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How Did He Get More With Less?
 Rick Engelmeyer, Beemer, NE, April 19, 2019.
 
Exactrix® Mustang Tool Bar, Case 940 on 30 inch. TATS formulator.
Joel and Jay McClure at Hugoton, KS, TAPPS and TAPPKTS formulators.

TATS is Tri-Ammonium-Thio-Sulfate as NH3 at 82.4-0-0- and Thio-sul® 12-0-0-26S.

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Rick Engelmeyer, April 19, 2019, Beemer, NE

How did they get More With Less?  Bringing Down the cost per bushel produced using Thio-Sul®. 

Tillage Manure System. With Exceptional High Soil Test P with High Organic Matter along the Elkhorn River Valley.

High Quality, High Value land at $12,000 per acre using Exactrix TATS to jump start a higher yield level…based on tissue testing and soil testing….sulfur is needed.

Dr. Jim Schepers UNL-ARS, Emeritus,  reviewed Rick’s practices to raise high yield Pioneer varieties…some Dekalb also.

Similar conclusions were made…Sulfur could be a limiting.

In 2019, Testing for 300 bushels per acre average yields using TATS and various rates of Thio-Sul®.

Extensive testing over 15 years with two types of Exactrix NH3 system discovered that 140 lbs. of Exactrix Processed N as NH3 will raise a good crop at 1% CV of application in Liquid streaming flows.

A major change and another $60,000 of investment including new Ag Leader control and guidance and 750 gallons of Thio-Sul on board with good operator visibility.  Will sulfur give better and more consistent yields? 

Note, Thio-sul® has been implemented for higher yields and better performance of placed ammonium. …This is a TATS formulator in manured soils of 3.5 OM, 6.8 pH to 6.5 pH, with soil P at 50 ppm and higher with 100 years of manure history. For the last 15 years, 2,500 cows and one hog barn supplying additional organic nutrients on 2,500 acres.  

Mustang Deep Banding with the 2KC, Series 3 Weight Master, for the last 4 years along the Elkhorn River Valley in Cuming county.  

At Beemer, West Point, NE….….In the last four years strictly NH3 with Mustangs on 30 inch centers….and Yield levels up to 289 bushels per acre average.   

The goal is to head north of previous yields with the Hybrid corn 1197 Pioneer. Good yield levels at 289 to 295 bushels per acre with Pioneer. We are hoping to break 300 bushels per acre average by crystallizing 5 gallons of Thio-Sul® combined with 140 pounds N as NH3 at 1% CV of application.   

Following testing this year….more testing with KTS® and Micros but no placed P to meet the environmental needs of excessive P from manuring. We suspect Zinc and possible some Copper will be next.  

There is some testing at 7 and 10 gallons of Thio-Sul at 2.89 lbs. S per gallon. The Ammonium N rate remaining the same at 140 lbs. N.  

The crystals of TATS will provide two types of sulfur, micronutrients in the exclusive pH swing of Thio-sul and stabilization of Ammonium N in warm and wet conditions of Beemer, NE.  

Along the far eastern front of rolling Nebraska and close to the Missouri River valley. Almost always Thio-sul ®is economically efficient to 30 lbs. S or about 10.5 gallons of product.

 

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A major leap ahead with stainless steel saddle tanks at 375 gallons per tank.  Good visibility, good machine balance, improved ride, heavy duty design.  
The track mounted “Fender Tanks” have made this tractor more functional. The steering axle is also a front power axle and the powered feature is seldom kicked in to pull.

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Clean mounting. http://ryanmfginc.com/   About $14,000 for 750 gallons and a great view with weight where it belongs, on the tracks.
You will note the impressive efforts and designs implemented…..The efforts to make a good mount by the manufacturer is impressive.

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Flow consolidator. Each tank can be controlled at the tee.

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2KR, TATS Formulator, with dual section Exactrix dual staging manifolds. Ag Leader control.

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Magnetic Reluctance Flowmeter, Arag, Italian and an excellent full quality product. Repeatable in all flow ranges as tested.

 

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Arag Primary Filter at 50 mesh.

 

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Fill station at the tongue.

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Exactrix High Pressure 300 psi final filters.  Not well understood by most….the secret is the Exactrix filters.

