00:00 We're gonna meet Nelson RINs. He's an extreme Ag member and he also placed in the Oklahoma NCGA competition. 00:05 We're gonna talk to him about things that he's learned from extreme ag that he'd like to share with you to improve your bottom line 00:11 and your farming operation. Welcome to Extreme ags Cutting the Curve podcast, where real farmers share real insights 00:18 and real results to help you improve your farming operation. This episode of Cutting the Curve is brought to you by cloth 00:25 where machines aren't just made, they're made for more with a wide range of tractors, combines, forger and hay tools. 00:32 Cloth is a family business just as driven, demanding, and dedicated as yours. Go to cloth.com 00:38 and start cutting your curve with their cutting edge equipment. And now here's your host, Damien Mason. 00:44 Hey there. Welcome to another fantastic episode of Extreme as Cutting the curve. Got Nelson Rinse on here. 00:48 Nelson is a guyman Oklahoma farmer. I've been to Guyman, by the way. Tough conditions out there. Uh, it's windy. I think there's tumbleweeds. 00:57 I think there's like 14 people that live in the Pan Hill of Texas. He's one of them. And, uh, you wonder when you get there, 01:04 why the hell would you try and farm this? They don't even get rain out here. But anyway, he did so, and he did so very effectively. 01:09 He plays third in the Oklahoma strip till irrigated, uh, class, but more importantly, he's an extreme ag guy 01:14 and he, he's learned quite a bit of stuff and I think sometimes it's really cool to say what's worked for you that you'd like to share back with us. 01:21 So tell us about your operation Nelson. So we farm, uh, corn, cotton, sunflowers, wheat, and uh, on the NCGA stuff, 01:33 we focused on the corn using, uh, products and practices from extreme Ag to kind of push us over the top. 01:41 Um, the big part of what we did was just adding to our normal program. We added in PGR some biologicals 01:51 and some stress mitigation products, uh, to help handle the heat and drought conditions. I didn't even know what A PGR was until I started working 02:02 with XT Extreme Ag almost three years ago. And Kelly Garrett talked about regulating the gross of the soybeans. 02:07 I said regulating it, like stunting it doesn't that seem counterproductive. And they talked about getting soybeans 02:12 that were six feet tall, falling over, et cetera. It started to make more and more sense to me. Did you use plant growth regulators prior to this thing 02:20 that you're doing now with your corn? No, uh, only in the cotton just to kind of help stunt the growth of it. 02:28 This was the first time using it on corn. What? Correct me here, our only cotton producer with XA is Matt and then Johnny Rell used to be, 02:37 and Chad Henderson used to be. So you're still growing cotton out there in, uh, the panhandle of Oklahoma. 02:43 Wasn't cotton one of the early crops to use pgs? Because as I think, explain, explain to me, it's basically a tree 02:50 and it'll grow a bunch of woody vegetation and you don't want that. You don't want to try and go 02:55 and harvest a bunch of damn trees. You want to harvest cotton. Isn't that one of the stories on why PGRs came to cotton? 03:01 Right? Yeah, that's exactly right. And where we're at, we grow stripper cotton, so you really don't want it over knee high anyway. 03:09 So you'd really try to keep it short. Uh, for harvest ability, Nelson, for those of us that are from the, the, 03:17 the corn belt, what stripper cotton versus normal cotton, It's, uh, stripper cotton. 03:24 The machine instead of it takes everything off the plant except for the sticks basically. 03:31 And uh, they just strip it off. It's tighter in the bur so the wind and weather doesn't, uh, take it 03:39 or it doesn't drop on the ground quite as easily. Understood. Um, quite a few things are growing out there. Cotton, uh, sunflowers, sorghum, 03:51 corn. Did you say wheat also? Yes. We grow wheat and this year we're gonna dabble in some dry edible beans too, 04:00 So you don't get a lot of rain. Is li the limiting factor out where you are? Moisture? I I would have to think that the limiting factor is 04:06 moisture, what you can do with what little bit of moisture you get. Yeah, absolutely. 04:11 And in our region, irrigation is key, but we're also limited by the amount of water that's in the aquifer below us. 04:21 So we're, we're right on the edge of being able to grow corn in some places, and that's why we grow cotton is 04:29 because it doesn't take nearly as much water as corn does. And we can stress it more 04:34 and it's just a better use, uh, of the water. Are you using, is your irrigation system, uh, still pivot? Yes. Yep. Okay. That's right. 