Great Land of Minnesota

Trevor Hamre (DSM, Region 2 – Minnesota)

We are already to the end of February!  Here in north-central Minnesota, we have received quite a bit of snow in the last few weeks, along with some below freezing temperatures that make Siberia seem warm.  But this is the great land of Minnesota, would we expect anything else?

To recap the past year, we started off with great planting conditions in April followed by a wet spell that delayed planting in May.  Still, most of the crop was planted by the middle of May.  Harvest started off fast for us, as we were already combining corn in the middle of September and had most of the corn and soybeans off by the middle of October.  I began to call us the new southern Minnesota, since I don’t ever recall having most of the field crops off before the middle of October.  If this is what they call global warming, I think most of us would take it!

In my sales area, we had some of the best yields we have ever seen. In one plot, our new 98 day, 5893VT2RIB won the plot with a high yield of 258 bushels/acre and one of our soybeans, 0800R2, won a plot with a high of 69 bushels/acre! I would have never dreamed of corn and beans being able to yield that high up here in the “north” country.  With that being said, maybe there is hope for the Minnesota Vikings to win a Super Bowl after all!

With spring quickly approaching, please take the time to check over your seed needs. There is fewer than 45 days before some of us will be in the field!   Also, just a reminder that we still have a 3% cash discount until March 30^th.  If you have any questions, please contact your local Producers Hybrids District Sales Manager and if you have time, please stop and say “hi” at our booth at the Saint Cloud Farm Show; February 26^th, 27^th & 28^th.  Thanks again to our customers for your business.  We at Producers Hybrids wish you all a safe and successful growing season in 2013!

Spring Plans

Kyle Meenen (DSM, Region 6 – Southern)

Spring is quickly approaching and soon planters will be in the ground.  However, this past week at the Western Farm Show, it sure didn’t feel spring was right around the corner. The winter storm this past week brought the promise of a brief break in the drought.  Area snowfall ranged from 4 to 14 inches, which was a welcome sight despite severely cutting into the farm show attendance on the first day. However, later in the show, the crowd picked up substantially and we were able to see many of you at the Producers Hybrids booth. We were happy to see both our faithful customers and some new faces at the Western Farm Show.   Customers shared that they heard about us through our performance in the field the past few years and many were looking for the newest most technologically advanced products, so they came to see us.  It was great to hear this feedback at the farm show and I think it really speaks to our superior performance even in these tough years.

However, winter farm shows aren’t the only thing going on right now. As the weather turned cold again and snow fell, spring calves began hitting the ground. Many growers are thinking about taking care of their cattle, getting their planters prepped, and planning and finalizing chemical applications.  With the recent moisture, some here in Kansas are just now making the decision to go with corn instead of milo or other options. All of these headaches cause for a busy time of year, but a very important thing to consider is your current seed order and if you will have the seed you need. There has always been talk of short supply in years like this one and there are always challenges. Here at Producers Hybrids, we have had a great year and are capable of supplying even more. If you are unsure of your current order or simply need to finish filling acres, contact your local DSM. I speak for all of us when I say we are truly “Ready for More.”

Thank you for your business and we look forward to another great year with you in 2013!

Help Us Mother Nature!

Marty Shafer (DSM, Region 3 – Western Nebraska)

Let me first begin by introducing myself.  My name is Marty Shafer and I live in Arapahoe, NE, a small town situated in the Republican River Valley.  I am married to a wonderful woman, Sheila, and together we have three children and six grandchildren.  It’s true what they say about grandchildren; if we would have known they were so much fun, we would have had them first!

My district consists primarily of eight counties in Nebraska and one in Kansas.  I cover Furnas, Gosper, Red Willow, Frontier, Hayes, Hitchcock, Dundy and Chase counties in Nebraska and Norton County in Kansas.  This area is unique from many other districts because the Republican River runs nearly right down the middle of it.  With the drought and no river water, there seems to be much confusion in the area on how to handle the irrigated acres that are irrigated out of the canal system or any of the wells in the Republican River Basin.  The dryland acres are in the same situation since we have had no help recently from Mother Nature.