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Exactrix Dual Stage NH3 manifolds at 300 psi plus injection pressures at speeds to 12 mph from 2 mph.
 Unique to the industry. Final Filters add to quality time in the tractor.

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A five section fold 6 x 6 tool bar.
  Also arranged down to 15 inch spacing which is the most popular.  Available in 61.25 feet in 7 section fold.

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2KC Series 3 in Mass Flow…and current to the Ag Leader controller.  

Meets or exceeds expectations in every case. The high quality high pressure injection at 1% CV…..Every pound of N goes to work…..only 1 pound in 100 is not crop available.  

Time proven, 140 pounds of N applied with Exactrix 2KC Series 3 will raise a 300 bushel corn crop. 5 years in a row. It works every time.

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Replaceable Bit Injection. An upgrade for extra wear life. An option and valuable to big acres producers. The chrome bit has been improved in metallurgy, width, length, and is generation 2. “

Extra protection of the injectors is now implemented with Blue Tempered Spring Steel side plates at 600 acres on 50 feet.  “Blue Tempered Spring Steel is ……Hard as Glass”…. at about 1% plus Carbon and heat treated to 70 to 80 RC.  

Also an easy part to replace with the injector remaining on the machine.

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Required control is the pressure and tachometer control center to confirm balance and Exactrix positive displacement pumps are on the money.

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Ag Leader is current and  provides the updated information at 7.2 mph.

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Setting the tank valves with Smarthose technology, passive technology and very safe for all involved.
Clint Morgan and Rick Engelmeyer head for the field about 2 miles away.

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Clint and Rick discuss Exactrix technology and the next chapter.
Alert and anticipating some 300 bushel average per acre corn crops ahead.  

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A major leap ahead on high OM manured soils. Highest quality soils in Nebraska. Ready to break the 300 bushel per acre mark on average.  

Maybe Fumigant Mustard Cover Cropping in the spring 2020….there is a need to find a way for improved and advanced 100 bushel soybean production with Pacific Gold Mustard….that will work for sure in getting some problems covered with Nematodes.  

For Sure, Soil testing coming up with Ag Nema Laboratories at Richland, Washington.   About June we will start soil sampling for Nematodes and finding the rest of the story on the beans.  

Potassium as KTS®, Sulfur, Zinc and Cooper will also help the beans with a small shot of NH3 at 30 pound to 50 pounds per acre….You can fertilize soybeans with Exactrix equipment.  

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"It’s not how you start that counts, It is how you finish that counts", Steve Mader.
As Rick Engelmeyer says, “This is a faith based business”.


McClure and Son, The Rest of the story Planted 20 inch Winter Wheat Vs. Drilled 10 inch Winter Wheat at Hugoton KS. TAM 111

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The Early Years of No-till and the phase out of the plow and tillage system. A major discovery in economics.  

When tractors and tillage became the norm of the Great Plains and West of the Continental Divide, circa 1930. More seed rows were implemented to control erosion. Loss of Alfalfa in the rotation was also a major reason more seed rows were needed to control erosion.  

Fewer seed rows can only be used effectively with No-Tillage Techniques developed in the early 70’s. This is because erosion control becomes easy in No-till and commercial fertilizer could be used much more effectively.  

When commercial fertilizer was utilized the fertilizer complicated the problem since weeds could find the placed and broadcast commercial nutrients and it was thought that more seed rows would out-compete the weeds. This was a natural way of thinking but wrong.  

More seed rows made the problem worse since the straw to grain ratio changed for the worse. Too much straw and not enough grain. The horses were gone and straw became a liability in rotations. Short statured wheats were developed but even they developed too much straw when fertilized. 

It was discovered in 1974 to 1979 that fewer seed rows (both 9 inch and 18 inch were studied) produced higher yields because No-tillage seed roots were more thrifty with commercial inputs.  

Thus No-tillage Seminal Pairs of Roots were further investigated by Dr. Betty Klepper and Dr. Jim Cook, both ARS scientists at Pendleton and Pullman. Producers in No-till reported that No-till allowed roots to grow deeper and faster since the soil was warmer in the winter. 

Yes Sir, The No-tillage winter wheat roots elongated and grew deeper and faster. Due to No-till the roots were healthier (virtually no cercosporella root rot) when seed was spaced evenly and closely inside specialized No-tillage offset leading double disc seed openers.  

