Fuel prices

[dale560]

1 hour ago, brahamfireman said:

Truth is on a non irrigated row crop farm, fuel is barely a spec on the budget. I use roughly 5 gallons of diesel per acre, start to finish with a crop.

If diesel is $3, my cost is $15 per acre.

If diesel is $5 my cost is $25 per acre.

That's a $10 per acre difference,  less than 1 bushel of beans or just over 2 bushels of corn will cover the cost. my time's better spent marketing grain than watching fuel prices.

I think we were around 3 gals an acre on the crop side. 3/4 gal an acre to seed and combine. The rest was spraying and other incidental stuff. The other thing we wasted fuel on is if we didn’t get hay moved in timely manner. You burn twice as much fuel in November here than in October. Weather temp and time change shortness of days make hay hauling difficult later in year.

[brahamfireman]

3 hours ago, 766 Man said:

  What's your program?  How much minimum till and/or no till do you use?.  

Old Corn ground gets chisel plowed in fall with a Glencoe 13 shank, then I use 45 vibra-shank cultivator with 6" V sweeps in the spring. bean ground get a 2" straight shank using a 45 vibra-shank on 10" spacing in the fall and the same 45 with 6" sweeps in the spring. 

Combine uses 1.2 gallons an acre. beans use more, too small of a head and the air bar sucks power. Corn is pretty much spot on 1 gallon an acre with the 8 row head.

Planting is about .6 per acre. Spraying is .5 an acre. I used the 856 to spread spring fertilizer and i think it was under .2 gallons an acre.

[Dirt_Floor_Poor]

Fuel is much higher than I would have expected, but cash corn is over $5 here and cash beans have been over $14 at one point. Those prices are also much higher than I was expecting this fall. All things considered, I think this year will be better than last year since the yields here will be very good. 

[acem]

20 hours ago, brahamfireman said:

Truth is on a non irrigated row crop farm, fuel is barely a spec on the budget. I use roughly 5 gallons of diesel per acre, start to finish with a crop.

If diesel is $3, my cost is $15 per acre.

If diesel is $5 my cost is $25 per acre.

That's a $10 per acre difference,  less than 1 bushel of beans or just over 2 bushels of corn will cover the cost. my time's better spent marketing grain than watching fuel prices.

Growing rice takes much more fuel than corn and beans. Building and tearing down levees, leveling fields, rolling stubble. You spend alot of time on a tractor in the field. 

Plus alot of irrigation.

Cotton is similar but not quite as much fuel. Inputs can be higher in cotton.

Non irrgated soybean are near zero yield here this season.

 

[Lazy WP]

I put over $1500 of fuel in the truck Thursday. Pretty sure that was the first time I ever put that many dollars into it. 

[dale560]

Back in the early 80s dad used to go through 700 gals a day in spring time. The 2 8630 jd took 175 gals plus more in a day. The 1586 would be 75 gals a day and 806 was about the same plus other stuff running around. We would fill every bigger tractor in the morning early before day break and if running all day at 6:30 we would be fueling stuff in  The field.  There were a couple days we used a 1000 gal bulk tank a day

[Big Bud guy]

55 minutes ago, dale560 said:

Back in the early 80s dad used to go through 700 gals a day in spring time. The 2 8630 jd took 175 gals plus more in a day. The 1586 would be 75 gals a day and 806 was about the same plus other stuff running around. We would fill every bigger tractor in the morning early before day break and if running all day at 6:30 we would be fueling stuff in  The field.  There were a couple days we used a 1000 gal bulk tank a day

Damn.  We could run all day or at least 12 hrs on a tank of fuel on our 950. I think they held around 195 gal or just short of 200.  

[dale560]

2 hours ago, Big Bud guy said:

Damn.  We could run all day or at least 12 hrs on a tank of fuel on our 950. I think they held around 195 gal or just short of 200.  

