now we have to plan for next year and what to try! if we dont fail at something in a year we arent trying or learning, if we arent learning then we are not moving forward and we are stuck.
@@bustersmith5569 concept of my channel? I thought most people understood TH-cam. I am documenting my transition from conventional to regenerative farming. Or did you mean why 60 inch corn? The point that i am trying to get to with 60inch corn is if i could keep a living cover of legumes producing nitrogen for a corn on corn system with very little inputs. Also have grazing behind the corn to add cash flow and nutrients to the soil. The whole point of my changes are to reduce money leaving the farm and stay ahead of regulations. I question most common logic of madern farming.
Enjoy how different ideas work! Have planned beans on the end rows work good, even better if you can run 30' beans then 30' corn then 30' beans all threw the field!
Glad to hear you liked beans on the headland Guys tried the alternating strips some time ago. It worked well but they went away from it. I like the concept but my head's don't match
I still think 30 inch or 36 inch rows planted at normal population with covers seeded at V3-V5 like clovers are still the better option, and put cows on that after harvest. My cows grazed stalks for 3 weeks before I pulled them off so I could bale them for bedding. 3 weeks of not feeding hay! Should have left them on 1 more week but who knew this nice stretch of weather was going to last this long!!
yep. the stover is good grazing. so next year will be a high yield plot with grazing to see what happens. with the hay in front and grazing in back of high cost corn it still becomes a good cash flow. i dont think cows care row spacing. more tons of stover means more days off feed! now i am excited for next years trial. 300 bushel corn!
Great video Jon maybe I missed it were the populations the same on 30 and 60 inch rows? And did you put twice as much nitrogen on the 60 inch row because half of it might go to waste from the rows being twice as far apart?
Interesting to say the least lets hope that we don't get pounded too hard with snow. I hope I can swing on up to get some video of the lexion chewing through corn
Just think if you had soybeans in between the 60" corn rows that only made 20 bu./acre. at $13 to make up for that loss of corn at $5/acre. What if those hypothetical beans ended up doing 40 bu./acre? Then next year move it all over one row and you have crop rotation. I like your shows. You've helped me a lot and make me laugh from time to time.
Thank you very much! I like the idea! Talking with cattle guy he wanted to see how much he could put into 30 inch and 60 inch corn for cover crops to add for feed value to the silage I think we got a lot of experiments to do for next year
Good point. We must be able to find a thousand you that a 12 row machine would be 60 feet. So acres per hour ask mean something. Then what about that you could run wide flotation tires making it that much easier to take care of the crop. Then what if you started banding your herbicide versus a full broadcast with she probably of the Run reduced rates of herbicide and water more acres per tank more acres per day
So the funny thing, my Mom always asked me “why do you plant end rows” when she rides with me sidedressing. My response was just “well that’s what everyone does”. But I do agree end rows are the worse when it comes to trees and running it over. Very interesting with the 60” rows. I would sort of see it, but looks like without the canopy, it was a bit dirtier? I’ve had issues this past couple of years with the wet springs and dry summers not getting canopy and having bad grass issues. Hoping to address it this next year.
I welcome the grass crop. Cows are loving it. Also in that wide row very little water hemp surprisingly enough. Tempted to do all field headlands into grass.
How much ears of corn were you loosing That were falling off the corn head that was open/no corn.??? Looked like there was 25 - 30% falling off the "snouts" of the header.
Animal unit monthly. It's a way to figure out the value per acre of your cattle being out on that land. Just like if you build the feedlot in a building you have to be able to apply that cost back to the cattle and all the speed that you have to haul it in the tractor the labor to do the feeding I did a video the other winter showing how to use the calculator. An easy example would be behind the combine if the cows are grazing on the corn Stover they're still growing your gaining value in the herd but you're not hauling them feed so we have to apply a dollar value to that corn Stover
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754Thank you, ahhh I see says the blind man....thought you were able to get a credit of some sort through your USDA or NRCS for that practice...keep on never stop learning.
I thought the 60" did very well. What was your input cost on the 60 versus the 30 inch? You don't have to give me your numbers, but does the lower input cost help make up for the lower yield?
What was population in 60" corn and in 30" corn respectively? If the rows in between were just shut off with planting then the population should be a lot lower in the 60" pass or am I wrong? Meaning the input costs would also be lower per acre Liked the experiment!
30k per acre in both, yes planter has to be set for 60k pop when shutting off every other row. i tried some at lower population and yield followed population. we have seen that before in corn.