Since 1982,  Psuedocercosporella, Strawbreaker footrot or eyespot has become a disease of tillage, No-till acres leaped ahead when producers discovered that Strawbreaker or Eyespot could be controlled or economically reduced if tillage was stopped.   Dangerous chemical products designed to kill soil life were implemented in tillage systems in the 80’s.  

These products as Mertec (mercury based) and Topsin were  eventually declared as too dangerous for the soil life and mankind.   Tillage was the problem and No-tillage was the solution.

Why are openers key to high yields?

These first true No-tillage openers were developed and commercialized by Mort and Guy Swanson as the Yielder Drill. The openers actually metered the seed into the soil.   A special document is available that explains how this metering seed opener drove seedling health and root development much faster. Ironically the opener blades came from plow coulters with Timken® bearings. Plow Coulters invented the Yielder Drill, how can that be true?  There is more to that story.  

Most of the Swanson Seed Metering Offset Leading opener and seed metering research was carried out with the USDA 1 Drill, Dr. Verlan Cochran and Dr. Roland Shirman, a weed scientist were the investigators of why this leading disc metering opener worked so well.  

When fertilizer placement drills (Pioneer and Yielder Drills) were implemented in 1980 the rules changed again. Fewer seed rows produced higher yields in winter wheat and better profits resulted because only the crop could find the fertilizer in paired row systems of 5/15 and 5/10.  

If fertilizer could be trapped in Paired rows of 5/15 spacing yields could be increased to record levels, and in some cases yields doubled in winter wheat and spring wheat from the 1985 to 2005 period.   

One Walla Walla Washington field of dryland Yielder® seeded winter wheat field averaged 165 bushels per acre in dryland and some Yielder® seeded Oregon fields reached 185 bushels per acre in smaller high rainfall fields of the Willamette Valley.   

The weeds would suffer and the crop would flourish attaining 33% to 100% higher per acre yields in 10 inch average row spacing and 15 inch spacing would produce similar results.  

Weeds became easier to control when they were not fertilized. The weeds were not allowed to access commercial and concentrated NPK and S geospatial bands located positionally to indexed seed rows for seminal root access.

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Steptoe Butte in the background, “Old Yeller” in 1978 on 18 inch spacing, Urea application, in Palouse Conditions.   

A Steptoe is a geological term and shown in the foothills of the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. 
A field wide pattern was established for exceptional stands using the Swanson offset leading double disc opener.   

Old Yeller was a fertilizer applicator of Nitrate and later a Urea top dressing system that became obsolete when the Yielder Drill was developed.  

Cheat Grass and Wild Oats go to exponential growth rates with top dressed nutrients.  
Weeds found the nutrients early and the advantage of No-till was lost due to Top Dressing of Commercial Fertilizer.

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The evolution of Paired Row 5/10 shown, 5/15 is most popular with a 14 inch dead band. 9 inch is shown.

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April 14, 2019. Hugoton, KS.

Joel and Jay McClure along the Cimarron River in Stevens County KS.
Is there a difference planting Winter Wheat vs Seeding Winter wheat using two common types of drill and planter?

Does Seed Row Saturation or SRS help improve stands and yields of planted winter wheat?

Does the population of Winter Wheat make a difference at a per acre rate of 15 lbs. or 180,000 population compared to 30 lbs. or 360,000 per acre population?

Does planting on 10 inch with two passes at 180,000 equaling 360,000 per acre population make a difference compared to 20 inch planted spacing at 360,000 per acre population?

Along the Cimarron River on sandy soils, you can observe 10 different row spacing and populations, with SRS plots of Winter Wheat following Hybrid Corn.

Planted September of 2018 with TAM 111, Winter Wheat.  

At Hugoton, at Bumper Flats along the Cimarron, No fertilizer was applied ahead or side dressed into the crop with TAPPS or TAPPKTS.

The Winter Wheat leaves have a bronze color from the application of Ally and Solution 32-0-0 at 5 gallons per acre about 1 week prior timeline with freezing nights to follow the application of herbicide and fertilizer over the top.

The weed control was highest quality in observations and row to row consistint and each plot inspection.