Those 8630s liked their fuel for the no power they had. We were pulling a 40 ft IH chisel plow 

[Big Bud guy]

1 hour ago, dale560 said:

Those 8630s liked their fuel for the no power they had. We were pulling a 40 ft IH chisel plow 

We pulled a 48ft Melroe chisel plow.  It was good load because we had to fill all 8 tires full to anchor the tractor down.  For the first few years we hooked six LZB 8ft drills to it for seeding too.  40ft for a 8630/40/50 was normal around here.  But they had their tongues hanging out the whole time vs a Steiger and Versatile.  No disrespect to you or anyone else but the 30/40/50 series in my opinion were paper tigers 

[dale560]

37 minutes ago, Big Bud guy said:

We pulled a 48ft Melroe chisel plow.  It was good load because we had to fill all 8 tires full to anchor the tractor down.  For the first few years we hooked six LZB 8ft drills to it for seeding too.  40ft for a 8630/40/50 was normal around here.  But they had their tongues hanging out the whole time vs a Steiger and Versatile.  No disrespect to you or anyone else but the 30/40/50 series in my opinion were paper tigers 

Yes I don’t know how they took that amount of fuel to make no power. When my brother and I went more on our own we bought a 875 then a 976 versatile. The 875 small cam 280 hp would pull the 33 foot concord with Dutch openers , nh3 setup at 5 mph using 3/4 gallon of fuel the 976 had more power and about the same fuel use. I tried pulling the air seeder one spring just 10 feet on the corner of field with 8630. We had parked it there a week before and I just wanted to move it to spray roundup on field. Hooked 8630 to air seeder with a chain looped through hitch. Just to pull it ahead. The wheels had settled and 8630 would barely move it in a1. Then the chain snapped. Although now we have a 8450 pulling a 33 ft flexicoil with spoon shovels. It will pull it okay in a4 at 4.6 mph and use about 7/8 gall per acre. But there is a lot of difference between Dutch opener nh3 and spoon shovels.

[Lazy WP]

I really don’t know how every thread that I make turns into a John Deere thread! Obviously the Deere line is junk and burns way too much fuel, if BBM is bashing them also. 
I really don’t care how many acres you were able to get out of a tank of fuel. I am pretty confident that I burn more fuel in a year than any single farmer. Very few farmers operate a tractor more than 5 months out of the year, and if they do, it won’t be the big tillage one. 

[TroyDairy]

17 hours ago, Lazy WP said:

I put over $1500 of fuel in the truck Thursday. Pretty sure that was the first time I ever put that many dollars into it. 

If you really want to cripple a economy this is how it is done.

 

Why America been so successful is we can fuel and feed ourselves.  3rd world nations cannot so they cannot get to productivity levels we see.  Now....i dont know what all this mean or whos leading the circus ring anymore.

[dale560]

50mph x 12hrx 365 =219,000  miles divided by 6 = 36,500 gals for the year. The avg truck speed for over the road is around 46 to 47mph per the vehicle computer.  The avg mid to large size farmer with 7000 to  10,000 acres and cattle yet on top is buying that amount of fuel or more every year also. They are just buying it in 5 to 10,000 gal loads at a time. You also have to remember the avg guy in our area is moving 500 semi loads of production in the fall twice and a few hundred loads of water for spray,seed fertilizer and hay throughout the year. [ avg yield of 60 bpa or more across the crops] So don’t be thinking the avg size guy here in the northern USA has it any better. You would be surprised how many miles us  little guys put on a truck also. 
 

the actual avg owner operator miles per year is 90 to 125,000. At 140,000 miles per year you are at the federal service time limits. So about 20,000 gals per year at 6 to 7 mpg. 

[dale560]

1 hour ago, Lazy WP said:

I really don’t know how every thread that I make turns into a John Deere thread! Obviously the Deere line is junk and burns way too much fuel, if BBM is bashing them also. 
I really don’t care how many acres you were able to get out of a tank of fuel. I am pretty confident that I burn more fuel in a year than any single farmer. Very few farmers operate a tractor more than 5 months out of the year, and if they do, it won’t be the big tillage one. 