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 Thanks Jon! This is interesting. see more and more farmers gradually moving to narrower row spacings (30") here where I'm from in South Africa. I'm not entirely sure why (might be because crops were harvested by hand 70 years ago) but traditionally row crops were spaced much wider here and some farmers still believe in it (they call it 5ft spacing which translates into 60"). Many farmers here also plant corn on 36" rows which I believe is more common for cotton in the US.
2019 we dropped our plant pop to 29-30k on hills and weak fields because of dry spring. Best yield we ever averaged here in Manitoba. 220bu on hills with the wet fall. In 2020 we went back to 32-33k plant pop on 30 inch rows because of the wet spring and paid the price in fall. Averaged almost 40bu less overall. We graze almost half of our acres.
Actually an impressive yield. I was wondering if you actually have more head losses with the empty row not there to block ears from rolling down. It would be interesting if it was feasible to compare 36 inch to 30 to 15. Maybe farm equipment manufacturers have been fooling us into retooling to improve yield and profit when in the end we end up with over production and lower prices, plus the additional costs of new equipment. Like using sexed semen in dairy cows to get more dairy cows when demand for milk is dropping. Maybe in the end we should have stayed at 42. The way things are going we may need to get the team of horses down the rows to cultivate.
Yes more chance of ear loss. Would be interesting in 38 inch. Some guys have experimented with low population corn in another cash crop like beans, so they got their normal bean crop plus a halfway decent corn crop. I don't have the soil fertility or season they do. My best cash flows will be different.
So the 60 inch rows in theory cost half the price to plant and yeiled more than half of what the 30 inch rows yielded. Doesn't this mean the 60inch rows are more profitable?
@@anthonyklein2944 kept it all the same to see what the row spacing and cover crop would do. If you are a grain guy the better yield might make sense. With cattle to graze maybe the yield loss is ok because quality of grazing is better?
. In a different study than this particular one in the video where I cut the population way down we produce $200 less corn per acre But you had $40 an acre Less in seed. You also have that many Less hours on a combine that many Less hours of handling grain that many less bushels to dry store and truck. Cool big farmer that might sound like the dumbest thing ever but to us small farmers that can't just go buy another grain bin that is real savings. Compared to full tillage corn Bean rotation the hundred 20 bushel low-input 60-inch corn would make a lot more money than the hundred and eighty bushel full tillage corn Bean field. That much less fertilizer used.
I have dond 30 at low population on 4 different hybrids for a couple years and cash flow wise in my climate the higher pops do better. Now i read reports of guys 3 hours south /south west in Mn. That can grow amazing yields on low population.
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 my point is the low population is to facilitate (and not smother) cover crop growth with less yield loss. Here in Illinois I had some 28k population corn on tough ground that never canopied enough to smother cover crop growth but on most fields you’d have to go lower to get enough light through to grow something underneath
yep. our normal is 28-34k. i thought your were meaning like 15-20k for a low population. i have gone that low and once under 27k yield starts to follow population. a guy needs to look at his own situation and see what needs to be done and value. if you drop down to 28k on tough ground that needs soil health help in 5 years that sacrifice of yield and focus on soil health is going to be paying back big time! i have a poor spot in next years corn field you need to remind me next spring to remember to plant a couple different pops in that spot.
I'm not familiar with your test, but did you use half the fert per acre on the 60 inch rows? Wondering if you might be making more profit that way vs just revenue.
No I wanted to compare the 60 inch vs 30 in so I kept everything the same. Population fertility chemicals. Now next year I will have to try twin row 60 to see if we can't match yield but then also maybe try some reduced inputs.
Did you have any header loss in the 60” ?Looking down on the head, it appeared ears where bouncing down the open / missing rows and possibly down on the ground.
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 if you were to do a lot with open rows a guy would have to figure something out. Looks like normally the stalks in those spots would help bounce them back in. That header is different than what I’m use to.
@@crazydave4455 if I ever got the 60 inch to work I think I could just take those ear Savers that are there than little rubber flaps and maybe kind of expand on that?
Hey Jon, Great video. I didn't get a chance to video my 60-in rows being harvested but they did like 50 to 60 bushels less than my 30-in rows in Nebraska also. Fyi. And my corn trial that I had that I did not fertilize or spray, I only used the Austrian winter pea as a source of nitrogen yielded about 100 bushels less than the fertilized 30-in rows, It was a great learning experience Just to see on 10 acres how it would do with no nitrogen it gives me a better idea on what to supplement with next year. I'm with you Just keep trying! Were you happy with your cover crop in the 60-in rows versus the 30-in?