04:46 What about, what about subs? It seems to me when water's that limited, because I've been reading about the ogalala aquifers problem 04:52 since the 1980s and and eventually you're gonna get my prediction is eventually you're, you're going to continue to get dwindled down to 04:58 where you're almost cut off is my prediction. But would it, would you see a switch over to subsurface drip? 05:04 Because you know, like our friends at Netm say you use 30% less, uh, because of you don't lose it to evaporation. 05:11 It's possible. Um, there is some of that done, but on the, I guess on the scale that we're trying to irrigate, I don't know how effective that would be. 05:22 We're running different nozzle packages, like our sprinkler heads are less than a foot off the ground. 05:29 They're really close together. So we're, we're uh, mitigating as much evaporation loss as we can. 05:36 We're we're between 97, 90 8% that gets in the ground. Good. You seem like you got a lot going on. You joined extreme ag. 05:48 You weren't, you weren't, uh, you weren't illiterate about production agriculture beforehand, but you've joined it. 05:54 What have you learned? Gimme a couple of fun things that you've learned because I think it's neat to hear some of the cool stuff. 05:59 I, I'm, I'm not patting myself on the back. I just want you to tell me if I recorded anything that you've listened to that you're like, you know what, 06:05 Damien, that one thing that you guys covered. I really liked it. Yeah, for sure. Um, everything, it's, 06:13 it makes me question a lot more things and just listening to what the guys have to say kind of gets my wheels turning to think of. 06:23 Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. How could we implement that there? Um, nothing really in particular sticks 06:30 out. It's a lot of everything. Tell me something that you've changed in the last couple of years that whether it may be, like you said, 06:36 it got your wheels turning something a big change you made in the last two years. In the last two years we started doing our own spraying. 06:45 That was big for us. Um, it used to be all custom applied, nothing against the custom applicators, 06:52 but I can be more timely. I can do all my test plots like I want to when I need to do it. 07:00 Yep. Um, we just saw a big difference last year, especially I, if I were a farmer, uh, I would not want 07:08 to do the spray 'cause it's a whole lot of calibrating and a whole lot of exactness that I think would intimidate me. 07:13 More importantly, it's also a whole bunch of expense. What was the hard thing for you to get passed when you decided 07:17 to go from hiring it done to doing it? There's the money, there's the adaptation, the learning, and you know, then the technical aspect of it. 07:25 What, uh, tell me about your adjustment curve. Just the workload mainly. Um, we still hire a little bit done just 07:32 because I just can't get around to everything like we need to. Um, getting up a little earlier in the day 07:40 before the wind starts, uh, that kind of thing. It gets windy out there where you are in the Pan hill of Oklahoma. 07:46 Just a little, just a little. Um, someday if you ever are in a place like where I'm from, we have these things called trees. 07:53 I know you've never seen one out where you are, but, uh, it prevents the wind. Uh, Nelson answer me this, 07:58 what's the operation look like in terms of you, you got a lot of different crops going on. Is it, are you a sole, are you a sole operator? 08:03 You've got, uh, mother, wife, sister, dad, uncle. What's going on there? So me and my wife farm together. 08:12 Uh, this is our, we started in 2021, but previously I've been helping a gentleman that I go to church with. 08:21 Uh, this is my fifth year with him and kind of looking to transition into his operation. So I, I farm my own stuff and then I manage his too. 08:32 That's fantastic. You know what I mean? It was a little, uh, departure from some of the stuff we were gonna talk about, 08:38 but that's a great situation when we talk about younger people getting into agriculture. Um, you, you've got an arrangement. 08:46 It works for both parties, presumably. It does. It's, uh, it's been super great. You know, I, I've grown up farming all my life, 08:55 so I've been around it. My parents still farm and this is kind of my way to get into something myself. That's fantastic. Um, so spraying is a new thing. 