One Big Buck
OBB
I currently do not have a tractor or any implements to create a food plot, I do however have a large 750cc ATV and a Ford F150 4x4 truck. No trailers or really any storage building currently, however I have given some thought to building a small pole building at my farm. I'm trying to weight all my options for getting food plots established next year and am wondering what advice you would give me.
I have approximately ten acres of tillable ground that has little slope to it. The ground is currently being cash rented this year and is in corn. Next year, I would like to plant soybeans and then broadcast in rye and/or turnips in late summer/early fall. My farm is one hour from my home and I have limited time to establish and maintain the plots. I'd like to plant and manage my own food plots, as it seems most on here do, but I don't know that I can justify buying a tractor and all the necessary implements.
It will more than likely take me a few years to save up enough money to obtain all the tools I would want to do food plots, and then I also need a place to store them. With that said I'm trying to figure out a plan that will allow me to invest in equipment wisely over the next few years and avoid the "I wish I would have bought a X instead of a Y" pitfall. Here are some different possibilities that I've been mulling over, what would you do?
1) Ask the farmer that is cash renting to plant the food plots next year.
How do I establish a price to pay him? Who would pay for any inputs and chemicals? How do I verifiy the fertilizer was applied, or 3 treatments of Roundup were applied, etc.? Or maybe this would be cost prohibitive and I'd be better off investing the money I would pay him into equipment or a storage location.
2) Purchase an all in one plotting tool like the plotmaster that can be used by the ATV today and can converted to a three point for use with a tractor. A four foot implement may be too small to do 10 acres in a timely fashion.
3) Purchase a three point disc, leave it on the farm and rent a tractor each spring (or hire the farmer to disc the field and apply fertilizer). Use the ATV to broadcast the soybeans and apply roundup.
4) Purchase a no till planter like a JD7000, leave it at the farm and rent a tractor, or could this potentially be pulled by my pickup truck? I'd have to have some sort of hydraulic pump on my truck, but would this work? and could it be pulled at highway speeds?
Those are the main options that I keep debating in my mind, maybe there are others that I should entertain? Time is really the critical element for me, married, young kids, a business to attend, you know how it is. What would you guys do?
I have approximately ten acres of tillable ground that has little slope to it. The ground is currently being cash rented this year and is in corn. Next year, I would like to plant soybeans and then broadcast in rye and/or turnips in late summer/early fall. My farm is one hour from my home and I have limited time to establish and maintain the plots. I'd like to plant and manage my own food plots, as it seems most on here do, but I don't know that I can justify buying a tractor and all the necessary implements.
It will more than likely take me a few years to save up enough money to obtain all the tools I would want to do food plots, and then I also need a place to store them. With that said I'm trying to figure out a plan that will allow me to invest in equipment wisely over the next few years and avoid the "I wish I would have bought a X instead of a Y" pitfall. Here are some different possibilities that I've been mulling over, what would you do?
1) Ask the farmer that is cash renting to plant the food plots next year.
How do I establish a price to pay him? Who would pay for any inputs and chemicals? How do I verifiy the fertilizer was applied, or 3 treatments of Roundup were applied, etc.? Or maybe this would be cost prohibitive and I'd be better off investing the money I would pay him into equipment or a storage location.
2) Purchase an all in one plotting tool like the plotmaster that can be used by the ATV today and can converted to a three point for use with a tractor. A four foot implement may be too small to do 10 acres in a timely fashion.
3) Purchase a three point disc, leave it on the farm and rent a tractor each spring (or hire the farmer to disc the field and apply fertilizer). Use the ATV to broadcast the soybeans and apply roundup.
4) Purchase a no till planter like a JD7000, leave it at the farm and rent a tractor, or could this potentially be pulled by my pickup truck? I'd have to have some sort of hydraulic pump on my truck, but would this work? and could it be pulled at highway speeds?
Those are the main options that I keep debating in my mind, maybe there are others that I should entertain? Time is really the critical element for me, married, young kids, a business to attend, you know how it is. What would you guys do?