I was happy with the cover crop in all the Acres it was pretty consistent believe it or not. 30 inch Rose can grow gray cover crops and the bigger the yield the more corn Stover there should be two greys so I'm kind of thinking let's go the other way and try to push Shields see what happens
I'm going to test some 60 inch next year. When I hear 150 as his yield, I kind of cringe. Unless he was able to get something of considerable value off that space in between, 150 just means I'll live to fight another day and that's about it. So many variables though. I'm smack dab in the middle of the richest soil on the planet (so they say when they price it).
i am impressed with it and in this area that isnt the worst yield. i will make changes for next year and see how it does. I am committed to finding more ways to make more money on the farm and not committed to wearing a "i am a 60 inch corn guy" or a no till only hat or black dirt is the only way.
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 I sure appreciate all your dedication. I just want to leave something for my kids where they are not a slave to the seed company, to the chemical companies, the banks ... That's why I love to see people trying different things. I come from an aviation background. If farming was an airline flight, you follow all the check lists, but every season, you lose an engine, have to drop to single engine altitude, which burns more fuel even with one engine and you don't have a lot of reserves on board, the engine still running, the oil temp is climbing so the generator on that engine has to be disconnected to reduce the load, you took off without a working auxiliary power unit (that' allowable), now your on batteries, only the Captain's side panel lights up so your 1st Officer isn't much of a help.Time to dive and drive to the closest airport, and theirs weather. If you go to the next airport, your batteries will be dead and you won't have any instrumentation, no glide slope to pick up and follow in without it.... Farming is like being in a full motion flight simulator and the guy is being a prick and throwing everything at you. Yet it is addicting and becomes a passion for us. AND we don't end up a smoking hole in the ground if it doesn't work out, we just go broke. :o)
@@LtColDaddy71 thank you for your service good sir, very interesting and different perspective on the current state of agriculture... Your statements are not lost on myself and many farmers today. one of the top reasons why you see operations transitioning to more regenerative farming practices and trying to do everything we can to lower the risk profile while increasing profit. Jon states it very well in his videos, does he and I have commented back and forth and had a few conversations We are attempting to be as profitable as possible and that doesn't necessarily mean being the biggest yielding producer in your area. One of the things we are tackling on grow the farm up is how to help operations get out from under being slaves to seed companies and financiers! Couldn't agree with your sentiment more... That's why these TH-cam channels are so informative to many of us and I'm grateful we have the platform to share the information about what is working and what is not working and an opportunity to look at trailblazers like Jon and others. As a fourth generation independent seed producer, I encourage you to check out some of our content about the seed industry, Farmers have more choices than many of the seed companies would like you to believe when it comes to seed the same with ag input sales and suppliers
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 What was your 60inch population compared to 30 inch? It looked the same, or you said in video and I was too deaf to hear it... =) The one Guy who was successful on 60" spacing (+200Bu/acre), I saw they DOUBLED the row density and population was identical to 30" spacing.
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 You have the autosteer to make it work with your existing planter. my first year with a 6 row twin row we moved the row spacing to 6, 7 8, 9.5, 10.5 11.5," 22 bushel advantage 12" over 6". however, anything above 9.5" is impossible to harvest if it's wind lodged corn.... Soybeans do amazing in twin trow. Plants are spaced out, but you have air space between the rows to fight diseases like white mold. I'll be back to look at your results next year.
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 just make sure you tell them not to eat the corn. I was being silly but also serious too. Lol at the end of the day doing it the way you did it last year doesn’t make it the only way to do it. Good luck with everything. I admire your story which I got by reading one of your comments in this thread. I am wanting to do the same thing myself but it’s the initial dive that’s hard to do. I have a good job and can’t leave that. But I want something more fulfilling and sometimes my kids can be a part of. I was raised around corn and cows and I know there’s no better life for a child to be raised in.
700. I am 5th generation starting from scratch. The 1980s wiped my territory out so a lot of us Farm kids the parents were able to save the land but no equipment to hand down no money to hand down and if you want to run the land you had to outbid the neighbors.
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 as a farm kid that graduated high school in the 80's I know exactly what you mean. When Dad finally retired a few years ago, there just wasn't a good way to take over and actually make any money. It's pretty hard to see someone else farm land that has been in the family for 4 generations...
Sorry that you are they able to do it yeah that's got to suck. Several of us are the first generation to not have dairy. At first you felt like a failure but now looking back I'm glad the cows went and we didn't try to fight to keep them longer
i had to edit i misread your statement. lol very much so. well sorta, we know hay before corn is that much income. we know alfalfa grows great corn, we know cows will graze corn stover and we know what 30 inch and covers can do. the only questions are will the 15 inch do better then 30, will twin 60 do better then single 60, is 30 the optimum? either way i am learning and making more money then i was per acre of corn.
