Podcast: Precision Farming Secrets: Maximizing Soybean Yields with Perfect Timing & Placement

00:00:00 Pairing technology and product, getting your timing and your placement right. That's the topic of this episode 00:00:05 of Extreme Ag Cutting the curve. Welcome to Extreme Ag Cutting the Curve podcast, where real farmers share real insights 00:00:12 and real results to help you improve your farming operation. This episode of Cutting the Curve is brought to you by cloth 00:00:19 where machines aren't just made, they're made for more with a wide range of tractors, combines, forger and hay tools. 00:00:26 Cloth is a family business just as driven, demanding, and dedicated as yours. Go to cloth.com 00:00:32 and start cutting your curve with their cutting edge equipment. And now here's your host, Damien Mason. 00:00:38 Hey there. Welcome to another fantastic episode of Extreme Ag Cutting the curve. I've got one of the founders of Extreme 00:00:43 Ag here, Chad Henderson. He's, he's excited to be here. He's with his buddies from Spray Tech, Justin Mo and Drew Ewing. 00:00:49 Chad actually has some trials going on right now for his double crop soybeans. That'd be as, uh, he 00:00:54 and uh, Matt from the south corn wheat beans, which means they put soybeans in after the wheat comes off in early June. 00:01:01 What are you doing with this trial and what are you trying to prove? So, you know, we talk about the four Rs 00:01:06 and, and Damien's rights. You know, we, we we're gonna have a good time on this podcast, you know, but, but it's the 00:01:11 right placement, timing. And, you know, we're, we're looking at double crop beans. We've been looking at double crop beans all my life. 00:01:18 I enjoy double crop beans and it's because of the area I'm in and I can, I can get 'em planted. I have some actually that's planted the first I've ever 00:01:26 planted the last day of May. And it tickles me, you know, because I have had some that make 80 bushel 00:01:31 and that's, that's not easily done, you know, anywhere else in the country because we're so far south. Uh, but with that being said, 00:01:39 it gives us more testing window. We don't get to, we can test so much on our regular season beans new 00:01:44 and keep testing in our other beans. Are we gonna make more bushels on 'em? Probably not. 'cause most of the time we're up against 00:01:50 sunlight, you know, it just runs out. Heat the heat hits it wrong, or the sunlight, it just runs away from us. 00:01:56 And we don't have the time, but we get to learn more about what these products do and how they do in the plant. 00:02:01 So we've got some tests, we've got some K out, we've got some cube. IR obviously some adjuvants in there. 00:02:06 And we might have smoked in just a little bit of bo on Drew. This, uh, thing he's doing down there is essentially okay, 00:02:13 by the way, the four R's are, I, I had to look it up because I couldn't remember the fourth one. Right source, right time, right rate, right time, 00:02:19 and right place, right source, right rate, right time, and right place. I knew it was about timing and placement, 00:02:24 and I knew it was about the product, but that's What I always forgetting the right rate. I've always forgot the right rate. 00:02:30 And because Chad is a send it twin, he likes to put on if the, if four ounces, a good eight ounces has to be better. 00:02:35 So anyway, it's the right rate that he struggles with because he likes to send it. So anyway, what's this, uh, experiment proving to you, drew? 00:02:43 Well, it was a good experience to go down to Chad's place. Actually. It's the first time I'd really 00:02:47 ever been down there. Um, first time I ever really seen some double crop soybeans, which for an Iowa boy, that was kind of crazy. 00:02:55 Never seen that before. Um, I don't know. We walked out in some of his beans and asked me what I, what I thought 00:03:03 and what I thought that they could use. And I, I, uh, you know, I, I thought Q by R came to mind. He was just getting into flowering 00:03:12 or right before flowering. So, um, he was already gonna go out with some boron max, which I think he probably ran about a pound, 00:03:20 but some Q by R, the cube's got a little bit of copper, some manganese, zinc and sulfur, which, um, is 00:03:29 gonna help promote for plant health. And then he ran some full tech K product, which is potassium. 