Author	[Modern View]
big jt 02-15-2013 22:54:56 206.72.54.246 Report to Moderator	Lot of variables here. Where are you located, what kind of soil are you going into, row width etc. Actually good yielding corn for grain will also produce tonnage as silage, at least from the numbers I remember seeing. Best suggestion I have is contact your local Pioneer dealer. Hopefully you have a good one and he is willing to help educate you. This should be a slow time for him. Almost all of the customers who are doing this for a living have made their orders. Discounts are pretty well done and deliveries haven't started yet. Remember most of his or her customers deal in pallets of seed so your one or two bags are more of a favor on his part. Also without any discounts expect to pay about $300 a bag. jm2cw jt [Reply]   [No Email]
Bret4207 02-16-2013 04:39:30 64.19.90.196 Report to Moderator	Re: Pioneer Corn ideas in reply to big jt, 02-15-2013 22:54:56   "...expect to pay about $300 a bag." Which I why I'm going to Open Pollinated corn. [Reply]  [No Email]
paul 02-16-2013 08:23:24 66.44.133.112 Report to Moderator	Re: Pioneer Corn ideas in reply to Bret4207, 02-16-2013 04:39:30   Nothing wrong with OP if that is what you want to do. As the others say, think it through. I see on this site a fella has a year old bag of OP for sale for $75. I can buy some Dekalb older but good corn for $250-275. Or my small seed breeder I buy most of my corn from at $220-230. I can get non-traited (non-gmo) hybred corn from them for $90-120 a bag. All of these corns will get me 175-225 bu an acre depending on my soil and rainfall. The OP corn will top out at 85-125 bu an acre. Be sure you get what you pay for. If you are just putting in an acre for the deer to eat, or just planting for fun, or have some ground that probably won't yield any corn but you want to plant it anyhow, then nothing wrong with the OP. Or if you want to save your own seed, or organic heirloom type of stuff, nothing wrong with picking OP to grow. In some cases OP will outyield the hybreds for silage, so another good reason to look at growing them. But only just, if the cost of the bag of seed is what you are looking at, you might really hurt your yields and income... That $90 bag of untraited hybred corn is going to yield a lot more than the $75 OP bag of corn.... Paul [Reply]  [No Email]
Bret4207 02-17-2013 04:59:21 64.19.90.196 Report to Moderator	Re: Pioneer Corn ideas in reply to paul, 02-16-2013 08:23:24   Quoting Removed, click Modern View to see If I had someone locally selling that corn I might consider it Paul. For now I'm buying form an Amish guy 3 miles away on the same type of land that gets good yields using the same inputs as I do- manure and plowing down sod. I'm not trying to say anyone should follow my lead at all. I'm just saying $300.00 a bag....can't justify it. [Reply]  [No Email]
DeltaRed 02-16-2013 07:09:17 71.208.220.239 Report to Moderator	Re: Pioneer Corn ideas in reply to Bret4207, 02-16-2013 04:39:30   I've planted OP corn. It doesnt work....Sure it gets tall,with forearm size ears at shoulder hight.But it all falls over and will not dry down.Sure seed prices are through the roof,but a high yeilding hybrid is a 'cheap' seed(cost vs return).I would not plant OP if you gave me the seed....Steve [Reply]  [No Email]
IaGary 02-16-2013 06:31:47 108.160.237.250 Report to Moderator	Re: Pioneer Corn ideas in reply to Bret4207, 02-16-2013 04:39:30   To add to what RG Martin said. Yup you can plant the OP corn and get 100 Bushels per acre. At $5 abu. thats $500. Or you can plant the pioneer at $120 an acre for seed and get 150 bushels an acre. That equates to $750 an acre. $250 more than the OP. You couldn"t get the op for free and be ahead. Just making sure you think it all through. Gary [Reply]  [No Email]
RGMartin 02-16-2013 05:41:24 98.21.110.140 Report to Moderator	Re: Pioneer Corn ideas in reply to Bret4207, 02-16-2013 04:39:30   Quoting Removed, click Modern View to see But seed cost is a tiny part of the total cost of corn production, even at $300/80,000. I have tried some test plots of OP, with more modern methods than my grandfather used, The numbers don't work, the yields simply aren't there. I would have to get a 75% premium for the corn to make sense. [Reply]  [No Email]
Bret4207 02-17-2013 04:54:27 64.19.90.196 Report to Moderator	Re: Pioneer Corn ideas in reply to RGMartin, 02-16-2013 05:41:24   Quoting Removed, click Modern View to see If I was doing large acreage and selling the corn you'd be right. I just need enough silage to feed 100-125 ewes, about 4 acres, maybe less. The numbers with the $300 a bag stuff don't work for me. [Reply]  [No Email]