So there is someone that’s dumb enough to do this text strip, interesting. Not the test, the human test is interesting. What a waist of time. And then he says he’ll do it one more time lmao wow
What is so dumb care to explain. Its an acre of an experiment and next year i will make some changes to it and try it again. What if the changes next year have it cash flow better then the standard? Is it still dumb?
Others have. Still don't understand what is dumb about trying to learn something. Sure glad I didn't listen to The Experts when they told me no till won't work here and covers won't work here. Now the folks at the co-ops are learning on how covers can work and some of the neighbors are trying to do reduced tillage themselves.
thank you very much for this! What about 30 in corn and drill winter annuals at the end of june with the corn at the tallest stage you can possibly still get a drill in without knocking it down? Then the corn acts as a nurse crop to keep the heat off of it. Then when you cut the corn, your winter annual is very established and ready to get some late fall growing in. Then graze in the early spring before the cattleman's cool season pasture has a lot of growth.
I have had great luck on 30 inch corn going in at V3 with oats and a cover crop mix. That way when the corn canopies they're big enough to survive the lack of sunlight in the canopy. And then when the corn starts to dry down they start to take off
Glad you take the time and effort to do this experimenting. Very interesting to see different results. 60 eun pretty darn good. Be nice to walk when hunting also haha. Take care John
Thanks for watching. I do enjoy these experiments!
It neat to see how that 60'' corn does !
Thanks for taking the time to share. I like these videos. It would be interesting to see how much narrow rows and higher population would increase root mass for soil health and forage material (leaves and husk) even without a cover. My cows eat a lot of corn fodder all winter grazed and baled. I just supplement more protein. I realize it would be harder to measure those two things for sure.
Thanks again.
Yes! Thanks for watching.
Cows dont care row spacing tons per acre!
Twin 60’s will be fun to see! Hopefully better yield than regular 60s. I would think 15” corn should yield more stover for grazing but would defeat the purpose of getting a cover crop growing? That looks like great yield either way, I am still waiting to combine mine, 1” of rain yesterday and I want to no till next spring so looks like I am going to have to wait until it freezes.
I had a 10 ac 60" trial in a 50 ac field. Yield was only 7% less but had same input costs. Since I have RTK, next year I am going to try twin row 6"-60" corn. I had 3 neighbors who tried twin row 8"-60" corn with a custom built planter but I don't know if they did any checks against 30". My cover crop is specifically designed for grazing with corn stalks and the cattle absolutely loved it! Definitely need a corn variety that responds to wide rows, more horizontal leaf structure. If you plant the same vertical leaf structure in 15" or 30" rows as the 60" rows it is not really a fair comparison.
Thank you for the input!
I don't have much growing season and I think most of my hybrid have a very vertical leaf design.
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 I understand the limited growing season, as I live in western MN. I applied the cover crop seed with a spinner spreader and about 40# urea as a carrier at V-6. Limited success with sandy soils and very dry conditions but the U of M agronomist who came to look at it said where it was good the cover crop was about 2 ton /ac feed value.
@@peterhaugen5405 what area of western Mn? i get as far west as willmar regularly for work.
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 ha, we consider willmar central MN. I farm south west of Willmar, between Canby and Madison 9 miles from SD border. I was trying a crop rotation of corn, soy, wheat with my field split into three. I had great success with the cover crop following wheat but didn't like the small fields and was tired of losing money growing wheat. When I first heard about 60" corn I was very intrigued about using it with cattle. Found out that a place in SD makes a cover crop blend of seed for grazing with wide row corn for gut health in cattle. The more I looked into it I was surprised to find there are more farmers doing this than I thought, and for quite some time.
Very cool. Looking forward to more trials. Love that you challenge the norm
thanks. now we have to plan for next year and what to try! if we dont fail at something in a year we arent trying or learning, if we arent learning then we are not moving forward and we are stuck.
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 i subscribed to your channel...... but I'm missing the concept ? 🤔
@@bustersmith5569 concept of my channel? I thought most people understood TH-cam. I am documenting my transition from conventional to regenerative farming.
Or did you mean why 60 inch corn? The point that i am trying to get to with 60inch corn is if i could keep a living cover of legumes producing nitrogen for a corn on corn system with very little inputs. Also have grazing behind the corn to add cash flow and nutrients to the soil.
The whole point of my changes are to reduce money leaving the farm and stay ahead of regulations. I question most common logic of madern farming.
Idk what you’ve all done in your experiment but I would hypothesize 60” rows running north south would far outperform veast west rows
We've discussed more than once to keep the first pass (maybe second) yield separate from entire field.
