# Planting



## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

Fwd: http://www.agweb.com/mobile/article/many-midwest-farmers-way-ahead-of-normal-planting-schedule-naa-associated-press/


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## RuttedField (Apr 24, 2016)

I live in Maine and we are well ahead of planting too despite the cooler temps. (We do NOT have planters that big here though!"


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

You would have to drive to Georgia from here in order to get that son of gun turned around and headed in the other direction.

Regards, Mike


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

Vol said:


> You would have to drive to Georgia from here in order to get that son of gun turned around and headed in the other direction.
> 
> Regards, Mike


How many acres does that need to cover to pay?

Big ones here are half that size.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

deadmoose said:


> How many acres does that need to cover to pay?
> Big ones here are half that size.


couple neighbors have 36 row planters running about 7000 acres each.ALOT of 24 row planters here.My 12 row seems small sometimes.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

A 36 row tidbit

If you take a 36 row x 30' planter and plant 2 rounds around a 160 acre field you plant over 1/4 of the entire field around 43 acres.


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

Another tidbit, you cannot turn at an intersection on two country roads, too long in transport mode to make the turn. Guys that farm next to me have one, and have to plan their routes on which corners they can make.


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## glasswrongsize (Sep 15, 2015)

swmnhay said:


> A 36 row tidbit
> 
> If you take a 36 row x 30' planter and plant 2 rounds around a 160 acre field you plant over 1/4 of the entire field around 43 acres.


43560 (Sq ft per acre) X 160 acres = 6969600 sq feet
6969600's square root is 2640 (½ mile), so 2640 feet is the length, per side, of a square 160 acre field.
36 rows at 2.5 feet (30 inches) is 90'
Two rounds around means that 180 feet has been removed around the field leaving a square with the sides that are 2460.
2460 squared is 6051600 (square feet)
6051600 divided by 43560= 138.9 acres. From 160, that indicates that 21.1 acres were planted.

To plant 25% one must plant 4 rounds (or 3.9 actually, but who quits prior to the end of the round) with a 36 row planter on 30 inch rows.

That is, if my math is correct...which in school (when I went and wasn't skipping class) was not all that often.

73, Mark

EDIT

And the light bulb JUST came on!!! My math was not right, but I will leave my mistake to remind me of my shame


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

glasswrongsize said:


> 43560 (Sq ft per acre) X 160 acres = 6969600 sq feet
> 6969600's square root is 2640 (½ mile), so 2640 feet is the length, per side, of a square 160 acre field.
> 36 rows at 2.5 feet (30 inches) is 90'
> Two rounds around means that 180 feet has been removed around the field leaving a square with the sides that are 2460.
> ...


You over think it.

planter is 90' so in 1/2 mile it covers 5.45 acres.

A sq 160 acres is 1/2 mile by 1/2 mile.

So 2 rounds around = 8 sides @ 5.45 acres = 43.6 acres

2 nd pass is slightly smaller but still would be over 40 acres.

Close enough for Haytalk,lol.


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## glasswrongsize (Sep 15, 2015)

...yup, I forgot to account for two rounds as being 180 feet off of EACH side and EACH end for a total of 360' planted for a remainder of 119.3 acres...or 40 2/3 acres planted.
If I cared 1/2 as much about learning when I was in high school as I appreciate knowledge and testing myself now, I would probably be in a different place in my life. :huh:

Now that I think about THAT, I'm happy with where I am... but it's not going to bode well for my teeth if I don't get my foot out of my mouth every once in a while. I first read your post was impressed by the claim and thought "that can't be right"; it is though. 
Sure makes my little JD494A look like a watch fob.
73, Mark


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## PaMike (Dec 7, 2013)

160 acre field...We don't even have 160 acre farms here....


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## IHCman (Aug 27, 2011)

Lots of big planters and airseeders around here. Smaller guys have 16 row planters, quite a few of the bigger guys have huge planters they pull with 4wd tractors. Some of the air seeders look like trains when they have two anhydrous tanks behind the cart. We still use our 8 row 800 cyclo and a 20 ft IH 620 drills. I was seeding barley a few years ago and had three neighbors seeding within a mile of me with big airseeders. I kinda felt like the odd duck pulling the old 620s and looking across the road at the big shiny seeders they were pulling.

Quite a few guys here that farm 10k acres or close to it. I'd say a small farm that is strictly grain is around 1500 to 2500 acres here. We only farm about 500 acres between Dad and I, but we're more into the cattle side anyway.

I don't think very many of the young guys in there 20s around here would even know how to use markers. They've grown up with autosteer and all the electronics. I just bought a tractor this spring with a trimble 750 display and ezee pilot autosteer. Really like it. Took a bit to teach dad how to run it but he is getting the hang of it. used it to plant corn and said he's so glad to not have to use the markers.


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## Circle MC Farms LLC (Jul 22, 2011)

Most of our fields aren't enormous but when you need to plant 5000 acres of corn in ten days or so and the rain doesn't cooperate, a big planter makes sense. My boss runs a 36 row jd a 24 row jd and a 24 row kinze all at once. For them it's the difference between having to plant every night till 3 am and start over at 8, or being able to quit at 9 or 10 and go home to their families.


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

McDonald Family Farms said:


> Most of our fields aren't enormous but when you need to plant 5000 acres of corn in ten days or so and the rain doesn't cooperate, a big planter makes sense. My boss runs a 36 row jd a 24 row jd and a 24 row kinze all at once. For them it's the difference between having to plant every night till 3 am and start over at 8, or being able to quit at 9 or 10 and go home to their families.


Well that line up should cover 5000 acres in 4 good days, 5 if you poke around.


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## Circle MC Farms LLC (Jul 22, 2011)

haybaler101 said:


> Well that line up should cover 5000 acres in 4 good days, 5 if you poke around.


Yeah I'm pretty sure they started on a thursday and got rained out on saturday and then finished up the following wednesday-friday. Ground's really saturated here. It was impressive to watch them run.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

I like those big fields, we have one half mile wide, 5/8's of a mile long, two rounds with a 60 foot spray boom covers a lot of acres.

Neighbor stopped in the other day, said he went across the road from his house and dug some seed up from another guys, corn that was planted over two weeks ago is rotting in the ground with no signs of germination.


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

Yeah, have a couple fields a little over 1/2 mile. One round with the sprayer is about 7 acres and a round cutting beans is 3 acres.


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## Swv.farmer (Jan 2, 2016)

That is some more planter. Around hear when they went from a 2 row to a 4 row they thought that they had hit the big time.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

haybaler101 said:


> Yeah, have a couple fields a little over 1/2 mile. One round with the sprayer is about 7 acres and a round cutting beans is 3 acres.


I always wanted to farm fields of that size....but it just cannot happen on this end of the state....you feel like you are getting things done when you can travel that far without turning and of course one can move along at a pretty good pace in many instances.

Regards, Mike


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Vol said:


> I always wanted to farm fields of that size....but it just cannot happen on this end of the state....you feel like you are getting things done when you can travel that far without turning and of course one can move along at a pretty good pace in many instances.
> 
> Regards, Mike


One thing about the big fields it seems like you are not getting anything done because its so far across.But in reality you are.

I'll have 295 acres of corn on 1 farm,2 fields only divided by a waterway.

Pretty common here for 160 acre fields.


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## Swv.farmer (Jan 2, 2016)

I'd like to plant a field like that around hear a 50 arcer field is big really big on average about 20 arcers


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