00:03:35 Um, some amino acids, and once again, some more boron. And then we're looking for skeletal strength as well. Um, I mean, 80 bushel soybeans is, uh, 00:03:46 that's a pretty good yield for a guy in Iowa. It it, with his first crop of beans, we ain't getting two. Um, yeah, so skeletal structure was, 00:03:56 is was important I thought. Um, so we, we ran a little bit of full tech arrow that had some calcium in there. 00:04:02 Um, Chad, you're not gonna Get 80. What, what is your real expectation? 00:04:06 Eddie Bush. Bush Bushels. Yeah. This is just like I on a, the water boy, you know this what's going to be dam. 00:04:13 Yeah. He, he, you know, he set me out into some beans actually when I was down there. He wanted to know what the, what they were going to yield. 00:04:19 And he made me a bet. Of course, he, you know, he, he put me, put me out in the check. 00:04:24 He didn't put me out into everything that had everything. And he asked me how they were gonna do. 00:04:29 I said, all day long, how much you want to bet? He said, 500. And I said, no, maybe two. And, uh, found out I lost this morning. So, 00:04:38 But you know, we're gonna let him off at, he was definitely hustled. Real, real. Okay. Your expect on all 00:04:43 of your double crop soybeans, what do you, what's the expectation? What's his, historically, 00:04:48 This is where we land at Damien. Um, if I can get 'em planted, we're really, it's, it's all timing, right? 00:04:54 We wonder about the timing and, and the earlyness of it. These May 30th beans, the last time I planted 'em on June, 00:04:59 the first, the farm average, it was a hundred, it was 115 acres. It was 90 of it watered. And I averaged 71 bushel. 00:05:08 I had a two and a half acre plot in it that went 82 bushel. Yep. Okay. 00:05:12 So, but that's all about the timing of it and getting them in early. Now we got a, we got a rain right behind it. 00:05:17 We watered them up. The bean has to come outta the ground running period. Okay. So let's, but realistically, 00:05:23 if we plant double crop beans, then most of the time, most farmers around here, we're always stuck around that 58, 62 up 00:05:31 to 66, 68 bushel is where your, you know, it won't be a farm average. That's kind of where your irrigated ones be. Mm-Hmm. 00:05:37 My dry land beans, I've had 'em go up in the fifties, but this year with a drought, it looks like I'm hoping not to be in a 20 hope. 00:05:44 I'm gonna be somewhere around 25, 20 bushel. So, you know, that's our realistic numbers. But we can make 60 bushel double crop beans irrigated. 00:05:52 But we need to be, I think we can be in that bushel and me and Drew trying to figure out, 00:05:59 All right, Justin, this is a different world for you. You're in North Dakota almost to the candle border, uh, double cropping, uh, you guys, 00:06:06 it's potatoes and snow. We're just Trying to worry about getting our or our first and only crop out before it 00:06:11 freezes up on us. You know what I mean? Potatoes and snow, then it's, yeah. Anyway. Yep. What, um, what have you learned about timing 00:06:20 and placement, uh, and how technology is helping us do that? Because it seems to me, you know, I'm still old enough 00:06:27 to remember when people still had crops standing in February out in the field, uh, world enough to remember when, uh, if you didn't plant by a certain date, 00:06:34 which still happens, you know, we still talk about prevent planting, et cetera, et cetera, but it's less of a con. 00:06:40 Technology has made it so that you can be, it's made, it's kind of like, uh, better tennis rackets have made it so that everybody looks like they're a better tennis player. 00:06:50 You know? Um, I think that technology has made, so it, it makes us look better than, uh, we can, we can for, we can make up for some, some, uh, some mistakes. 00:07:01 Yeah. Yeah. We can get out there at the wrong time. So tell me what your vision is on that, on technology and products that make it so that you're not punished 00:07:09 as badly for, uh, timing and placement mistakes. Yeah, I think that's what spray tech is really try, does try to do is bring, bring products 00:07:16 that are gonna make your operation more efficient. You know, um, when we're, when we're, we're talking like, you know, Chad's double cropping, 00:07:23 but we're up, up here, up up against the window and things gotta work in your tank. And when you're, you know, putting fungicides and herbicides 00:07:30 and you wanna start putting nutritional products and plant health products in, a lot of times things don't play well together in the tank. 00:07:37 And that's what nutri, especially nutritional products. And when you can, um, bring nutri nutritional products, you know, to