What Continues
April 2, 2020
By Del Ficke
What this virus cannot stop . . . the birds singing, grass growing, calving, gardening, spring crop planting, making a phone call, visiting one on one, DREAMING and fencing with your daughter (the gal waving in the picture above driving the gator).
Yes, it’s all hands-on deck as we celebrate and embark upon the parts of our journey the virus cannot touch at Ficke Cattle Company. While her brother Austin gets things ready for planting spring cover crops, calving cows as well as continuing to head to work in his shop on the farm and his job in town, Emily is great help at fencing and cutting trees and keeping up with her college course work.
There has never been a more important time to not give up. There is also something else we can always be doing that the virus cannot reach – learning. I have included a learning opportunity in a newspaper clipping from yesteryear. It was put out in the late 1920s, about a decade after another time when a pandemic hit our nation.
Another time we survived.
We are thinking of all of you neighbors. Wishing you good health and immersion in all the good things that can continue. Let’s hold onto them and faith that this too shall pass.
5 Steps for Corn Farmers to Maximize Net Profit
By Nate Belcher
The struggle is real: Use these proven tips to decrease inputs and boost your farm’s margin.
Commodity prices are too low, inputs are too high, and the weather is the weather. Farmers can’t control much, so it’s critical to truly control what they can: their farming practices.
Regenerative ag specialist Nate Belcher urges farmers to implement these simple, tried-and-true farming practices to take control of their destiny:
Farm for Net Profit
“A lot of money goes into convincing farmers to value maximum yield over everything else. But this mentality has gotten many farmers into financial trouble,” says Belcher, co-founder of Hybrid-85, an independent seed company whose mission is to help farmers win by getting back to the basics: maximizing net profit per acre.
“Giving yourself a wider, more consistent margin can bring a lot of comfort to a farm family,” he says. “We call it Farming for Net. The following are five steps to to it.”
1. Know What’s in Your Soil
“If you don’t know what’s in your soil, then you don’t know what your soil needs,” Belcher says. “After completing a sample, farmers have found they’ve been wasting money.”
“Many times, farmers are paying for and applying nutrients they may not need. Nitrogen is one of the biggest overapplied culprits,” Belcher says.
He recommends spending the money upfront for an annual soil sample (roughly $2 an acre). When you know what your soil needs, you can make informed decisions about your inputs, helping you maximize your net profit per acre.
2. Give Your Plants a Blood Test
“Okay, there will be no blood. But conducting an in-season plant sap analysis can help you correct deficiencies before they affect yield,” Belcher says.
The analysis breaks down the anatomy of your plant and tells you what’s going on inside. It measures the nutrient levels in the sap and tissue to identify limiting nutrients, providing as much as a two to four week window to correct deficiencies before they affect yield.
“So, we’re no longer guessing — we’re using precise analytics,” Belcher says.
This proactive approach is quickly catching on as an effective, efficient tool to make precise, informed fertilizer applications. And, at a rough cost between $1 to $2 per acre, this relatively new science can help you increase yield while reducing unnecessary input costs.
“If you’re not doing your own on-farm research,” Belcher says. “You’re leaving a lot on the table.”
3. Smother Weeds and Increase Soil Fertility the Natural Way
One of the most efficient ways to farm for net is just about as old as agriculture itself: cover crops.
“By utilizing plants to increase soil fertility and to smother weeds, you’re creating a one-two punch that cuts your herbicide and fertilizer costs while increasing yield potential for your cash crops,” Belcher says.
Cover crops like cereal rye, hairy vetch, radishes and legumes may not be sexy, but they bring a ton of value to farmers and their land.
Cover crops:
- grow nitrogen and increase soil fertility
- control weeds, pests and diseases
- conserve soil moisture
- mitigate soil compaction
- limit erosion, protecting water quality
- limit farmers’ exposure to toxic chemicals
“People who say, ‘cover crops don’t pay’ have never done the math,” Belcher says. “Imagine what cutting inputs by 30 to 80 percent over time can do for your bottom line. That’s money right off the top.”
Ready to take a step to farm for net with Cover Crops? Check out:https://covercropexchange.com/ where you can buy and sell seed directly with other farmers.
4. Don’t Pay for Ineffective Traits
It goes without saying that you should know what’s actually in the corn you are buying. If you’re paying for glyphosate-tolerant corn, “you’re wasting money if it’s not going to be effective killing the other plants around it,” Belcher says.
Belcher says farmers should ask themselves, “If the traits are no longer effective on my farm for either weed or pest control, what am I paying for in my unit of corn?”
“When you put a pencil to it and crunch the numbers, growing conventional corn is good business,” Belcher says. “Simple as that.”
If you’re serious about farming for net, take a hard look at where you can cut costs without sacrificing performance.
5. Forget the Brand: Find the Best Solution for Your Farm
Big Ag doesn’t send their customers on cruises for free, Belcher says, “Farmers pay for those trips in every bag of seed they purchase.”
Corporate ag continues to post record profits while smaller farmers continue to take it on the chin. “Is your seed salesman recommending high-dollar corn?” Belcher asks. “Does that really surprise you?”
One of the easiest — and most effective — ways to cut inputs is to buy cheaper corn from an independent seed company like Hybrid 85 that direct-ships 17 different hybrids at $85/unit.