09:06 Is there anything in 2024 that's new that you're gonna start, you're gonna roll out what a new product usage, a new practice, 09:11 a new implement a new thing. What are you gonna roll out in 2024 that you haven't done it before? 09:18 So we're gonna keep doing, uh, we're gonna do more of what we did last year with the extreme ag stuff. We're gonna try some different in furrow products, uh, 09:29 from different companies. Uh, a few different Equipment on which crops. Uh, mainly on corn on the cotton side we're looking 09:39 at some different row configurations. Uh, typical is 30 inch solid planted. We're gonna try some two in one out 09:48 and some 60 inch row spacing. I don't know what two in one out means. Remember, cotton is still a little foreign to me. 09:56 So we have, we have two rows planted on 30 inch center side by side. Then we'll skip one row, have two rows, 10:03 skip a row, have one row. And the purpose of that Nelson Is water conservation. Okay. Um, 10:11 Does it create more weed problems, weed pressure, does it create, I mean, are you gonna lose yield on this or does the, or does the cotton fill out more? 10:19 I mean, it's kinda like the population studies that, uh, population trials that the guys have done. 10:23 That's what we're trying to figure out. Um, we've been in drought the past two years and we've just, we went from 30 inch to 60 10:33 and didn't really study it. So, uh, our custom harvester that strips our cotton is also our, uh, 10:43 seed company representative. So he's helping me put together this deal so we can have each test, harvest it separately, 10:52 get it gin separately, and really kind of know what we're, what we're looking at. Cool. That's neat. All right. 10:59 Let's talk about your, your yield. Your yield, your, your contest plot that you did. So Western Oklahoma Place third, I'm guessing to do that 11:09 because I'm from an I state. What, what 41 bushel corn gets you a third place in Oklahoma, right? 11:14 We were just a shade under 292. I was, I was jacking with you Nelson 292. 2 92 bushels. What do you think it cost you? 11:25 And this is the thing, you know, the old crack on, oh yeah, they win yield contests 11:30 but cost them, you know, a thousand dollars to make $600 worth of corn, whatever. I mean, I've heard that my whole life. 11:36 Did you actually, granted you wanted to, you wanted to push the limit on yield. Mm-Hmm. Did you also calculate, did it make you money? 11:43 I make you yield? Did it make you money? Make Absolutely. It did. And the cool thing about it is when I set up the plot, 11:52 I had a full fertility with all the products that I got from Xa and then a reduced fertility. 12:00 So where I cut our contest corn came out of the spot that had 25 pounds less nitrogen than the rest of the field did. 12:09 So that was, that was really cool. Yeah, that's, that's a great, first off, that's a success story on two fronts. 12:16 You reduce something that we're getting headhunted about, let's face it, environmental policy, regulatory environment. 12:23 I think we're gonna have no choice but to cut back on nitrogen because of the, the the, I mean it's just, 12:29 it's right, it's right there. It's, it's happening. It's looming. This whole environmental thing. You cut back on nitrogen 12:34 and you didn't cut back on yield. In fact, you boosted yield. That's a great story For sure. Um, 12:39 you know, our situation with the irrigation water, the more yield we can make with the same amount of water is, is gonna be huge. 12:48 Just, it's just, uh, pushing the efficiency of our water. And That's, yeah, and I think that, I think where you are, 12:56 I tell my ag crowds that water is going to be viewed increasingly as a crop input, just like fertilizer seed or pesticide or anything else. 13:06 And it's obviously forefront where you are. Not so much where I'm from in Indiana, but where you are, water is going 13:14 to start having an economic number attached to it. It, for us, it already does. You know, we're, we're having to run quite a few wells. 13:22 Uh, we pump with natural gas driven engines, that's an expense, electricity expense to run the machines upkeep. 13:32 It's a, for us, when you start watering right after you plant and then you don't shut it off till September, that's pretty expensive. 