As I sit down to write this blog it is snowing lightly and the sidewalk is white so far. If the weatherman is correct, this winter storm will produce the first substantial moisture my area has received in nearly two years. I had a client inform me this morning that if the weatherman missed this prediction and we don’t receive the amount of snow he mentioned, the farmer was going to sue for mental anguish.  We are all hoping Mother Nature will help us out with some much needed moisture.

If I could recommend anything for those in my area, it would be to reduce your populations, shorten your day lengths, spend extra time on your hybrid selections and check with your insurance agent on what needs to be done to maximize payments. If the drought in this area continues, your agent is going to be an important part of your farm plan.

Call me or any of our area dealers if you have any seed needs. Thanks for your business!

Greatest Asset in Agriculture

John Wheeting (DSM, Region 1 – South Dakota)

Blizzard Warning!!!!! Blizzard Warning!!!!! Blizzard Warning!!!!!

The East Coast is digging out after one of the worst blizzards in recent years, which dumped 24 inches of snow on places like New York and Boston.  It seems like all the metropolitan areas of any importance in the Eastern part of the U.S. shared in this blizzard.  I am writing this blog today in downtown metropolitan Groton, South Dakota.  Groton is located in the Northeastern part of the state.  It’s where I have called home for twenty years, where my wife, Chris, and I have raised three daughters.  Groton received fifteen inches of wet snow over the weekend.

Many of my colleagues have touched on the tremendous products and technology offered in the Producers Hybrids products in their posts on this blog.  Other posts have covered precision planting information and useful tips to optimize planter performance.  My post is going to cover the greatest asset that agriculture can offer in the Midwest, the people in our communities that we live and work beside every day.

As this town of 1,500 people is digging out, I have witnessed many acts of kindness by people of all ages.  The first example is my nephew, Clark, who loves anything with a motor and a steering wheel.  Clark jumped in the new telehandler that his Grandpa has parked in town.  He finished cleaning my driveway so Chris could get to work; we do not want her to have too much free time.  He then took off to his house, six blocks away.  He did not travel very far before he saw Bert.  Bert is a semi -retired farmer who lives in town now.  Bert milked cows and worked hard all his life.  Most of you can imagine someone like Bert; years of kneeling and standing on concrete did not do much for the knees and hips.  Bert did move pretty fast when Clark turned in his driveway.  Five minutes later and a fifteen dollar tip, Clark was on his way.

Three houses away, there was another retired farmer with a driveway full of snow.  Ten minutes later the same result minus the tip.  I won’t name this farmer but it is rumored he still has his confirmation money stashed away.

A good friend of mine is stranded in Minneapolis, so I called his son, Layne, to see if he was doing alright with chores.  He indicated he was doing fine.  He just was starting to push snow after riding his snowmobile four miles to clean the snow out of a satellite dish of neighbors who were without television since Sunday morning.  Along the way he stopped and fed the neighbor’s 4-H calves because they are on a vacation.

Brett, a local young farmer that runs a custom soil sampling service was also prowling around town with his tractor and loader.  I saw him in numerous places helping people dig out.  One of the recipients goes to the same church as this farmer and his family.  He was attempting to clear the driveway with a four foot drift with a small snowblower.  When the farmer saw this, the tractor stopped hard in the middle of the road. Lucky for me, I was not trying to type this blog on my phone so I was able to stop just shy of the three-point on the tractor.

Producers Hybrids employees and customers are blessed to live in areas where people are still willing to help others. And, Producers Hybrids employees are willing to help you with any questions you may have. Feel free to contact myself or your local Producers Hybrids representative!    

Consistently Consistent

Steve Showalter (DSM, Region 6 – Southern)

Consistency is extremely important in selecting seed corn hybrids, and consistency is the name of the game at Producers Hybrids. Producers Hybrids has several hybrids in the 110 day to 115 day maturity range that are extremely consistent, whether planted in a high yield environment or in more stressful conditions.  For example, 7013VT2Pro and 7014VT3Pro will be at or near the top yield-wise in a high yield environment and at the same time be one of the top yielders in a lower yield environment. Why the consistency?