the table 00:07:44 and bring, bring your product, uh, food and feed, you know, plant health and plant nutrition with your herbicide 00:07:49 or with fungicides, uh, in that same tank load, tank tank mixture, you know, and, and, and bring products that are, that are appropriate 00:07:58 or at the right stage, the right time, you know, delivering boron or copper, you know, that's usually we want that, uh, 00:08:03 in our reproductive stages, you know, and we got products that can go in the tank mix with your fungicides at that time 00:08:10 or, you know, the earlier planted, uh, the earlier planting stuff, the earlier spraying stuff, you know, bringing a cobalt 00:08:16 or molybdenum, some of those earlier, uh, elements that, that are important for the, uh, vegetative stages and stuff. 00:08:22 And, and bringing that in with your herbicide tank mixture. Uh, and then getting everything to be friendly in the tank. 00:08:27 And that's a, a very important thing. So, You know, Damien, I just thought about something, uh, you know, Justin didn't talk about, 00:08:37 he's talking about his regular season, you know, his regular season and my double crop is about the same timing. 00:08:41 It's, you know, it's the same window. It is the same days, is what I'm getting at. Yeah. So there's a lot to learn, you know, when you talk 00:08:48 to people from all from one end of the country to the other, here we are, and we're talking about on this podcast the 00:08:54 same things because I'm talking about the window that I have to make these double crop beans in, 00:08:58 and it's about the same window he has to make regular season beans In. Speaking of all that, since we're talking about timing, 00:09:03 the person that's listening to this, that lives in North Dakota down by Justin, or up by Justin, or the person that lives in, uh, Iowa, uh, by Drew, 00:09:10 they're saying, well, why are we even talking about double crop? That's not something we can do. Well, that's true. 00:09:14 It's not, but don't you get a benefit of, you know, they, the soybeans, your soybeans get planted by second week 00:09:21 of June in your following week. Well, hell, you have until Thanksgiving to get 'em cut. So I know that you don't get long days, 00:09:29 but you get a lot of days. Doesn't that help? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's still days, but it's still, you know, the bean plant, you know, 00:09:38 look at the bean plant in general, you know, it's like a kuck bird, you know, when it comes outta the ground late like that, it's still, 00:09:44 you can plant one, it's still gonna come out. It'll be this tall and it'll throw pot out, you know, it just no daylight. 00:09:48 Yeah. And that's what we run up against is just we don't get that grain field, you know, that's a lot 00:09:53 of our problem in the south anyway, is the whole grain field period. We can't slow the plant down. 00:09:58 I think Kelly's seen some of that this year. You know, drew, I think if I'm, you know, correct me if I'm wrong, but they've seen a lot of 00:10:04 that warm weather up there in that heat, and you, they don't seem to get to grain field that they've been getting with that slow, you know, 00:10:11 when you have a 80 degree day versus a 92 degree day, you know? Correct. And that, I think we're gonna see a lot 00:10:18 of that this this year. I mean, we had, we had some heat here at the end, but I mean, during pollination, that was, that was, 00:10:27 uh, pretty cool. 70 degrees, 68 degrees during pollination. That was a little odd for me. 00:10:34 I ain't never seen that before. In fact, when I left Chad's place, the only thing I could think about was 00:10:40 how can I get some double OTT numbered soybeans and maybe get two, two beans here. Yeah. He was, he was in our double crop beans 00:10:49 and they was hitting him about, what was they about thigh high. Yeah. You know, his knee, it was over knee high, wasn't he? 00:10:55 Yeah. About him being Chad, even if you water, again, since we're talking about timing and placement, so we know that your, your soybeans going in late if 00:11:03 they're going in double crop. So irrigation doesn't, uh, is not, irrigation is not something that helps with the timing 00:11:12 and extends it, it, it, No, it's huge. I mean, irrigation is huge, you know, but, 00:11:17 but you know, a soybean plant it, when it, when you plant anything into the heat, you know, the ground's a hundred degrees when we're planting, 00:11:24 you know, you plant anything in the heat, it's coming out and it's racing. Well, if you water, water, water it early, it's just 00:11:29 so vegetative that it lays down with you. Yeah. So it's a tricky game. You gotta get that thing to where you almost 00:11:34 wanna just keep it alive. You want it to be stressed, you just want to keep it alive until it starts flowering. 