Cost of corn ?

[solsikkefarms]

Let me start by saying through no fault of my own do I not have enough shelled corn for this summer... through no fault of my own. lol

Anyways, looking at buying a load of shelled corn from my local co-op (if they ever bother to get back to me)

Plan is to take my old gravity wagon up and have them put a ton of corn in it. Just wondering if anyone else buys shelled corn by the ton how much you are paying for it.

Thanks

[GeneMO]

Go to this site. Punch in your zip code. It will give you the price they are paying.

Wait a minute, this may be for Missouri only. I forget.


http://www.farmassist.com/markets/cashbidsdetail.aspx


They wont be more than 40 or 50 cents over that I would think.

Gene

[rambler]

Corn price is based off of the CBOT bids, which change every minute during their hours:

http://www.e-adm.com/futr/futr_compo...ODE=FIRST_OPEN

Take the upper left most number.

Then there is local basis. Where I live and probably where you are, corn is worth a bit less because we grow more than we use. Some areas, Texas or Carolina's, they use more corn than they grow so they pay more than CBOT most of the time. Anyhow, could be 20 cents or so less than CBOT, I donno for your area.

Then the coop will typically add $.10 a bu for handling the corn - their mark up from their purchase price. You are getting a rather small a out, most enjoy working with small customers now and then, some might have an extra fee for small amounts.....

All together will put you back close to the CBOT price......

A bu is 56 lbs of corn, and how corn is bought and sold in the USA.

So, 2000 lbs / 56 x 3.89 is about $138 - more or less depending on basis in your area.

Paul

[solsikkefarms]

Pretty good Paul -

They gave me todays price of $139 a bushel. You're right about them not necessarily enjoying working with small farmers too, they usually brush me off, seems like they only want to work with the 3 commercial farms in the area, but since they merged with the next county and that county took control they seem to be willing to work with me now.

Will be interested to see how much of that I can save by growing all my own corn this year, I have a bid coming in from a custom planter today to plant 5 acres.

Thanks Again.

[Wanda]

Originally Posted by solsikkefarms

Pretty good Paul -

They gave me todays price of $139 a bushel. You're right about them not necessarily enjoying working with small farmers too, they usually brush me off, seems like they only want to work with the 3 commercial farms in the area, but since they merged with the next county and that county took control they seem to be willing to work with me now.

Will be interested to see how much of that I can save by growing all my own corn this year, I have a bid coming in from a custom planter today to plant 5 acres.

Thanks Again.

Was $139 a TON what they quoted, instead of a bushel?

[solsikkefarms]

um, yeah.. duh - my bad, that's a ton.

[myheaven]

Alied was 2 x more expensive then the Melrose co-op by me. A ton cost me $160 ground last month.

[Wanda]

The bad thing about small purchases is the labor cost. The elevator will have almost identical cost, to load and bill,one ton or twenty tons.
It is still head and shoulders above bagged prices!

[DaleK]

Originally Posted by Wanda

The bad thing about small purchases is the labor cost. The elevator will have almost identical cost, to load and bill,one ton or twenty tons.
It is still head and shoulders above bagged prices!

Yes. If they charged the "real" cost of loading 1 ton vs 20, the 1 ton would cost more. The way most places price things, the 20 ton customer subsidizes the 1 ton customer

[Lazy J]

It is tough to raise corn for $139/ton ($3.89/bushel). Buy it up and don't look back.

[DaleK]

Originally Posted by Lazy J

It is tough to raise corn for $139/ton ($3.89/bushel). Buy it up and don't look back.

Yeah. If I only needed 5 acres worth I'd sure look into buying or booking it to buy now instead of having it custom grown.

[rambler]

Originally Posted by DaleK

Yeah. If I only needed 5 acres worth I'd sure look into buying or booking it to buy now instead of having it custom grown.

Of economics are the focus, I would rent the 5 acres to a good corn farmer, and buy the corn from the coop. While that seems inefficient, the corn grower will produce a lot more corn per acre, and the coop will supply good quality corn when you need it, and the money will end up the most in your pocket this way.

Now, that is likely the least fun, and not a homesteader way, and certainly there is more to consider than only money or only efficiency or only ease of use.

So I'm not saying do it this way, but if money is the big concern, then..... You can't buy the machinery, spend the time, and grow the high yielding corn for cheaper than a fella doing it for 20 years can do it.

Paul

[solsikkefarms]

The guy is planting all the fields around me so all he has do is drive across the road and plant mine. I'm going to be doing all the disc work and harvesting, hauling, storage. He's just going to be planting/fertilizing it for me. If he can do that for less than $3.89 a bushel it's a no brainer for me. I can use the stalks too, and once it's all picked pasture the pigs in that field to clean it up. Sure, money is nice.. but there's hidden costs in everything.

[agmantoo]

"He's just going to be planting/fertilizing"

Who will be paying for this more expensive portion of growing the corn?

[solsikkefarms]

well I will be paying for it of course. This is the cost I will have to weigh against the cost of just purchasing the same amount of corn.