 25.   The TAM 111 Popluations are 180,000 per acre and 360,000 per acre planted or drilled.

A Great Plains semi-mounted Box Drill  on 30 feet on 10 inch spacing at 30 feet is compared to a Deere NT 1790 Planter on 20 inch at 40 feet or commonly referred to as 24 row/20.  

The Deere  Planter was also set up with Seed Row Saturation or SRS at 50 gallons per acre following Exactrix Guidelines.

 

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Planted at 360,000 Population on 20 inch, Deere 1790 using Double Disc Openers.      Drilled at 30 lbs. per acre (360,000) on 10 inch rows. Great Plains Box Drill with Double Disc Openers.   

This Great Plains visit along the Cimarron River provides an significant visual effect of Jethro Tull’s 1700’s discovery of Horse Hoe Husbandry, this discovery is carried beyond drills by Jay and Joel McClure and on to planters and much higher levels of precision of seed placement.  

A similar effect can also be observed with Hill Planting. A similar discovery was made with the Yielder Drill of the 80’s.   

Notes on Drill and Planter development.

What did Joel and Jay McClure discover that Jethro Tull also discovered in England around 1700 to 1741, the New Husbandry of Hoe Rows was implemented to the land?

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PG Farms at Shelton, NE raises corn yields in the 280 to 290 bushel range using a precision Deere Planter.    The Head Row Spacing…of barley is shown….about .6 inches apart appears to be about right in practice…or 360,000 population on 20 inch row spacing.

The hybrid Corn seed is expensive and must be accurately spaced to allow roots to develop rapidly and light to be absorbed efficiently on 30 inch row spacing.  Small grains like winter wheat and brewing barley are spaced a lot differently.


Jethro Tull (1674 – 21 February 1741, New Style) was an English agricultural pioneer from Berkshire who helped bring about the British Agricultural Revolution. He perfected a horse-drawn seed drill in 1700 that economically sowed the seeds in neat rows. He later developed a horse-drawn hoe. Tull's methods were adopted by many great landowners and helped to provide the basis for modern agriculture.

Circa 1731 Tull's book upon husbandry also influenced cotton culture in the American Southern Colonies. Tull's system taught that to ensure a sufficient number of plants, they did not just need to increase the quantity of seed, but to plant the seed at regular distances.

The Seed Drill
Jethro Tull invented the seed drill in 1701 as a way to plant more efficiently. Prior to his invention, sowing seeds was done by hand, by scattering them on the ground or placing them in the ground individually, such as with bean and pea seeds. Tull considered scattering wasteful, because many seeds did not take root.

His finished seed drill included a hopper to store the seed, a cylinder to move it, and a funnel to direct it. A plow at the front created the row, and a harrow at the back covered the seed with soil. It was the first agricultural machine with moving parts. It started as a one-man, one-row device, but later designs sowed seeds in three uniform rows, had wheels, and were drawn by horses. Using wider spacing than previous practices allowed horses to draw the equipment and not step on the plants.
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                                    Joel and Jay McClure go well beyond Jethro Tull and find the rest of the story.

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Placing Seed Closely on 20 inch spacing produces exceptional quality stands. SRS also helps.  

The seed germinates evenly and the race begins. The seminal roots race for moisture and nutrients…going deeper and faster than seed that is not correctly spaced or wide spaced…too close together and too far apart the race is not going to happen. 

That spacing in tight rows is about the same as the seed spacing in a head of wheat….about .5 to .6 inches apart.    

Winter Wheat Plant Breeders call these late seeded rows, Head Rows, where entire heads were planted in hills when the planting date is late.

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20 inch wheat at 19 inches in height. Bronze color is damage from Solution 32-0-0. Leaf burn with over the top application.
Adjoining in the 10 inch and 20 inch planter plots you can discover that Jethro Tull could have gone a lot further with the right equipment.

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This 20 inch vs. 10 inch planted in two passes. Notice the Rotational 20 inch Bands in the 10 inch row spacing. This is 360,000 or 2 times 180,000 population planted winter wheat is not present in the single pass, 20 inch planted 360,000 population spacing.  

The roots are deeper in the 20 inch rows. How so…because the wide spacing 20 inch Mustang, deep placed, TAPPS bands are not observable from Corn production of the previous year or Rotational Band Loading. Better roots on the 20 inch rows for sure. 