Good point.
On the till vs soil health you will see that.
Enjoy how different ideas work! Have planned beans on the end rows work good, even better if you can run 30' beans then 30' corn then 30' beans all threw the field!
Glad to hear you liked beans on the headland
Guys tried the alternating strips some time ago. It worked well but they went away from it. I like the concept but my head's don't match
I still think 30 inch or 36 inch rows planted at normal population with covers seeded at V3-V5 like clovers are still the better option, and put cows on that after harvest. My cows grazed stalks for 3 weeks before I pulled them off so I could bale them for bedding. 3 weeks of not feeding hay! Should have left them on 1 more week but who knew this nice stretch of weather was going to last this long!!
yep. the stover is good grazing. so next year will be a high yield plot with grazing to see what happens. with the hay in front and grazing in back of high cost corn it still becomes a good cash flow. i dont think cows care row spacing. more tons of stover means more days off feed! now i am excited for next years trial. 300 bushel corn!
Looking like a good experiment. You will never know if you don't try.
Yep. If you don't fail at something you're not trying hard enough
Great video Jon maybe I missed it were the populations the same on 30 and 60 inch rows? And did you put twice as much nitrogen on the 60 inch row because half of it might go to waste from the rows being twice as far apart?
Same population and same applied fertilizer. I band fertilizer so it tried to keep the same amount of N per plant.
Interesting to say the least lets hope that we don't get pounded too hard with snow. I hope I can swing on up to get some video of the lexion chewing through corn
maybe this weekend or next!
Just think if you had soybeans in between the 60" corn rows that only made 20 bu./acre. at $13 to make up for that loss of corn at $5/acre. What if those hypothetical beans ended up doing 40 bu./acre? Then next year move it all over one row and you have crop rotation. I like your shows. You've helped me a lot and make me laugh from time to time.
Thank you very much! I like the idea! Talking with cattle guy he wanted to see how much he could put into 30 inch and 60 inch corn for cover crops to add for feed value to the silage
I think we got a lot of experiments to do for next year
Consider 45 or 60" twin rows with cover crop.
will try some 60 twins this year
What do you think your inputs cost would be after 4 years of 60 inter seed moving over 15 each time?
The goal would be to figure it out so there would be almost no fertilizer, herbicide purchased
I would tend to think if you plant 60" spacing you would come out ahead because your planting costs should be cut in half. But your yield is not
Good point. We must be able to find a thousand you that a 12 row machine would be 60 feet. So acres per hour ask mean something.
Then what about that you could run wide flotation tires making it that much easier to take care of the crop.
Then what if you started banding your herbicide versus a full broadcast with she probably of the Run reduced rates of herbicide and water more acres per tank more acres per day
So the funny thing, my Mom always asked me “why do you plant end rows” when she rides with me sidedressing. My response was just “well that’s what everyone does”. But I do agree end rows are the worse when it comes to trees and running it over.
Very interesting with the 60” rows. I would sort of see it, but looks like without the canopy, it was a bit dirtier? I’ve had issues this past couple of years with the wet springs and dry summers not getting canopy and having bad grass issues. Hoping to address it this next year.
I welcome the grass crop. Cows are loving it. Also in that wide row very little water hemp surprisingly enough.
Tempted to do all field headlands into grass.
How much ears of corn were you loosing That were falling off the corn head that was open/no corn.??? Looked like there was 25 - 30% falling off the "snouts" of the header.
Not that bad actually. Cows cleaned any up!
Thenks Kollega!!
Inter seeding corn & soybean!??
Paulo
Hungary
yep, corn gets interseeded with covers, next year i am trying covers ahead of beans.
What are you talking when you say grazing credits I am in Michigan not sure we get grazing credits?
Animal unit monthly. It's a way to figure out the value per acre of your cattle being out on that land. Just like if you build the feedlot in a building you have to be able to apply that cost back to the cattle and all the speed that you have to haul it in the tractor the labor to do the feeding
I did a video the other winter showing how to use the calculator. An easy example would be behind the combine if the cows are grazing on the corn Stover they're still growing your gaining value in the herd but you're not hauling them feed so we have to apply a dollar value to that corn Stover
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754Thank you, ahhh I see says the blind man....thought you were able to get a credit of some sort through your USDA or NRCS for that practice...keep on never stop learning.
I thought the 60" did very well. What was your input cost on the 60 versus the 30 inch? You don't have to give me your numbers, but does the lower input cost help make up for the lower yield?
for this i tried to keep all that equal to see what the row spacing does, you know by now i am not scared to share my numbers! lol
Yeah its elementary really more plants per acre equal higher yields right
To a point, then it goes the other way
Wonder what twin 60in with. Same population as 30. Would yield , same as regular 30 or little high
next year i will have to try twin 60 inch!