Building a great hybrid is somewhat like building a house. When building a home the first and most important aspect is to build a great solid foundation.  A beautiful home on a poor foundation will eventually have cracks in the walls, or possibly something worse. Well, in seed corn the home is yield, but the foundation is a great root system, a strong stalk and great agronomics. That is the strength of Producers Hybrids seed corn. We strive to build a hybrid with both great stalk strength and root system as well as a good agronomic package. Only then can a hybrid produce year in and year out, and perform when the conditions are not perfect.

When looking for a top hybrid that performs even when the conditions aren’t great or when the conditions are perfect, look no further than Producers Hybrids.

Good luck this spring getting your crops planted and watch for Producers Hybrids as we are Ready for More. Are you?

Planter Speed & Seed Depth

David Kinnison (DSM, Region 3 – Western Nebraska)

Greetings from North East Colorado! I would like to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is David Kinnison and I reside in the small town of Ovid, Colorado. The area I cover ranges between some of the Panhandle of Nebraska, all of northeast Colorado and the eastern side of Wyoming. I have been extremely blessed to be married to my wife, Sharla, for going on 28 years. We have two fantastic children that are the joy of our lives. Kim, our daughter, currently lives in Denver working and putting herself through college attending C.U. Denver where she is majoring in Urban Transportation.  Our son Korry, a chip off the old block, has a love of the land and is currently involved in a farming operation. Korry also recently got engaged to a fantastic girl by the named of Holly Blagdon.

I grew up on a family farm and was a self-employed farmer for over 20 years before entering the seed business. Our farm was primarily flood irrigated with some pivot irrigation. Our main crop was irrigated corn.

Since water has been such a hot topic recently due to the drought, I thought I would spend some time talking about water use in corn production.  Planter speed and seed depth are both important when it comes to water in corn production.

You may be wondering, how does planter speed and seed depth have anything to do with water use? For the best root development in a corn plant, keeping our seed at a minimum of a 2” depth will let the plant develop the best root system the genetics of that plant are capable of, which translates to a larger deeper root system. The healthier the root system, the greater the water uptake, producing healthier plants with a higher yielding grain fill.

Optimum planting speed depends on planting conditions (usually under 5 miles per hour). The bottom line with planter speed is to keep the unit bounce to a minimum, allowing your planter to place the seed at the correct depth and spacing. Any bounce in a row unit will result in a shallow seed placement, contributing to yield loss at harvest time.

The following information I took from the NebGuide, a fantastic resource of information.

How much water is needed through different growth stages of a corn plant per day? Average water use rates for corn growth stages:

Emergence 0.08”, 4 leaf 0.10”, 8 leaf 0.18”, 12 leaf 0.26”, early tassel 0.32”, silking 0.32”, blister .032”, early dent .24”, full dent .20” and maturity .10”.

It is very important to know your soil types, soil depths and the water holding capacities for best utilizing the amount of irrigation that is needed for optimum yield.

Soil types and their water holding capacities per inch/foot of depth:

Course Sand 0.25-0.75 inch moisture holding capacity per foot of soil

Fine Sand  0.75-1.00

Loamy Sand  1.10-1.20

Sandy Loam  1.25-1.40

Fine Sandy Loam  1.50-2.00

Silt Loam  2.0-2.5

Silty Clay Loam  1.8-2.0

Silty Clay  1.5-1.7

Clay  1.2-1.5

To better utilize our water resources to achieve our corn yield expectations, we can help ourselves by doing the best job possible with our planters. Correct depth and spacing of seed are both very important aspects to planting.   As an equipment dealer once told me, “that planter you’re looking at is the one piece of equipment on your farm that can make you a lot of money.  It can also cost you a fair chunk of money…it just depends on how you run it and treat it.”  Correct depth and planter speed combined with exceptional products will give you the best results each year! If you ever have any questions about Producers Hybrids products or anything else, please contact myself or the Producers DSM in your area.