Question on planting rates/harvest

Never really thought about this much when we were farming, we would just get the seed, plant it and of course harvest it.

What Im wanting to find out is, how would one figure out is something like this.

Say I wanted to harvest a total of 40 bushels of a crop. What formula etc would I need to find out how much seed I should plant on how many acres of land to get the desired 40 bushels?

See what Im saying Verne?

that's what those guy(s) at the local co-op are there for--consultation--otherwise, it's do the math--using average number of bushels per acre versus known yields for the desired seed

On a lot of of older drills on the inside of the box lid a company would put different seeding rates (in pounds or bushels) for various types of seed. This is affected of course by ground speed, spacing between rows, and many many other factors.

The way I read what you are asking is that you want to grow 40 bushels of crop a on a given piece of land and want to vary seed rate for that. That isn't really how it works because piling more seed on an area trying to grow more is more than likely going to result in a poor stand and a high seedling mortality rate. Your local extention agent is always a good place to start as well as an operators manual for a drill. Year after year we stick with the same amount of wheat seed per and our yields vary from 20-50.

Now to just find one of those "local co-op guys" jobs lol

weather

luck

farmers & ranchers are the biggest gamblers on the earth--so little control over the elements & nature

What I want to find is if I want a crop yield of 40 bushels, how much land would be needed to grow said amount.

Or how bout this, If I were to plant a bushel/bag of seed (say wheat) how many acres of land would it take to plant that amount and how much return would one expect to get on that piece of land?

Lets say assuming a 85% germination rate.

Or am I just being to eggheaded here?

I would be one pissed off person with an 85 percent germination rate. I think our certified wheat seed is 97 or better. The only real way to find out what crops typically yield in your area is either by talking to farmers or an extension agent (it is their job). For example this year our wheat yielded in the low 20's after it took some hail, the year before anywhere from 0-20, and the year before over 40 bushels per acre. Expected bushels per acre is very hard to predict accurately, one day you will have the best corn of your life the next day baseball sized hail will beat it to the ground and you can't even get silage out of it. What I personally do is I look at crop variety trials released yearly from the university of wyoming and make a guess at what the weather will do the next year and select a variety that will be condusive to higher yields. An example chart is this one: http://www.uwyo.edu/plantsciences/UWplant/Variety%20Trials/11files/Platte_County_WY_Winter_Wheat_Nursery_2011.pdf

As far as figuring return I would set up a cash flow sheet (I'm not an accountant that is why I am dating one ) and figure out costs compared to guesstimated return. For a quick thought lets say that you want to grow 5 acres of hard red winter wheat and expect a yield of 40 bu/a. Our total expected wheat crop is going to yield approximately 200 bu/a with a 2% loss out the rear of the combine. Lets assume wheat is 5 bucks a bushels at the local elevator. This gives us a gross profit of $980. Now figure $20 bucks for each bag of certified seed wheat (can't give ya a total without a guesstimate on lbs/a planted), plus fuel, plus your time, plus equipment costs, plus repairs and maintence, plus getting it harvested and no customer cutter is going to dick around with any small plot and that is typically 30 bucks an acre nowadays. It doesn't take long to see that farming isn't very profitable on a small scale UNLESS you grow a product to supply a niche market!

I guess what I would be doing is growing non gmo and non hybrid grains to feed myself and the chickens.

Plus at this point I only have a tractor, and nothing to work the ground with.

So right now profit/loss isnt really in the figuring just yet.

What I might try is having a patch worked up in my yard and for the wheat scattering the seeds like in olden times and planting some corn by hand.

Now if it works out, I may just go on an equipment shopping spree. hehehehe

Ill have to see what those Govt trained monkeys will tell me.

Im sure when I say Im not going to plant with all the fancy do-dads and latest seeds their head will spin and will need to go into the back room and interface with the collective so they can receive their new orders.

I wish I could find some older books online (maybe Im not looking in the right govt controlled areas) about the old time farming.

Guess its just one of those days guys.

broadcast seeding and hand planting is ok---rakes and hoes will do the job---look into primitive agriculture--native planting methods