What was population in 60" corn and in 30" corn respectively?
If the rows in between were just shut off with planting then the population should be a lot lower in the 60" pass or am I wrong? Meaning the input costs would also be lower per acre
Liked the experiment!
30k per acre in both, yes planter has to be set for 60k pop when shutting off every other row. i tried some at lower population and yield followed population. we have seen that before in corn.
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754
Thanks Jon!
This is interesting.
see more and more farmers gradually moving to narrower row spacings (30") here where I'm from in South Africa.
I'm not entirely sure why (might be because crops were harvested by hand 70 years ago) but traditionally row crops were spaced much wider here and some farmers still believe in it (they call it 5ft spacing which translates into 60"). Many farmers here also plant corn on 36" rows which I believe is more common for cotton in the US.
How is it going over there? You see stories about Farmers being killed for their land.
2019 we dropped our plant pop to 29-30k on hills and weak fields because of dry spring. Best yield we ever averaged here in Manitoba. 220bu on hills with the wet fall. In 2020 we went back to 32-33k plant pop on 30 inch rows because of the wet spring and paid the price in fall. Averaged almost 40bu less overall. We graze almost half of our acres.
Actually an impressive yield. I was wondering if you actually have more head losses with the empty row not there to block ears from rolling down. It would be interesting if it was feasible to compare 36 inch to 30 to 15. Maybe farm equipment manufacturers have been fooling us into retooling to improve yield and profit when in the end we end up with over production and lower prices, plus the additional costs of new equipment. Like using sexed semen in dairy cows to get more dairy cows when demand for milk is dropping. Maybe in the end we should have stayed at 42. The way things are going we may need to get the team of horses down the rows to cultivate.
Yes more chance of ear loss.
Would be interesting in 38 inch.
Some guys have experimented with low population corn in another cash crop like beans, so they got their normal bean crop plus a halfway decent corn crop.
I don't have the soil fertility or season they do. My best cash flows will be different.
You had a much higher bushes/acre on 60 inch.... The loss was "off the chain".... That Texas talk for...."out of control"...putting it nice.. Sorta.
So the 60 inch rows in theory cost half the price to plant and yeiled more than half of what the 30 inch rows yielded. Doesn't this mean the 60inch rows are more profitable?
Everything was identical between the two except the row spacing.
Next year I will try to twin row on 60 in but also 15 inch next to it.
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 Your field work costs may be the same, but what about your inputs, such as seed, fertilizer, maybe spay chemicals?
@@anthonyklein2944 kept it all the same to see what the row spacing and cover crop would do. If you are a grain guy the better yield might make sense. With cattle to graze maybe the yield loss is ok because quality of grazing is better?
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 So there was no savings even in the lesser amount of seed planted?
. In a different study than this particular one in the video where I cut the population way down we produce $200 less corn per acre
But you had $40 an acre Less in seed. You also have that many Less hours on a combine that many Less hours of handling grain that many less bushels to dry store and truck. Cool big farmer that might sound like the dumbest thing ever but to us small farmers that can't just go buy another grain bin that is real savings.
Compared to full tillage corn Bean rotation the hundred 20 bushel low-input 60-inch corn would make a lot more money than the hundred and eighty bushel full tillage corn Bean field.
That much less fertilizer used.
If we’re willing to take a yield hit I would try 30” or 15” corn on ultra low population
I have dond 30 at low population on 4 different hybrids for a couple years and cash flow wise in my climate the higher pops do better.
Now i read reports of guys 3 hours south /south west in Mn. That can grow amazing yields on low population.
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 my point is the low population is to facilitate (and not smother) cover crop growth with less yield loss. Here in Illinois I had some 28k population corn on tough ground that never canopied enough to smother cover crop growth but on most fields you’d have to go lower to get enough light through to grow something underneath
yep. our normal is 28-34k. i thought your were meaning like 15-20k for a low population. i have gone that low and once under 27k yield starts to follow population. a guy needs to look at his own situation and see what needs to be done and value. if you drop down to 28k on tough ground that needs soil health help in 5 years that sacrifice of yield and focus on soil health is going to be paying back big time!
i have a poor spot in next years corn field you need to remind me next spring to remember to plant a couple different pops in that spot.
How much is this in kg ?.
Well 56 lbs a bushel at 2.2 lbs a kg
So 130x56 divide by 2.2!
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 Thanks.