I was responding to a thread about avg fuel use on a farm and it not being the big percentage of the gross dollars spent. But certain activities can drive your fuel use up or down. Just as in your line of work a small paccar or Dd13 Detroit will pay for your fuel savings and get a 80,000 lb load down the road the same.

[Gearclash]

As a custom ag operator fuel is going to be my second biggest line item for 2026, significantly ahead of 3rd.  It should not be second or if it was it would be about the same as several others costs.  Will be about double for fuel this year because I unwisely did not fill up and contract in Jan of 2026.  

Ironically netwrap which is also a petroleum based product is down some from 2025. 

[Lazy WP]

25 minutes ago, dale560 said:

I was responding to a thread about avg fuel use on a farm and it not being the big percentage of the gross dollars spent. But certain activities can drive your fuel use up or down. Just as in your line of work a small paccar or Dd13 Detroit will pay for your fuel savings and get a 80,000 lb load down the road the same.

I will guarantee that my 12.7 will cost less per mile than either of those motors you mentioned. 

[acem]

I'll play the devil's advocate.

High fuel prices are hurting truckers and most of us in AG.

But is it hurting the US economy as a whole?

Since we are a major a major exporter of oil and oil products we are also reaping the profits from these high prices in other parts of the economy.

Not saying I like high prices but i have some oil field friends who are making alot of money right now.

 

[Big Bud guy]

5 hours ago, dale560 said:

50mph x 12hrx 365 =219,000  miles divided by 6 = 36,500 gals for the year. The avg truck speed for over the road is around 46 to 47mph per the vehicle computer.  The avg mid to large size farmer with 7000 to  10,000 acres and cattle yet on top is buying that amount of fuel or more every year also. They are just buying it in 5 to 10,000 gal loads at a time. You also have to remember the avg guy in our area is moving 500 semi loads of production in the fall twice and a few hundred loads of water for spray,seed fertilizer and hay throughout the year. [ avg yield of 60 bpa or more across the crops] So don’t be thinking the avg size guy here in the northern USA has it any better. You would be surprised how many miles us  little guys put on a truck also. 

My area and western Canada are full of 20,000+ acre farms us included. Farms that run 3-4 500-800 hp tractors, same amount of combines and a fleet of semis. We have 7 that we use. Then there is all the support tractors and equipment that need fuel too.   Keep in mind I’m leaving out the Monette farms of the world. We move over 600 semi loads a year ourselves just in grain not counting fertilizer, water, and hay.  And there is the irrigated guys.  I know one guy who used 90,000 gallons of diesel fuel one year for his pivots. Lots of farms burn more fuel that some random truck moseying across the country 

 

[dale560]

12 minutes ago, Big Bud guy said:

My area and western Canada are full of 20,000+ acre farms us included. Farms that run 3-4 500-800 hp tractors, same amount of combines and a fleet of semis. We have 7 that we use. Then there is all the support tractors and equipment that need fuel too.   Keep in mind I’m leaving out the Monette farms of the world. We move over 600 semi loads a year ourselves just in grain not counting fertilizer, water, and hay.  And there is the irrigated guys.  I know one guy who used 90,000 gallons of diesel fuel one year for his pivots. Lots of farms burn more fuel that some random truck moseying across the country 

 

There are some 3000 acre farms in our area but not many, most are 6 to 10000. West around Minot to the Montana borders some are 25,000 plus one guy that is getting sold out was rumored to be around 35,000. Then east to valley row crop guys are full tillage so their inputs are higher plus the constant trucking involved with corn potatoes or beets.. Most guys have 6 to 800,000 bushels of storage and everything in to bins then out to market once they know what they have. Plus if you figure the amount of water you haul and other inputs trucked in you have a lot of road fuel in the trucks that we never included in the crop inputs just because we filled trucks at the pumps. One thing if no one realizes if I am wrong I will be first to admit my stupidity but any thing with costs and fuel avg I am a sticker for actual proof and numbers, crop yields also.

