Farm Program Sign Up Deadlines & Decision Aids

Farm Program Sign Up Deadlines & Decision Aids
Jonathan Coppess, Ag Law & Policy Specialist - University of Illinois

Time is running out for landowners and farmers to decide what to do about the new farm programs. They have until the end of February to make the first two decisions, and must make a final choice by March 31st. Todd Gleason reports on the decision aids available on the University of Illinois Farm Doc Daily website.

FarmDocDaily is hosted by the ag economists…
2:51

FarmDocDaily is hosted by the ag economist at a the U of I, including Ag Policy Specialist Jonathan Coppess. The home page includes a link to something called the Farm Bill Toolbox. There you’ll find decision tools, and a brand new link under Resources named Farm Program Decision Guide.

Coppess :18 …it is all right there.

Quote Summary - It is just a PDF file available on the website. It is something to take home with you, to go to your landlord with, to sit down with your brothers and dad over family discussions with about what your are going to do (about the farm program). It is all right there.

Right there in an easy to download, print out, and use file. It in includes the deadlines - February 27th to make the first two decisions about payment yields and base acre allocation, and March 31st for the final program choice. All of which must be recorded at the local F-S-A office, the Farm Service Agency. The first two decisions, the ones due Feb 27th, should be pretty easy for row crop farmers. Take the highest yields and use the base acre allocation with the most corn acres.

Coppess :25 …if landowners aren’t getting in there soon.

Quote Summary - There is no reason to delay those decisions because the program choice follows on March 31st. It is the one where farmers will want to know a little more about the 2014 county yields. Still, the payment yields and base acre decisions should be made now, otherwise, there will be some long lines at the FSA office if landowners don’t get to the office soon.

The county yields, as released by USDA NASS this month, will help determine how much the ARC County payment will be for last fall’s crop. Once those are released, it will be easier to compare ARC County to the other two farm programs, ARC Individual and PLC.

Coppess :47 …in order to trigger a payment.

Quote Summary - The county yields will determine the ARC County payment. The final number won’t be calculated until the Market Year Average Price is released next fall. Still, it will be the indicator used to calculate and trigger the 2014 ARC County payments.

Knowing the approximate 2014 ARC County payment should help farmers make a final farm program choice. It is important to remember the choice is a five year decision not a one year commitment. The online Farm Bill ToolBox walks producers through seven steps in hopes they’ll make an informed choice.

Finer Ground Corn More Digestible

Finer Ground Corn More Digestible
Hans Stein, Swine Nutritionist - University of Illinois

An animal nutritionist at the University of Illinois has quantified the importance of particle size in ground feed for hogs.




Grinding corn to finer particle sizes can increase its feed efficiency by up to five percent says Hans Stein.

They don’t gain any more, but they eat less to gain the same. Pigs adjust their energy intake. It means there is more available energy in corn when it is ground finer. The pigs eat less, the feed conversion is improved, and it takes fewer pounds of feed to produce a market weight hog.

Stein is a swine nutritionist at the University of Illinois. He investigated the affect of different particle sizes of ground corn when fed to pigs. The corn was ground to 800, 600, 400, and 300 microns.

We discovered amino acid and phosphorous digestibility does not change with particle size. Pigs are very efficient in digesting those nutrients, but when it came to starch we found a linear increase in digestibility as we reduced the particle size of corn. The highest digestibility was with the lowest particle size of corn.

This is because more starch is digested in the pig’s small intestine, causing more glucose to be absorbed and therefore increasing the amount of available energy.

The energy in the corn grain increased as we reduced particle size. A pig will get more energy out of one pound of corn if it is ground to 300 microns instead of 800 microns.

This is were the savings come in to play. The feed conversion rate improves by about one-point-two percent for every 100 micron reduction in particle size, saving seven pounds of corn to finish a pig.

Or producers wanting to formulate diets to a prescribed amount of energy could reduce fat in the ration. Fat is usually used to add more energy, but corn ground to a smaller particle size could replace it. The pigs should perform the same using corn ground to a smaller particle size.

