HAMILTON, Ohio — In 30 years of doing corn checks in Butler County, Ohio State University extension agent Steve Bartels has seen some changes.<br>
At a meeting for Butler County area farmers, he presented statistics going back to 1977 and informed farmers about 2007’s top-producing fields. In 1977-81, the total cost of production per acre was $198.74. In 2002-06, it was $300.69.<br>
No-till and reduced till have gone from 23.7 percent in 1977-81 to 95.2 percent in 2002-06.<br>
Farmers have moved to narrow rows when purchasing new planters. The average row width has decreased three inches over that period. Yield averages have increased at least 19.5 bushel per acre – at $2 a bushel, that’s $39 more income an acre.<br>
The average yield for the 2007 corn checks was 151.5 bushels to the acre. Since farmers use the best spot in their best field for the corn checks, taking about 40 bushels off per acre would be a good average for the county, Bartels said.<br>
“We did have excellent yields, for the most part, on these checks,” he added.<br>
Of the Butler County farmers who took part in the 2007 checks, the top three corn producers were Ted Jung, with $384.17 profit an acre; Mike Bushelman, $370.20; and Lou Jacquemin, $356.17. All three used no-till.<br>
They talked about why they thought their corn did well, and plans for the upcoming season.<br>
Jung used Vigoro 52C29, Clearfield; Transgenic. Seed drop was 32,600; plants at harvest – 22,540. Cost was $1.975 a bushel.
“I think because we had the drought in 2007, the heavier soils held the moisture and that was a big factor,” Jung said. “I didn’t get the high yields across the road where it was more gravel.<br>
 “I’ve always used the recommendations from the Butler County extension office and it has helped me quite a bit. I also use the Ohio State Yield Performance guide, which shows the top yields in OSU test results.”<br>
Jung is going to use the same corn but will try some different varieties. Also, he used a slow-release nitrogen last year for the first time and thought a lot of the nitrogen stayed in the soil longer.<br>
“Which is hard to realize, because of the drought we had,” he said.
Bushelman used Pioneer 33D31, Not Traited. Seed drop was 29,600, plants at harvest – 28,224. Cost was $1.897 a bushel. “We’re pretty happy with no-till,” Bushelman said. “We’ve been 100 percent since 1987.<br>
“When we first tried it, a lot of the equipment wasn’t up to par. We use a lot of John Deere and when they came out with better equipment, it really made a big difference.”<br>
Bushelman will plant non-genetically-modified (GMO) corn again. The premiums have almost doubled, making that attractive, he said.<br>
“Otherwise we’ll do things about like we always did and hope it rains,” he said.<br>
Jacquemin used Pioneer 31P41, Not Traited. Seed drop was 29,000, plants at harvest – 26,264.<br>
“I’ve been coming to these meetings for years,” he said. I think no-till is the main thing we use that has cut a lot of costs; not having to do so much tillage and then just trying to find the cheapest ways as far as spraying and nitrogen application, and those sort of things. We use a lot of OSU extension’s ideas.<br>
“My dad, Leroy Jacquemin, has been working with extension for his whole life,” he said. “He started no-tilling when it first came out. We switched to a couple of different planters and found a White planter which we feel plants very evenly so each plant has a better chance of producing a normal-sized ear.”<br>
He is going to start looking into the stacked hybrids because they are producing better yields.<br>
“So, it is a toss-up between spending more money on seed versus using non-GMO corn and getting a little premium on the corn,” he said.