13:41 Yeah. Yeah. And, and obviously then there's a political strife that goes along with it because of, uh, 13:46 the environmental crowd at the state house versus the agricultural lobby. It's a tough thing. Hey, we're talking about, 13:51 uh, he's talking about fertilizer. I want to ask him a question about that. Before we do, I wanna remind you about our business partner. 13:57 Nature's Nature's is focused on providing sustainable farming solutions and helping maintain crop potential for today and for your future generations. 14:04 Nature's high quality liquid fertilizers powered by nature's bio. K can be targeted at specific periods 14:11 of influence throughout the growing season via precision placement techniques. As a means to mitigate plant stress, 14:16 enhance crop yield, and boost your farm's. ROI nature's N-A-C-H-U-R-S. Go to nature's dot com and check it out. 14:23 Um, fertility, you changed things up on your corn. Did you extrapolate the stuff that you did on your corn now do you say there's something I 14:31 learned from growing 296 bushel corn to make my prize. I'm gonna take some of those same tactics, practices, products over here to wheat, sorghum, whatever. 14:44 Yeah, we're, we are and we already have on the wheat, we put some pgs on the seed treatment and uh, before it went into dormancy we did a couple other things 14:55 and, uh, starting to get ready to finish top CREs and some wheat with some same products that we used on the corn. Um, 15:06 What do you consider yourself best at corn, sorghum, wheat, sunflowers. When I think of where you are, 15:12 I think sunflowers, grain sorghum. What's your, what what are you best at? Hey everybody. Hey. Everybody has one thing that they excel at. 15:19 Nobody is good at everything, right Nelson? That's for sure. Um, I'd say we're trying to do good on all fronts. 15:29 I don't think I have one that I'm just over the top at. We're trying to push every, everything that we can to do better. 15:37 What weakness did you, uh, get? What weakness did you strengthen because of paying attention to some of the extreme ag stuff? 15:43 What thing did you do you think you got better at over the last couple years? Because of us 15:48 Just ma just management styles. Um, intensive management, looking at every detail that you can and trying to, um, influence 16:00 everything that's in your control. Anything that you've stopped doing, you stopped doing because, uh, you just talked about nitrogen reduction, 16:10 that's a big one right there. 'cause that's money and also that keeps the regulatory thing at at bay. 16:15 Is there anything you've stopped doing or, uh, something you're like, you know what, this was something that, uh, the old man I'm working 16:20 with always said do it. And I said, no, we're gonna try this. Is there anything that you got a little blow back on? 16:25 No, not really. Um, we've more or less just added to what we've been doing. What we've done in the past has seemed to work really well. 16:36 Um, I guess we're, we're starting to pull back on just a solid rate of seed or fertilizer across the field. 16:47 So we're trying to do more variable rate fertilizer, variable rate seeding, that type of thing. But we haven't just completely stopped yet. 16:55 We're still still getting to that point. Well, I've recorded enough stuff with the guys, Kelly Garrett in particular about variable rate on seeding 17:02 and then also variable rate on, uh, fertility. And granted he's got a lot of wide range from the tops of the hills to the bottom of the hills where he is. 17:09 I'm guessing you don't have that. Do you think you'd get as big of a bang for your buck in the kind 17:14 of soils you have in western Oklahoma as you would there on variable rate applications of both seed and vert? 17:22 I think we will. Um, this is our second year working. We're doing grid samples on our ground and um, we've backed it down. 17:31 We don't have as many zones for fertility. What we have done this year is we're using a program that puts all of our previous yield maps together 17:42 and we're gonna make a variable rate seating map off that. Um, where we farm, we've got a lot 17:50 of gas wells in the field, so there's 200 by 200 foot squares and a road going to it that a lot of heat gets in. 17:58 So we're trying to lessen our population around those spots where the heat gets in to maybe boost that yield. 18:06 Because you think that you're, you were, you were just burning up money on seed. That's never gonna give you a return 18:12 when you're close to that problem. Yes, we are. You, you can see it on the maps and on the prescription maps we've made so far. 18:20 I mean there's probably 120 foot radius around the outside of that where we could really back off our population. 