There are a couple of negatives to the smaller grind. The feed doesn’t flow nearly so well and there is an increased risk of stomach ulcers. The ILLINOIS nutritionist says hog producers should try smaller grinds over time, ratcheting down a hundred microns every couple of months. Rations with higher fiber contents will be most successful at the lower particle sizes.

Crude Oil Jumps Off the Lows

Crude Oil Jumps Off the Lows
Harry Cooney, Growmark Energies Specialist - Bloomington, Illinois

The price of crude oil has rallied off it’s lows. Todd Gleason has more on the reasons why.

The cost of a barrel of crude oil has dropped… 1:51

The cost of a barrel of crude oil has dropped dramatically since last June. Back then the price was more the $100 per barrel. It dropped to nearly $44 a barrel earlier this year and has now begun to make a sharp turn higher. There are series of reasons for the rally says Bloomington based energies specialist for Growmark Harry Cooney.

Quote Summary - There has been a steelworkers strike at some of the refineries. This has caused some concerned. The rig counts have also declined. This number indicates how many oil wells are operational and the trade, which focuses on future supply, thinks the supply may peak out and then start to decline.

However, it is important to remember says Harry Cooney crude oil started its price decline at around $107.00 a barrel. It is very unlikely the oil rig count contraction taking place now will greatly constrain supply. Still Cooney has been advising end users, like farmers that purchase gasoline and diesel in bulk, to lock in the price of their 2015 needs.

Quote Summary - The end users see these values, values they haven’t seen for four or five years, as an opportunity to lock in the price of fuel even though they’re above the recent lows. The price of fuel, unlike other inputs on the farm, has decreased more rapidly in percentage terms.

Nitrogen fertilizer, for instance, has yet to drop in price.

Beef Expansion Is Underway

Beef Expansion Is Underway
Chris Hurt, Extension Ag Economist - Purdue University

The nation’s cattle producers are expanding the herd and they’re doing it at a somewhat faster rate than had been anticipated.

USDA, in the semi-annual update of cattle numbers, calculates the total number of cattle and calves has increased by a bit more than one percent. It is the first increase in the cattle inventory since 2007. The industry suffered high feed prices and poor pasture conditions in the Southern Plains over the intervening years. 2014 provided a series of reasons to change course says Purdue University Extension Ag Economist Chris Hurt.

Quote Summary - There were multiple incentives to expand in 2014. These were led by record high cattle prices, with finished cattle averaging near $155 per live hundredweight and Oklahoma 500–550 pound steer calves averaging $250 per hundred. The other part of the incentive was more abundant feed due to a retreating drought in the Central and Southern Plains that restored range conditions and to favorable feed crop production in 2013 and 2014 which lowered corn and protein feed costs.

The most significant expansion is underway in the beef herd where beef cow numbers are up two percent from year-ago levels. The number of beef heifers being held back to enter the breeding herd is up four percent. Significantly, the number of those retained heifers that will calve this year is up seven percent. This means 61 percent of the beef heifers that have been retained to enter the breeding herd were already bred at the start of this year. The 2014 beef cow herd expansion, thinks Hurt, is likely the beginning of a multi-year increase.

Quote Summary - It is common for the beef herd to be in expansion for four to six years. With 2014 registering as the first year of expansion, expansion could continue through most of this decade. If so, peak beef production on this cycle would not be expected until early in the next decade.

Beef supplies, however for this year, will not change much. This might lead one to anticipate prices to be near the $155 finished cattle price of 2014. However, 2014 was an exceptional year, and meat prices in general this year may be lower explains Chris Hurt. Currently, futures markets are heavily discounting cash cattle prices, suggesting 2015 average finished cattle prices in the higher $140’s. However, he expects finished cattle prices to average $150 to $157 in 2015, with prices in early spring in upper $150s and the lower $160’s and then to fall to near $150 in summer and then to end the year in the mid-$150s.