How to increase your wheat yield by 20 bushels per acre

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

A good field of wheat straw can yield a net profit of $100 an acre. Plant red clover and you get an additional $25-$30-worth of nutrients. Added up, that is equivalent to more than 20 bushels an acre

by PAT LYNCH

I visited recently with a producer who, along with his dad and grandfather, grow about 500 acres of winter wheat every year. I asked him if he sold the straw. He said, "No, Opa doesn't think we should." I asked him if he underseeded with red clover. He said no again. "We tried it years ago and didn't like the results."

There are a lot of Ontario wheat producers who think this way. Here are the facts. Winter wheat straw will be in demand next year. A good field can produce 3,000 pounds per acre. This is worth four to five cents a pound in the field. Total value is $120-$130 per acre. Nutrients removed in this straw are about $12-$20 per acre. So the net profit of wheat straw is $100 an acre.

As Opa would point out, you remove organic matter in straw. But if you plant red clover, you probably add two to three tonnes per acre of organic matter when you include roots and tops. And you get another $25-$30 per acre of nitrogen. Net value is over $125 per acre by selling straw and seeding red clover. This is equivalent to over 20 bushels per acre at $5.60 per bushel, plus an increase in organic matter and free nitrogen, plus higher corn yields the following year.

Wheat straw is used in many ways. The main use is for bedding in poultry and cattle barns. But it is also used in horticulture crops as cover. Some farmers used it in livestock rations.

If you need straw and can't or don't want to buy it from a wheat producer, oats is the best spring crop for straw. You can expect to get almost as much straw from oats as from winter wheat. All Ontario varieties are susceptible to rust, so consider spraying any oats grown for straw with fungicides at least twice.

Spraying a fungicide also greatly increases the probability of getting the higher bushel weight that end users demand. If you don't make bushel weight, you will have oats to sell as a cover crop seed. And if you don't sell it, you can store it for future years.

If you are going to sow oats, order early. There won't be enough Ontario-produced oat seed to go around, so don't expect to walk in to your dealer next spring and get enough seed to plant 100 acres. If you order early, that will allow dealers to bring in seed from Western Canada.

There are a couple options to replace wheat straw. One is corn stalks. These should be harvested in the spring when they will be drier than if harvested in the fall. Corn stalks can replace straw for bedding cattle, though I have never heard of corn stalks being used in poultry barns.

It is best to harvest the stalks in the spring and then chop them into storage. I have seen them harvested with corn silage equipment or baled and ground with a tub grinder. Both systems are all right, but not as good quality as wheat or oats straw.

Current commodity prices mean you have to farm differently. BF

Consulting agronomist Pat Lynch, CCA (ON), formerly worked with the Ontario agriculture ministry and with Cargill.