00:11:39 Soon as it starts flowering starts podding, then you gotta pour the coals to it. But it's not just as like, you know, there's, 00:11:46 there's no irrigation. That's like a rain, you know, there's no irrigation that brings that cool air with it. 00:11:51 Yeah. So the irrigation is definitely, I mean, we need it. We, we need it, but we, it's not a cure all by no means. 00:11:57 So speaking of which then, all right, technology, we said we're gonna talk about technologies and products. Products have gotten better, 00:12:03 our understanding has gotten better. Our equipment, our technology's gotten better. Why Technology and products help you get 65 bushel, 00:12:11 71 bushel beans now double crop that you couldn't, that your dad didn't get. So let's, let's, It's not just genetics. 00:12:17 It's not just genetics. Let's just don't, let's don't worry about the yield as much. Okay? Let's talk about efficiency. 00:12:23 That's what we need to talk about. Right now we're talking about, let's talk about the, the use rates of all the spray tech lineup. 00:12:30 Okay? There's, there's no other company that I've seen yet that the whole, I don't know any product they have. 00:12:36 Okay, let's talk about boron is a, is a half a pound rate, period. Any other thing they have is ounce use rate. 00:12:43 I don't know if we have anything over a four ounce use rate. Do we? One, One product, uh, full tech Nitro is 21 ounces 00:12:50 An acre blow. I didn't had anything like that. They ain't brought that to me. They said, oh no, you can't have that. 00:12:55 So, but, but you know, that's what, so we talk about efficiency, let's talk about how I use their products. 00:13:01 When we go to a truck and I gotta go 40 miles away from my shop and I can't switch a tote back 00:13:06 and forth, I'm gonna run out tote, I'm gonna have these products in the game. I can put four bags of boron on there, spray 400 acres, 00:13:13 I can put four boxes on there of, of Cube or whatever. It's an 80 acre load, you know, per box. You know, and so that's, that's the, the, 00:13:22 the nail in the coffin for me that with spray tech is their use rates and how that gets into plant, the phosphates, 00:13:29 the way they construct this thing. You know, me and Diego's had several conversation. His, his English is getting a lot better, 00:13:35 or my understanding of Brazilian is getting, I don't know, Argentina. What's the, both, both, both, both. 00:13:41 My understanding is getting a little better, you know, either way. But we've had some great conversation and the, 00:13:46 and the techniques that his crew and his team has come about to put this into concentration form is pretty amazing. 00:13:54 I like the fact that you talk about efficiency, but the point is also not just efficiency, the actual, the benefit. 00:14:00 If you're missing out on timing, is there some technology that buys you a week or two weeks? 00:14:06 Is it something like the, is there something that you think that's going on with these products 00:14:10 and technologies that we have now that you're like, if I'd have put soybeans in the ground this late 20 years ago, 00:14:18 I could have never expected this kind of a yield. Is there, is there something that's a game changer like that? 00:14:23 Well, I don't think it's anything with time, and I don't think there's any products that can make up time. 00:14:27 You know, I, I really don't. I mean, unless you wanna put your, you know, you can throw urea out on the beans right behind it. 00:14:32 I do get a yield bump from that, you know? Uh, but I'm just saying what we're doing is we're, again, it's efficiency. 00:14:39 We couldn't, before, we couldn't get the products in the plant. We didn't have this kind of product technology. Yep. 00:14:45 And I think that's what it is. It's about getting the, being able to get the K product at a four ounce use rate, being able 00:14:51 to get potassium into the plant and, and be enough to make the soybeans. We not, we try to make, you know, me 00:14:57 and Drew put it on two times, so I got eight ounces on this, on these beans. Mm-Hmm. It's not normal, you know? 00:15:03 And, and the beans look good. Yeah. And being, and being, being more aware, aware of, you know, of of, of the application timing and, 00:15:11 and you know, putting your boron out there or your K out there and, and seeing that spike in that tissue test and, 00:15:17 and you know, finding that we're getting into the plant quicker and faster than anything out there. 