[Big Bud guy]

9 minutes ago, dale560 said:

There are some 3000 acre farms in our area but not many, most are 6 to 10000. West around Minot to the Montana borders some are 25,000 plus one guy that is getting sold out was rumored to be around 35,000. Then east to valley row crop guys are full tillage so their inputs are higher plus the constant trucking involved with corn potatoes or beets.. Most guys have 6 to 800,000 bushels of storage and everything in to bins then out to market once they know what they have. Plus if you figure the amount of water you haul and other inputs trucked in you have a lot of road fuel in the trucks that we never included in the crop inputs just because we filled trucks at the pumps. One thing if no one realizes if I am wrong I will be first to admit my stupidity but any thing with costs and fuel avg I am a sticker for actual proof and numbers, crop yields also.

How much fossil fuel would a 5,000 acre corn farm burn just getting 200 bu corn out of the field, drying it, and hauling it to market.  Thats rhetorical question of course.  We haul some of our crops up to 120 miles one way.  That eats up fuel.   Last year it was 150,000 bu of durum 

[dale560]

1 minute ago, Big Bud guy said:

How much fossil fuel would a 5,000 acre corn farm burn just getting 200 bu corn out of the field, drying it, and hauling it to market.  Thats rhetorical question of course   

We figured 50 $ an acre for 100 to 125 bpa or bit more corn. That was trucking into bin, auger tractor little bit of snow removal and winter hauling to town. Trucks run all day when cold. 
 I have a guy I used to work on stuff for that irrigates a bunch. Last year they had over a million bushels of corn into local elevator by march. And he used to have one truck going each day to an ethanol plant all winter. They run 7 jd tracked units 4 x 9 jd combines and I think around 10 trucks now.

[jass1660]

An independent trucks highest expense is fuel first. Our company has around 7,000 diesel semis and 4,000 lng/cng trucks on the road every day this doesn’t even include all the packages cars…

[dale560]

1 hour ago, jass1660 said:

An independent trucks highest expense is fuel first. Our company has around 7,000 diesel semis and 4,000 lng/cng trucks on the road every day this doesn’t even include all the packages cars…

My brother used to finance a couple trucks for guys when he worked in banking. The first joke was you need a 20,000 savings account to cover the blown motor that is coming in a year. Now everything is insane. A single truck owner unless they have a really good load setup. You are always broke. Just hauling bulk commodities now is cut throat business and you really need to find a good haul with back haul. My truck buddies son used to run over the road and he was particular and kept loaded cross country. After the second truck was almost paid for he quit and went to work at a coal mine running dozer. The steady pay and days off appealed to him. The expense of gas impacts me also. I need 30 gals a week just to get to work and back. I drive a fuel efficient vehicle to do that. A pickup or bigger vehicle would double that amount. Then the weekends come and I waste gas money like a drunken monkey.

[searcyfarms]

i just dont understand why things are the way they are with fuel prices, so many theories, so many blames/finger pointing, it doesnt matter who is the pres, i think its so far out of their control people are foolish to thing someone in office is going to have an effect on it, its been too big and out of control for so long no one can reel it in. Big Oil controls US no one controls them.

[766 Man]

1 hour ago, dale560 said:

My brother used to finance a couple trucks for guys when he worked in banking. The first joke was you need a 20,000 savings account to cover the blown motor that is coming in a year. Now everything is insane. A single truck owner unless they have a really good load setup. You are always broke. Just hauling bulk commodities now is cut throat business and you really need to find a good haul with back haul. My truck buddies son used to run over the road and he was particular and kept loaded cross country. After the second truck was almost paid for he quit and went to work at a coal mine running dozer. The steady pay and days off appealed to him. The expense of gas impacts me also. I need 30 gals a week just to get to work and back. I drive a fuel efficient vehicle to do that. A pickup or bigger vehicle would double that amount. Then the weekends come and I waste gas money like a drunken monkey.

  The Mennonites here will work for a penny's return on a dollar spent.  But there are businesses they will not touch because there is simply no profit at all.  Those include owning and operating a dozer, backhoe, or a semi-truck.  I distinctly remember the day the one Mennonite sold his dozer and did a happy dance all that day.