“Getting quality seed at a fraction of the cost will help you save money immediately,” Belcher says.
If you’re ready to farm for net but have questions, reach Nate Belcher at corn@hybrid85.com or call him at 402-580-0015.
You can also read about Nate’s successes by clicking on this link in the Silicon Prairie News. We are so proud to be associated with his efforts to truly help farmers and provide such a quality line-up of products and services for farmers and ranchers:
http://siliconprairienews.com/2020/03/hybrid85-passes-profits-onto-farmers/
Maintaining Confidence and Looking Ahead
By Kirk Peterson
Investing in 2019 was fairly easy. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (S&P) returned nearly 28 percent for the year with only a few bumps along the way. Today, however, we’re faced with a very different market. More and more uncertainties are seemingly hitting the headlines every day, from the global spread of COVID-19 and its potentially wide-spread economic impact, to a historically low Treasury note, and plummeting oil demand, resulting in a 13 percent drop in the S&P year-to-date, substantially wiping out gains from the past 12 months.
With the financial markets’ ups and downs over a short period, it’s easy to spot patterns and just as easy to create patterns, if you so choose. However, long-term returns have historically been very favorable to investors who stick to their investment strategies during times of volatility and avoid the temptation of attempting to time the market.
You may be fearful today, with equities crashing and the 10-year note at historic lows. COVID-19 may be new, but market shocks are not. They don’t have to be something of which to be fearful. We are continuing to watch market conditions. If you have questions or concerns, contact us today to discuss ways that we can answer your “what ifs” and help you feel confident in your savings and investment strategies.
Kirk Peterson | kirkpeterson@woodburyfinancial.net
(402) 519-0330 | http://www.petersonassetprotectiongroup.com/
Graze Master Philly Cheesesteaks
Alyssa Ficke found this recipe on Pinterest. It’s so delicious!
Ingredients:
Hoagie rolls sliced
3 tablespoons of butter
Green pepper sliced
Onion sliced
Mushrooms sliced (optional)
Graze Master Ribeye Steak thinly sliced
Salt and pepper
2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce
Sliced cheese (use your favorite)
Directions:
Preheat skillet and butter the insides of the rolls. Put them in a pan to brown and set aside.
Add one tablespoon of butter and melt. Add pepper, onions, and mushrooms and cook until they are lightly browned, and onions are translucent and the set aside.
Add one tablespoon of butter and melt, salt and pepper the steak and add to skillet. Cook for two to four minutes and then add veggies back into the pan. Add the cheese and let it melt. Put on your toasted hoagies. Serve immediately.
Please order your Graze Master Beef by contacting: Alyssa Ficke at 951-212-5114 or Emely Hendl at 402-613-5483.
Kunekune Favorite Recipe
By Emely Hendl
This is our family’s favorite way to use our sweet Italian pork sausage (as seen in the photo above)!
Buy the small-sized naan flat breads or one large homemade pizza crust. We like to get our pizza crusts from Wanda at Main Street Market in Milford, Neb.
Ingredients:
You will need Kunekune pork sausage, two pounds of shredded mozzarella Parmesan cheese mix, a 14-ounce can of your favorite tomato sauce, a dash of Italian seasoning and one diced onion.
Directions:
Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Cook up the Italian sausage. When finished, remove the pork and cook onions in pan until they are caramelized. Spread the pizza sauce on either crust. Spread meat and onions all over sauce. Fill with cheese. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Enjoy!
Kunekune is gourmet, pasture-raised, heritage breed pork. Please call Emely Hendl at 402-613-5483 for pricing, pickup and delivery information. We have honey and eggs too! You can follow all the exciting Anchor Meadow Farm happenings at: https://www.facebook.com/Anchor-Meadow-Farm-245014352709769/
Honey products make great gift baskets!
Circle the Wagons and Strengthen the Circle
| By Del Ficke During a recent trip to visit farmers in this region of Nebraska, I was able to take a bit of time at Scotts Bluff National Monument. Things sure have changed since wagons that looked like this passed through our area heading west. One hopes we have learned from our mistakes and have our minds more focused on working with nature and not against it. It’s time to “circle the wagons” again and share wisdom and appreciate one another. Remember there are numerous graves from settling the plains – graves of Native Tribe members that should have never been dug and those of our own people trying to survive. Native Tribes understood the power of the circle and retained its wisdom for thousands of years on these Great Plains and across the nation. Let’s not allow the sacrifices of all our ancestors to be in vain. Nature is far more vigorous than we are. Look at this tree making its way through this rock. We need to be each other’s rock during this life and allow nature to do more of her work for and with us. We are stronger as the human tribe and holding each other up in that powerful, God-created human circle. We can learn from our mistakes and get this right. We are a circle, all living creatures great and small – failure is not an option. Thank you for reading. See you in April . . . Keep focusing on those good things the virus can’t touch. |
| No electronic or mechanical reproduction of The Liberator is permitted without direct consent of the author, Ficke Cattle Company. Contact (402) 499-0329 or fickecattle@outlook.com Thank you so much for reading! Copyright © Ficke Cattle Company – Graze Master Genetics, All rights reserved. |