00:15:22 Uh, also like some products, you know, multiple, uh, dual molds of action, you know, like our, our manganese based products, you know, when we're, 00:15:29 you know, helping that white mold and soybeans, but are also delivering manganese with your roundup and, and decreasing the manganese tie up effect, you know? 00:15:36 Uh, so just delivering dip products that are, are, are bringing multiple modes of action to the, to, for the customer, you know? 00:15:43 Yeah. We're not getting round of flash. Chad, You and I, You and I were at the Farm Progress Show, uh, three years ago. 00:15:50 And, uh, you uh, and I went over and talked to people that were into specialty crop stuff and you said, I like watching what these guys do. 00:15:56 'cause they're always ahead of the curve compared to, uh, broad acre farm farming and the nutrients. 00:16:02 And then we talked about boron, and I stood there and I listened to you talk about, and I said, how I never even knew this was a thing. 00:16:07 And then you talked about the micronutrients. When did it, when did it hit you in the head that you talk about source? 00:16:16 The source doesn't do any good if you don't. The micros help carry the macros, I mean, et cetera. It's all a package deal. When did this, 00:16:21 when did this gel in your head that, that this was all something that mattered, that with these micronutrients 00:16:27 and timing of getting them out there, almost like they have a exponential impact. I mean, you might spend four bucks on whatever boron, 00:16:35 but it has this huge impact Gonna make your nitrogen work better in the soil. Yeah. And, and you know, you heard Lee talk about it when me 00:16:43 and Lee talk about boron and he's like, man, I don't have an insect damage because I have a higher level boron implant. 00:16:49 You, there's different things in different areas that, that it does. And that's just one product. But when you start running 00:16:54 these, you know, we've seen our barrel, everybody's seen it, and you've got the wood plank off of it 00:16:58 and the water's running out the side of it. You know, when I realized that, like when I started with my barrel down here 00:17:05 and we was throwing out dry fertilizer and into my barrel, didn't have any wood planks on it. Now all my water was just in the floor. 00:17:11 I started trying to put my wood planks on. You know, my wood planks was everything that wouldn't NP and K mm-Hmm. 00:17:17 And that's when we got, because we, you know, when you look at our soil down here, you know me man, us guys in the group, me 00:17:23 and Damien, we make a lot of cracks back and forth about our soil, you know, now like, man, I think my dirt's the same 00:17:29 as his dirt is in Arizona in his yard. Mm-Hmm. But if we make a lot of cracks back and forth, but we, there's certain nutrients that we've got here 00:17:36 that Drew can't get, you know, in Iowa. And there's certain things that I just can't hold on to anything. 00:17:42 So when they understand where the good Lord puts you and the, and what you need to do with it, and it's understanding your pattern 00:17:48 and how to get that into the plant, then it'll open up those avenues. But these products, efficiency of them is just, 00:17:54 just really good in how they get in and, and what they've done with their team over in Brazil to test these things. 00:18:00 By the way, Chad went to Brazil with spray tech along with Kevin and Matt last, uh, winter, and they learned a lot. 00:18:05 So I'm gonna go around the horn here. They just trying to lock me out. They was trying to lock me outta the lab. 00:18:09 I was like, Hey, hey, let me in there, let me in there, let me see when them, was it Petri dishes, man, they had, and 00:18:15 That's what Chad, a lot of people can give you a, a, a boron source, but is that boron source gonna get into the plant? 00:18:21 You know? Yeah. And that's where Is it going? How many, how many? 10% Borons have two different borons in Absolutely Lot. With that in mind. Not, 00:18:30 Not many. I can think of All around the horn here. We're talking about placement and timing. 00:18:34 Two of the, two of the four Rs. Uh, what do you think too many farmers are missing on? I mean, we're not gonna, we're not blaming, 00:18:39 we're not judging, we're helping, we, what are too many farmers missing out on that when it comes to timing and placement of uh, stuff? 