18:28 These oil wells, gas wells you're talking about. And basically, is it fair to say that you're a fossil fuel tycoon, you just farm for the hell 18:34 of it and you just make all your money off of these fossil fuel wells? Is that what you're Talking about? No. 18:38 No. Not at all. They're, uh, to me they're more of a nuisance than anything. But You don't even own 'em. Right, 18:44 Right. Uh, tidbit lesson, take away something you'd like to share with others that, um, you have, uh, you know, something 18:53 that you live by, something that's really helped you like, um, you know, be my, be my guidance. 18:57 What, what thing would you tell me? Um, what I found out is your, your strip tiller and your planter pass are your most important of the year. 19:08 There's nothing if you mess those two up, there's nothing that you can do to fix it afterwards. 19:13 No amount of water inputs will, will, uh, fix your mistakes there. So I just try to have the patience to, 19:21 to make sure we do it right the first time. That's a big one. And use GPS you use all the latest technology and you know 19:27 what we've heard from our guys from Chad on down, they don't have the newest tractor, but they make sure that the techno, the guts in there. 19:34 Is that what you've done too? Like you make sure you've got the, the new to make sure you're strip tilling your 19:39 planter all in that same line. You've got the good, the good stuff. Yeah, for sure. I mean, to use the RTK guidance, 19:46 we strip till 12 rows and plant 16 and you can't find the guess middle. Um, that's pretty cool when that happens. 19:55 Uh, and getting out with a shovel or something and digging behind yourself. 'cause you can, you'll leave air pockets sometimes 20:03 with a strip till and when you plant on it, the seed falls eight inches deep and it's never coming up. So it's, imagine it's, uh, 20:11 just making sure you're doing it right the first time. Strip till and planter are the two most important tools. You've updated the technology part of it. 20:19 While maybe not the plant, like the guy talking about the planter and the tractor don't need to be brand new, 20:24 but you, your technology is current. It is, yes. And that's the most important thing. And then checking to make sure 20:30 that you're not planting something that falls eight inch. I I've never seen, uh, a good result from some of the plant 20:35 with eight inches besides a tree. No. It, uh, you'll have big gaps in your field. I would think so. Cool. His name's Nelson Rez. 20:45 He is a member of XT Extreme Ag. I wanted to get him on here and talk about some cool stuff. Uh, since he's, he's learning from what, what we do 20:51 and that's why we're here, which is really, um, I guess rewarding for us to hear. 'cause that's why we're producing this stuff. He's a guy. 20:57 I'm an Oklahoma farm guy and um, I guess I'm really appreciative you coming on here. Thanks for staying, uh, with me 21:03 and also for doing what you do. For sure. Thanks for the invite. I've enjoyed it. He's a third place strip till irrigated category in 21:12 Oklahoma and yes, all kidding aside, me picking on about probably 43 bushels. It was 296 bushels. So congratulations to him. 21:18 Till next time, thanks for being here. You know what hundreds of videos that you can learn from here at Extreme Ag. 21:24 I've produced hundreds of these podcasts. The guys shoot 'em in their field. Go to Extreme Ag Farm and share them around 21:29 because you know what, it's like a free library that can help you. There's categories that are gonna appeal to you 21:34 and some that probably don't have as much application. That's fine. Find what you want. It's just like gonna the library and 21:38 it's free and it's easy. You can listen to it when you're out there working in your fields. 21:42 Also, we have the Extreme Ag Show. Don't miss it. Uh, the Extreme Ag Show, it is awesome. It shows everything behind the scenes. 21:50 It's got, it's got some really cool stuff. You can find it on YouTube or on Acres tv. So next time, thanks for being here. I'm Damien Mason. 21:56 This extreme ag cutting the curve. That's a wrap for this episode of Cutting the Curve. Make sure to check out Extreme ag.farm 22:03 for more great content to help you squeeze more profit out of your farming operation. 22:08 Cutting the curve is brought to you by cloth where machines aren't just made, they're made for more. Visit cloth.com 22:15 and start cutting your curve with cutting edge equipment.