"TH-cam is a perfect game and has no exploits"
Thanks for sharing. I tried some 60" and I think I would go to 15" before I ever went to 60" again.
I have to try 60 inch twins but great yields mean lots of feed for cows above and below the ground and more money in my pocket
I'm not familiar with your test, but did you use half the fert per acre on the 60 inch rows? Wondering if you might be making more profit that way vs just revenue.
No I wanted to compare the 60 inch vs 30 in so I kept everything the same. Population fertility chemicals.
Now next year I will have to try twin row 60 to see if we can't match yield but then also maybe try some reduced inputs.
These new planters !!! go figure
Did you have any header loss in the 60” ?Looking down on the head, it appeared ears where bouncing down the open / missing rows and possibly down on the ground.
a few did fall out. if i was to do it on a large scale i guess i would have to put a flap there?
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 if you were to do a lot with open rows a guy would have to figure something out. Looks like normally the stalks in those spots would help bounce them back in. That header is different than what I’m use to.
@@crazydave4455 if I ever got the 60 inch to work I think I could just take those ear Savers that are there than little rubber flaps and maybe kind of expand on that?
you should try 120" rows now.
Lol. The 60 inch data says I'm kind of move in the wrong direction in row spacing. 4 row on 120 in just make people wonder
Hey Jon, Great video. I didn't get a chance to video my 60-in rows being harvested but they did like 50 to 60 bushels less than my 30-in rows in Nebraska also. Fyi. And my corn trial that I had that I did not fertilize or spray, I only used the Austrian winter pea as a source of nitrogen yielded about 100 bushels less than the fertilized 30-in rows, It was a great learning experience Just to see on 10 acres how it would do with no nitrogen it gives me a better idea on what to supplement with next year. I'm with you Just keep trying! Were you happy with your cover crop in the 60-in rows versus the 30-in?
I was happy with the cover crop in all the Acres it was pretty consistent believe it or not. 30 inch Rose can grow gray cover crops and the bigger the yield the more corn Stover there should be two greys so I'm kind of thinking let's go the other way and try to push Shields see what happens
I'm going to test some 60 inch next year. When I hear 150 as his yield, I kind of cringe. Unless he was able to get something of considerable value off that space in between, 150 just means I'll live to fight another day and that's about it. So many variables though. I'm smack dab in the middle of the richest soil on the planet (so they say when they price it).
i am impressed with it and in this area that isnt the worst yield. i will make changes for next year and see how it does. I am committed to finding more ways to make more money on the farm and not committed to wearing a "i am a 60 inch corn guy" or a no till only hat or black dirt is the only way.
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 I sure appreciate all your dedication. I just want to leave something for my kids where they are not a slave to the seed company, to the chemical companies, the banks ... That's why I love to see people trying different things.
I come from an aviation background. If farming was an airline flight, you follow all the check lists, but every season, you lose an engine, have to drop to single engine altitude, which burns more fuel even with one engine and you don't have a lot of reserves on board, the engine still running, the oil temp is climbing so the generator on that engine has to be disconnected to reduce the load, you took off without a working auxiliary power unit (that' allowable), now your on batteries, only the Captain's side panel lights up so your 1st Officer isn't much of a help.Time to dive and drive to the closest airport, and theirs weather. If you go to the next airport, your batteries will be dead and you won't have any instrumentation, no glide slope to pick up and follow in without it....
Farming is like being in a full motion flight simulator and the guy is being a prick and throwing everything at you. Yet it is addicting and becomes a passion for us. AND we don't end up a smoking hole in the ground if it doesn't work out, we just go broke. :o)
@@LtColDaddy71 thank you for your service good sir, very interesting and different perspective on the current state of agriculture... Your statements are not lost on myself and many farmers today. one of the top reasons why you see operations transitioning to more regenerative farming practices and trying to do everything we can to lower the risk profile while increasing profit. Jon states it very well in his videos, does he and I have commented back and forth and had a few conversations We are attempting to be as profitable as possible and that doesn't necessarily mean being the biggest yielding producer in your area. One of the things we are tackling on grow the farm up is how to help operations get out from under being slaves to seed companies and financiers! Couldn't agree with your sentiment more... That's why these TH-cam channels are so informative to many of us and I'm grateful we have the platform to share the information about what is working and what is not working and an opportunity to look at trailblazers like Jon and others. As a fourth generation independent seed producer, I encourage you to check out some of our content about the seed industry, Farmers have more choices than many of the seed companies would like you to believe when it comes to seed the same with ag input sales and suppliers
Where is this?
i am in east central Mn.
What about 60" twin tows?
Next year!
You don't know unless you try!!
You do 60 inch corn and figure a way of keeping the ears that are being lost on the open snout.