The 20 inch rows are healthier than the 10 inch wheat planted twice at half rate and equaling 360,000 population.

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Rotational Bands from 20 inch spacing of TAPPS in the previous 2018 corn production.  
Healthy wheat shown on the left. If 15 inch bands rather than 20 inch bands were applied in the previous year there would not have shown this Rotational Band Loading observed feature.  

A  great discovery for McClure and Son, Planted Rows on 20 inch have better roots with no previous years banding effects. The roots on 20 inch are explorers of the soil depth and width.  

The area between the 10 inch rows is lighter and about 5 to 8 inches wide visually indicating lack of root development.  
Rotational Band Loading provides a good training tool to those that may doubt the merits of 20 inch rows of planted Winter Wheat.  

No pre plant banding….no in crop banding and only top dressed 32-0-0 applied with Ally.

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Right next to the 10 inch double planted shown above is the 20 inch rows. A great discovery and highly comparable in this plot work….The 10 inch 40 foot wide plot is offset 10 inch and is planted twice at 180,000 with a planter or 360,000 population.  

The 10 inch planted ( 20 inch planter offset 10 inch in the second pass) is about  a good stand but shorter by about 4 to 7 inches and slightly lighter in color.   

This is somewhere between believable, probable and most likely , a great chance to boost yields with a 20 inch planter.  

Hill planting can produce similar results using heads of winter wheat in the late fall.   

This is another story for another time and well explained at www.exactrix.com/EWAC.htm   JD. Logan, Dick Lloyd and an Idaho Planter Breeder that discovered Head Rows out yield rows of winter wheat of the same breeder stock with a conventional drill techniques. Barley will do the same. http://exactrix.com/Broadcast_04_09_2016.htm  

There is an optimum combination of in the row spacing of winter wheat and barely spring or winter using double disc openers that organize the seed in tight narrow rows.

 

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Hill planting was mechanized by Dick Llyod and JD Logan. Lewiston, Idaho and Pullman Washington. An Idaho Plant Breeder led the challenge to raise barley differently in hills.

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Spring Barley Roots compete and race deep fast for moisture and upward go the barley shoots for light….a very effective means in increasing yields is planting spring barley at 12 to 16 high quality seed berries in small area of about 2 inches of lineal length.  

A patented was granted to JD Logan, Dick Llyod and an Idaho Plant Breeder for equipment and apparatus.
Chasing the rules of Jethro Tull, the great inventor of the grain drill.
This means there may be even better ways yet to raise more for less.
Follow the Money Man across the Great Plains and get news you can use.

        Your Great Plains Reporter.  

                 Guy J Swanson.


John Cory
Security West Financial

Call your new banker, John Cory, Security West Financial.
http://swfinco.com/contact.html   (509) 994-8555 You can go off the balance sheet and work with the best using the strength of Farm Credit and others.

John will help you spend about $40,000 annually to make $150,000 more annually by spending only $60 per acre in irrigated production for fertilizer. John understands the cycles of agriculture and how to keep your balance sheet looking good.

At the end of five years you will own a powerful machine that continue to produce good returns having already been paid for at the end of the first year.  You can even apply for your neighbors with a Mustang Tool Bar.

At 1,000 acres of corn, An internal bottom line savings of $750,000 over five years on 5,000 acres of corn.  

An Exactrix Mustang Tool Bar capable of producing $550,000 of internally available funds in five years.   


  See Video 

Top yields, best margin and the new leader in VRT-Site Specific, Small Grains Expert. Eric Odberg at Genesee, Idaho breaking winter wheat yield records. Exactrix TAPPS at Catholic Canyon using 4 management zones. Exactrix Site-Specific, Variable Rate
EO.htm

"Paul Gangwish, Drone Video"
Track Machines improve production 200%.
Application time cut in half at 1 acre per minute.
Up to $150 more net income per acre.

The 2017 Agronomy Review.
http://www.exactrix.com/Broadcast_12_29_2016.html

Meeting your formulation needs. www.exactrix.com/TF.htm  

Picking your metering systems. www.exactrix.com/epm.htm  

Need more information on advanced crop production.   www.exactrix.com/EWAC.htm

 

For More Information:
 
509.254 6854