00:18:46 What is it that they, that they is not gelling in their head yet? What is it? Justin's nodding his head. 00:18:51 What are most farmers are too many farmers missing out on, on the subject of timing and placement? 00:18:56 Oh, absolutely. The micronutrients is a big thing. We're very good at putting our dry fertilizers, the nps and caves of the world's on top 00:19:03 and covering that, that, you know, but when you start looking at, you know, over the top, doing the small things right, turns over 00:19:10 to doing a lot of big things. Good. You know, so you start looking at taking care of your small things, uh, um, that's, that's a, 00:19:17 a very important part of the game here. So Drew, What are too many farmers missing out on the subject of timing and placement of, uh, nutrients and, and, 00:19:25 and plant inputs and crop inputs? Well, in Iowa, they're missing out big time. About 90% of 'em are shortened. Boron, maum, and zinc. 00:19:34 Um, some of 'em are getting better at looking at that. Um, now it's all, if, If they would, if they would just concentrate on those 00:19:43 three micros, the benefit to the expense they're already putting in for the other stuff would probably be like four to one. 00:19:50 Correct. You know, I've seen some of the, I got to see some of the samples and stuff and, and most samples drew, I mean, what is, 00:19:58 what's a base saturation of the potassium up there for most farms up there? It's less than three, ain't three or four. 00:20:04 Correct. So, you know, every time we've seen any numbers less or anywhere around that three every 90% 00:20:12 of the time when I make application of potassium, you get a bump from it. You know, we just can't consume it. 00:20:19 And it's, and it's really understanding those numbers and, and it's took a long time for all of us in the group 00:20:24 and being able to get, you know, a group of like-minded people around each other to start sharing this information back 00:20:30 and forth, saying, Hey, every time we see this, we see a bump. It is Chad Harrison, we're gonna leave it right there. 00:20:36 We're talking about timing and placement. Uh, two of the four things. Source, right, source, right rate, right time, right place. 00:20:42 And we talked about two of 'em. And remember, Chad struggles with both rate, but we're getting it figured 00:20:46 out. We're getting it figured out. I'm doing better. I'm 30 days in. I've had to rat rate for the last 30 00:20:51 days 'cause I hadn't sprayed anything. We've been harvesting. So, you know, it's just like a AA meeting. 00:20:55 I'm doing better, I'm moving forward. Y Alright, Chad's joined with Drew by Drew Ewing and Justin Mo with Spray Tech. 00:21:02 Uh, they're a business partner here of ours at, uh, extreme Ag and they took Chad down to Brazil last year for a big lesson. 00:21:09 So, you know what, uh, maybe you'll, you'll hear more about this. They got Red Dirt Brazil. 00:21:13 They do. They do, they do. Thanks for being here guys. Till next time, uh, share this with somebody that can benefit from it. 00:21:18 Remember, if you enjoyed this, there are literally hundreds of episodes like this cutting the curve. 00:21:22 We've been doing it since 2021. Go and check out the library. It's all free. There's also hundreds of videos shot at the guy's farms. 00:21:28 Uh, Chad shoots 'em, Matt shoots 'em, Kevin shoots 'em, Kelly, all the guys shoot 'em Temple. And it's all there for you for free. 00:21:34 If you want to up your game and your farming operation, you can become an extreme Ag member for $750 a year. That's it, just seven 50 a year. 00:21:41 You get direct access and a, and a conduit to ask questions to people like Chad to go a little deeper on a subject. 00:21:47 You also get offers from our business partners and you get year end data, all the trials that these guys are doing. 00:21:52 You get to see all that, break it down and apply those learnings to your farming operations. So go to Extreme Act Farm, share this video. 00:22:00 Somebody can, uh, and, uh, learn from it. So next time, thanks for being here, drew. Justin. Chad, I'm Damien Mason. 00:22:06 This is extreme ag cutting the curve. That's a wrap for this episode of Cutting the Curve. Make sure to check out Extreme Ag Farm 00:22:12 for more great content to help you squeeze more profit out of your farming operation. 00:22:17 Cutting the curve is brought to you by cloth where machines aren't just made, they're made for more. Visit cloth.com 620 00:22:25.585 --> 00:22:28.245