Lol yeah if it takes off i will have to figure something out
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 What was your 60inch population compared to 30 inch? It looked the same, or you said in video and I was too deaf to hear it... =) The one Guy who was successful on 60" spacing (+200Bu/acre), I saw they DOUBLED the row density and population was identical to 30" spacing.
@@w8stral same population. So next year I take the same population to do twin row 60 in , regular 30 in, and then 15 in.
Have you tried 30" but skip every 3rd row? II II II II.
that would be slick. then a guy could run fat tires on a tractor!
great experiment!
You woud get more if you did 15 inch by 15 inch like planting corn in squares
That is a goal for next year. Have you done it? I like the idea of plant per square foot vs now
What was the yield?
182 vs the 137.
Too bad you can’t plant razor wire for the headlands to keep the deer out.
ever thought about twin row?
Next year i will be doing that and a couple other things!
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 You have the autosteer to make it work with your existing planter. my first year with a 6 row twin row we moved the row spacing to 6, 7 8, 9.5, 10.5 11.5," 22 bushel advantage 12" over 6". however, anything above 9.5" is impossible to harvest if it's wind lodged corn.... Soybeans do amazing in twin trow. Plants are spaced out, but you have air space between the rows to fight diseases like white mold. I'll be back to look at your results next year.
Thank you very much for the great info!
Very good
Anything on the tillage trial?
i am hoping this week to get it opened so Anna can come up and record what happens!
With 60” rows you could just run your mower up and down the rows. Never need herbicide.
@@oe542 there you go! If the bear goes up and down them Rose and the deer go up and down them Rose maybe cattle would just go up and down the row?
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 just make sure you tell them not to eat the corn.
I was being silly but also serious too. Lol at the end of the day doing it the way you did it last year doesn’t make it the only way to do it.
Good luck with everything. I admire your story which I got by reading one of your comments in this thread. I am wanting to do the same thing myself but it’s the initial dive that’s hard to do. I have a good job and can’t leave that. But I want something more fulfilling and sometimes my kids can be a part of. I was raised around corn and cows and I know there’s no better life for a child to be raised in.
I did drive to a TV up and down the row!
Maybe there's value in it that when the cows get out or the deer don't damage it like they do 30 inch corn.
Do you have any other jobs along side farming?
I work full time with Ziegler cat and we have a shop at the farm.
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 Thank you for replying, how many acres do you farm as of right now?
700. I am 5th generation starting from scratch. The 1980s wiped my territory out so a lot of us Farm kids the parents were able to save the land but no equipment to hand down no money to hand down and if you want to run the land you had to outbid the neighbors.
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 as a farm kid that graduated high school in the 80's I know exactly what you mean. When Dad finally retired a few years ago, there just wasn't a good way to take over and actually make any money. It's pretty hard to see someone else farm land that has been in the family for 4 generations...
Sorry that you are they able to do it yeah that's got to suck.
Several of us are the first generation to not have dairy. At first you felt like a failure but now looking back I'm glad the cows went and we didn't try to fight to keep them longer
Try double 20”
Since i am on 30 the 15-30-60 work well for tests. 20 or 22 would be equipment purchasing.
30. Corn should be. 30. 30. 30.
lol
Interesting results. I’m surprised that 60” corn did that well.
Keep trying. Remember you only have one chance a year for an experiment
Lol. Yep
A lot of what if’s here 🤦♂️😂
i had to edit i misread your statement. lol
very much so. well sorta, we know hay before corn is that much income. we know alfalfa grows great corn, we know cows will graze corn stover and we know what 30 inch and covers can do. the only questions are will the 15 inch do better then 30, will twin 60 do better then single 60, is 30 the optimum? either way i am learning and making more money then i was per acre of corn.
@@jonstevensmaplegrovefarms3754 that’s all you gotta do. Optimize your earning potential on each acre.
So there is someone that’s dumb enough to do this text strip, interesting. Not the test, the human test is interesting. What a waist of time. And then he says he’ll do it one more time lmao wow
What is so dumb care to explain. Its an acre of an experiment and next year i will make some changes to it and try it again.
What if the changes next year have it cash flow better then the standard? Is it still dumb?
It won’t
Others have. Still don't understand what is dumb about trying to learn something. Sure glad I didn't listen to The Experts when they told me no till won't work here and covers won't work here. Now the folks at the co-ops are learning on how covers can work and some of the neighbors are trying to do reduced tillage themselves.
There are doubters in every great discovery. You always learn by trying new things.
I want to have discussions and its great when we dont agree because we can have conversations but the word dumb is not fitting.